Individuals
Retirement assessments – International careers for expatriates
Moving abroad for a year or more? How will this affect your retirement? What strategies should you consider to ensure a smooth transition? We answer all your questions about retiring abroad before, during, and after your move.
I am moving abroad for a year or more, alone or with my family: I need to know how this will affect my pension rights.
Are you or have you been expatriated by your employer to a subsidiary abroad, or have you moved to another country during your career? You need to assess the consequences and benefits of voluntary contributions for you and your spouse. This will have a significant impact on your retirement.
What are the implications of moving abroad to retire internationally?
I have worked abroad for many years: how will these periods be taken into account when calculating my pensions (French or foreign)? Is it in my interest to make voluntary contributions to the French pension scheme? Can I combine my entitlements?
Our international pension experts can answer all these questions and more. With their help, you can determine the most relevant and profitable options for you and/or your employer.
Which product is right for me?
Our support
Working with you to identify your specific needs and determine the types of services that are right for you.
Retirement interview
Enable you to discuss all matters relating to your retirement with comprehensive answers tailored to your specific situation with one of our experts.
Retirement assessment
A personalized study to give you visibility on your retirement conditions and simulate your future French and foreign entitlements based on your career.
Retirement procedures
Advise you on putting together your application, submitting it to the relevant funds, and communicating with them to ensure it is processed correctly.
Do you still have questions?
An international pension is the retirement pension of a person who has worked in several countries during his or her career. It is based on specific rules and agreements between the countries concerned. This pension may be made up of several pensions paid by different schemes.
The main scenarios :
– If you have worked in the EU/EEA or Switzerland, European regulations mean that each country where you have paid contributions will pay you a pension proportional to your length of contribution. Each country applies its own calculation rules and pays the corresponding pension. These periods may be taken into account when calculating your French pension.
– You have worked in a country with which France has a bilateral agreement (USA, Canada, Morocco, Algeria…). Agreements signed between France and these countries allow periods of contributions abroad to be taken into account.
– If you have worked in a country with which France has no agreement, the periods worked will not be taken into account when calculating your French pension.
Please note that periods abroad will be assessed by the French pension fund to determine the total amount of entitlements.
In all these cases, there are levers for optimization.
When you are in a couple, it is not uncommon for the spouse to be forced to leave their job in France. There are also options for voluntary contributions for your spouse under certain conditions. You could contribute as a dependent to the CFE Vieillesse (French Social Security Fund for Old Age). The choice and suitability of this contribution will depend on your individual circumstances.
Calculating your French pension after working abroad depends on several factors, including the country or countries where you worked, the social security agreements between France and the country or countries concerned, and the pension schemes to which you contributed. Here is a brief overview of the main steps to follow:
– Determine if the country or countries have a social security agreement with France
– Request your pension statement from France
– Verify that periods worked abroad are taken into account
– Have your pension calculated, taking into account your international career
– Submit your pension application to the appropriate contact person
– Find out about the specific tax implications
A Retirement Assessment is an individual study that provides simple answers to 4 major questions:
- Have my rights been taken over by the pension funds?
- When can I retire?
- How much will my annual pension be?
- Are there ways of optimizing my situation?
Our aim is to provide you with a clearer picture of your pension entitlements, by including in our analysis all compulsory pension schemes (basic and supplementary) in France, as well as in countries where you have paid contributions (local contracts or VIE or VIA-type volunteer work, etc.) and which have signed social security agreements with France.
Based on your French and/or foreign career records, we will analyze your career path, checking for any anomalies (missing pension rights in France). This will enable us to propose alternative optimization scenarios aimed at putting in place the strategies you need for a worry-free retirement.
This service enables you to officially request payment of your various pensions (basic and supplementary schemes) from the relevant bodies.
This service offers several advantages:
1. Time-saving: expert assistance simplifies an often complex and time-consuming procedure.
2. More secure procedures: Expert advice ensures that the settlement is carried out correctly, and avoids administrative errors that could delay pension payments.
3. Optimization of entitlements: Our specialists analyze your entire career to ensure that all periods for which contributions have been paid or assimilated (in France and/or abroad) are taken into account.
This service is aimed at people who:
– have had a career marked by changes of status
– have had a career marked by periods abroad, as well as their spouses
– have gone abroad as part of a Volontariat International en Entreprise (International Voluntary Work Experience scheme).
Yes, you can receive your French pension in your country of expatriation. However, you will have to contact the pension funds each year to certify your situation. Without providing proof of existence, your pension will not be paid out. We advise you to plan ahead for this yearly requirement.
To assess the cost and benefit of pension contributions to the CFE (Fund for French nationals abroad), you need to have good knowledge of the social security agreements applicable between France and the country of expatriation (bilateral or Community agreements, or no agreement). Voluntary contributions to the CFE can be used to accrue quarters of contributions for the calculation of French pension payment rates, periods of insurance and the average yearly income.
Yes, there are conditions under which you can be paid a French or foreign pension and income from work abroad concurrently. As regards retirement in France, one of these conditions is that the insured person has reached the statutory retirement age (which depends on your date of birth) and has requested their French pensions from all the relevant funds.
It is possible to buy back quarters for periods spent abroad. This must correspond to periods where you worked abroad without being affiliated to a French pension scheme, subject to certain conditions. As with voluntary pension contributions, you must assess the cost and effect that such a buyback would have on your future French pension payments.