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Joint ministerial decision for expat pensions

Featured Joint ministerial decision for expat pensions

The Joint Ministerial Decision of the Ministers of Labor and Social Affairs, Finance, Foreign Affairs, Citizen Protection and Interior concerning the new way of calculating the National Pension of expatriates coming from Albania and from countries of the former Soviet Union has been published in the Government Gazette (Β' 4135/3.8.2022).

In particular, the years of residence in the country required to receive a full national pension are reduced from 40 to 30, as expatriates from these two regions were not able to be and work in Greece before 1992, due to the particular political conditions in the countries of their residence during that period.

Beneficiaries

The Joint Ministerial Decision defines the beneficiaries, the method of calculating the national pension and the necessary supporting documents, as well as the procedure according to which the new calculation will be made. For those who are already retired or will retire within 2022, the full national pension will be paid if they have 30 years of residence in the country, while for each year that falls short of 30 it will be reduced by 1/30. Gradually, this limit is adjusted annually, so that after a decade, that is, from 2032 onwards, the conditions will be equalized for all beneficiaries of a national pension and 40 years of residence will now be required.

Proof of expatriate status is provided either by presenting a copy of a police identity card and a certificate of registration in the Civil Registry, if Greek citizenship has been acquired, or with a certified copy of the valid foreign passport and a copy of the valid Special Expatriate Identity Card, if the beneficiary is not a Greek citizen.

Proof of residence

Accordingly,  the necessary proof of residence in Greece is described, which indicatively includes:

a) Uniform Type Residence Permit granted to Special Expatriate Identity Card holders, either in the form of a stamp on an old foreign passport, or in the form of a stand-alone document with a duration of 10 years, or an old national expatriate entry visa or other type of residence permits,

b) copies of tax clearance notes relating to the years of legal residence in the country,

c) certificate of the competent municipal authority for Permanent Residence,

d) housing leases,

e) public utility service accounts,

f) residence certificate,

g) health book,

h) certificate from the Public Employment Service (formerly OAED) for the submission of supporting documents for the payment of a one-off expatriate or unemployment allowance.

Also, since during the considered period an actual period of insurance has been created in Greece, this period is also considered a period of residence.

Pension recalculation

The recalculation of the national pension will be done retroactively from 1.1.2022 for those who were already retired on that date and from the date the pension began to be paid if they became retired at a later date.

In addition, the Joint Ministerial Decision also covers those who receive a pension due to the death of a person who had expatriate status.

The process

Finally, the Joint Ministerial Decision describes in detail the process of submitting an application for the recalculation of their national pension, which can be submitted at any time, electronically or by hand, based on the instructions issued by the e-EFKA social security fund. In summary, those who have already received a pension or have submitted a pending pension application should submit an application for the recalculation of their national pension, providing the necessary supporting documents, while those who will now submit a pension application will declare their expatriate status with the application.