Expat Living

National Pension Service

Gwangju News

Social Security Agreement for the U.K, Dutch and Spanish Nationals

Foreigners 18-60 years old who are residing and working in Korea, regardless of their nationality, should be covered under the National Pension Service (NPS). Foreigners whose countries do not cover Korean nationals, however, are excluded from the coverage of NPS. Even so, if there are relevant provisions under the Social Security Agreement (SSA) between Korea and any foreign countries, those provisions will be applied.

To protect the rights of foreigners, the SSA is publishing a series of articles spotlighting SSAs in cooperation with Gwangju News. This month’s featured SSA is for foreigners from Spain, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

The U.K. & The Netherlands

SSA between Korea and the U.K. entered into force:  August 2000

SSA between Korea and the Netherlands entered into force:  October 2003

Exemption from Dual Coverage

  1. In general, an employee is subject to the legislation of a contracting country in which he/she is employed.
  2. Where an employee is employed in both countries for the same period, the person is subject to the legislation of a contracting country in which he/she ordinarily resides.
  3. A self-employed person is subject to the legislation of a contracting country in which the person ordinarily resides.
  4. A person employed in the territory of one contracting country, while self-employed in the territory of the other country for the same period, he/she is subject to the legislation of a contracting country in which he/she ordinarily resides.
  5. A detached worker is exempt from coverage under the legislation of the contracting country which he/she is sent to for less than 5 years if he/she is covered under the legislation of his/her home country.

Benefits under this Agreement

  1. Since the Convention on Social Security between Korea and (the U.K./ the Netherlands) is a Contributions-only Convention, there is no provision of totalization of periods of coverage for the entitlement to benefit.
  2. Therefore, there are no pension benefits under the convention, whether the payment is granted depends on the each country’s legislation respectively.
  3. And a Korean lump-sum refund is not paid to the nationals of (U.K./The Netherlands).

SPAIN

SSA between Korea and Spain entered into force: April 2013

Exemption from Dual Coverage

  1. In general, an employee is subject to the legislation of a contracting state in which he/she is employed.
  2. In general, a self-employed person is subject to the legislation of the state in which he/she works.
  3. A detached person is exempt from being subject to the legislation of the state which he/she is sent to for no more than 5 years if he/she is covered under the legislation of his/her home country.
  4. Based on the mutual agreement between the two countries, those periods can be extended.
  5. A person who is engaged in gainful activities in both contracting states is subject to the legislation of only the contracting state in which he/she ordinarily resides.

Benefits under this Agreement

Even though your periods of coverage in one country are not sufficient to qualify for pension benefits, you may be eligible for benefits after this Agreement has entered into force. This is possible due to totaling the coverage of both countries.

Korean National Pension Benefits under the SSA

  1. If you have no less than one year of period of coverage under the Korean national pension program but do not have enough periods of coverage (e.g., 20 years for Full Old-age pension) to qualify for pension benefits under the Korean national pension program, you may be able to qualify for Korean national pension benefits by totaling periods of coverage under the Korean and Spanish pension systems. However, these periods creditable under the Spanish pension system, must not coincide with those under the legislation of Korea.
  2. Your benefit is calculated by dividing the Korean periods of coverage by the total periods of coverage and then multiplying by the benefits amount (theoretical benefit). The benefits amount (theoretical benefit) is calculated based on the total periods in both countries.

Spanish Pension Benefits under the SSA

  1. If you have no less than one year of period of coverage under the Spanish pension program but do not have enough periods of coverage to qualify for pension benefits under the Spanish pension system, you may be able to qualify for Spanish pension benefits by totalizing periods of coverage under the Korean and Spanish pension systems. However, these periods creditable under the Korean national pension program, must not coincide with those under the legislation of Spain.
  2. A national of either contracting country who resides in the other contracting country is treated equally with the national of the other contracting country in the application of the legislation of the other contracting country.
  3. Despite the provisions on equal treatment, Korean lump-sum refunds are not granted to Spanish nationals based on the Agreement.

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