The statutory pension insurance in Germany is one of the core elements of the German welfare state.
All persons working in Germany, regardless of their nationality, are obliged to pay contributions to the German pension insurance. Exceptions include scholarship holders, civil servants and employees who receive their salary from employers based outside Germany.
Commencement of Employment Contract
As soon as your employment contract commences, your employer registers you with the appropriate pension insurance provider. The insurance provider then issues you a natonal insurance card with your name and social security number on it. Upon receiving this document you need to hand it over to your employer. In general, the employer pays one half of the monthly contribution, and you pay the other half. Your share of the contribution is deducted automatically and you don't have to worry about setting this up.
End of Employment Contract
Upon completion of your employment contract your employer automatically unenrolls you from the pension insurance. Please note that you will NOT automatically receive a statement of contributions.
What happens to your contributions (e.g. getting them refunded) depends on various factors and is handled on a case-by-case basis. We strongly recommend that you contact the 'Deutsche Rentenversicherung' for advice on this matter before leaving Germany. Among other services that they offer, Deutsche Renteversicherung will help you apply for an accumulated pension information statement. This statement will show the amount of accrued pension entitlement and will contain all data in your pension account.
FindyourPension
As an international researcher you may be highly mobile and have multiple employers in different countries during your career.
FindyourPension is a website containing brief information about the different pension institutions in the various European countries. It is aimed at mobile researchers and addresses the issues regarding your future pension claims within Europe. The website is a part of a project sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. FindyourPension was created by the VBL (a public sector supplementary pension scheme) in close cooperation with universities, research facilities from the public sector, as well as pension institutions and associations. Although a work in progress, the website has already launched and it contains many of the key research countries. Its aim is to inform you about the pension landscape in Europe and help you better understand your pension rights.
Please visit this website for more information: www.findyourpension.eu
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