For individuals
Residents in Norway: How to apply for a pension abroad
If you have previously lived or worked in a country other than Norway, you may be entitled to a pension from that country.
Contents
When you live in Norway, you may earn the right to a retirement pension from the National Insurance Scheme.
Before you apply for a pension from a country other than Norway, you must find out if this is a country with which we have a social security agreement. The social security agreements ensure that NAV and the pension authorities in the other country cooperate. The aim is that you should not lose pension or social security rights by moving from one agreement country to another.
NAV only pays retirement pension based on the earnings you have in Norway. If you have earnings in another country, the country in question will pay out your pension directly to you.
EEA countries, Switzerland and the UK
The agreement with the EEA countries is the most comprehensive. Switzerland and the UK are not EEA countries, but the social security rules in the EEA Agreement still apply as a general rule there.
How to apply:
To apply for a retirement pension, log in to Din pensjon.
If you only want to take out a retirement pension from NAV (National Insurance), and are not going to apply for a pension from abroad, you must send us a message that you do not want to apply for a pension from abroad now.
Stays abroad must nevertheless be stated in the application.
When you later want to apply for a pension from abroad, contact us.
To apply for a retirement pension, log in to Din pensjon.
Write which country/countries you have lived and worked in. If it is an EEA country, this is considered an application for a pension from all EEA countries.
If you wish to apply from a country outside the EEA with a social security agreement, please let us know which country/countries the application applies to.
NAV sends the necessary information to the country/countries you state you have lived or worked in before.
If you are not going to take out the Norwegian pension now, but are only going to apply for a pension from a country with which Norway has a social security agreement, please contact us.
Send us a message that you want to apply for a pension from abroad, and which country it applies to. We will then send you the application form and the information you need.
NAV forwards your application to the correct pension authority.
You must make sure to apply for a retirement pension in Norway when it becomes relevant for you.
More information in Norwegian:
Norway also has agreements with the United States, Canada, Australia, India, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Chile, Israel, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey, South Korea and Quebec.
Learn how to apply for a pension from a country outside the EEA that has a social security agreement with Norway:
If you want to apply for a pension from the USA, you should contact the American Embassy in Oslo.
You should apply directly to the Turkish social security authorities, and not through NAV.
If you still want to apply for a pension via NAV, you must apply for a Norwegian retirement pension (in Norwegian).
You must also inform NAV if your application only applies to retirement pension from the National Insurance Scheme, or if it also applies to a pension from Turkey.
If the application only applies to a pension from Turkey, send a message to NAV.
If you are entitled to a pension from India from the Employees' Provident Fund Scheme (EPFO), use the information in the links below to see how to apply. There you will also find contact information for the Norwegian and Indian authorities.
If you are entitled to a pension from Canada, use the information in the links below to see how to apply.
- Guidance on completing a pension application from Canada (in Norwegian)
- Agreement on social security between Norway and Canada (Lovdata.no - in norwegian)
Norway and Korea have entered into a social security agreement that applies from 1 June 2024.
Contact NAV if you want information about applying for an old-age pension from South Korea.
The agreement has, among other things, rules for retirement pensions, disability benefits, benefits for survivors and funeral assistance.
The agreement is intended to provide security and predictability for both people and businesses. Expats from Norway and their family members retain their social security connection to Norway.
It also means that rights that are earned are not lost, and that pensions, including disability benefits and survivors' benefits, can be exported. We will post a link to the agreement when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has published it.
If you want to apply for a pensjon from other countries than the ones listed above, you must contact NAV. We will help you further with the application.
Do you want to apply for a pension from a country with which we do not have a social security agreement? Then you must contact the relevant pension authorities in the country to find out how to apply.
If you have worked outside Norway for a Norwegian employer, and paid tax to Norway during this period, you have in most cases retained your membership in the National Insurance Scheme. You have then earned Norwegian pension rights also during the period abroad. Normally, you have not earned pension rights in the country where you performed the work.
If you want to find out if you are entitled to a pension from the country in question, you can still apply for a pension from there as well.
Updated 06/20/2024
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