Romanian state pension for foreigners: how much it pays and how to claim it abroad

Romania’s public pension is contributory and nationality-blind. Law 360/2023 on the public pension system, in force since 1 September 2024, says in Article 5 that the insured “pot fi cetățeni români, cetățeni ai altor state sau apatrizi” while they have their domicile or residence in Romania, and that people living elsewhere can be insured under the international instruments Romania is party to. The Casa Națională de Pensii Publice (CNPP) runs the system.

How the pension is earned

Employees, civil servants and self-employed people with social-security contributions due under the Fiscal Code are insured automatically; CNPP’s page on voluntary insurance gives the contribution rate as “25%”. Anyone can also sign a social-insurance contract with a county pension house: the insured income cannot fall below the gross minimum wage, and from 1 July 2026 the minimum is 4,325 lei a month, with a contribution of 1,081 lei.

CNPP’s FAQ adds a reassurance for people who left to work in another EU country: thanks to the totalisation principle there is no need to keep paying voluntary contributions in Romania, although any paid will count.

Age and contribution period

Article 47 of the law sets the standard retirement age at 65 for men and women. For women it is still rising, from 62 years and 3 months to 65, between September 2024 and January 2035. The minimum contributory period is 15 years; the full period is 35 years (for women rising from 32 years and 8 months). The exact age and periods depend on month and year of birth, set out in Annex 5 of the law.

How much the pension is

Since September 2024 the pension is calculated with a “reference point value”, set at 81 lei and indexed every January by inflation plus half of real wage growth. CNPP’s page lists 81 lei for January 2025 (page updated 3 January 2025) and no 2026 figure yet.

CNPP’s September 2026 statistics give the real picture: 4,572,742 state-system pensioners and an average pension of 2,821 lei; old-age pensions averaged 3,168 lei. Pensioners domiciled in Romania whose total pension income is below 1,281 lei receive a social indemnity topping it up to that level (850,009 beneficiaries in September 2026). CNPP publishes no separate calculator for foreigners; the inputs are the same for everyone.

Years worked in other EU countries

Romania applies Regulations 883/2004 and 987/2009 (EEA from 1 April 2012, Switzerland from 1 June 2012; the UK through the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement). CNPP’s “Pensii Comunitare” page explains that the Romanian contribution period “se calculează prin însumarea perioadelor de asigurare realizate în România cu cele de asigurare realizate în alte state membre”, and that each state pays its share “pro rata temporis”. You need not meet the conditions in every country at the same time.

Your Europe gives the method. Each country works out a theoretical amount as if your whole career had been under its scheme, scales it to the time actually insured there, compares it with any purely national pension you qualify for, and pays the higher. Each decision arrives on a P1 form. Ask at least six months before retiring. Institutions exchange data electronically through EESSI.

Non-EU nationals

Outside the EU rules, rights follow bilateral agreements. CNPP lists agreements with Albania, Canada, Chile, South Korea, Israel, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Quebec, Serbia, Turkey and Uruguay, and a 1960 convention still applied with Armenia, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. The agreement with the United States, signed 23 March 2023, entered into force on 1 September 2026: Romania counts three months for each US quarter (at most twelve a year), the US side totalises once at least six US quarters exist, and Romanian periods under one year yield no Romanian benefit on their own. From a country with no agreement, the claim goes through a representative in Romania holding a special power of attorney.

How and where to apply

The claim is filed with the county pension house for your domicile, in person, through a representative with a special power of attorney, or online through a Spațiul Privat Virtual account. Filing within 30 calendar days of meeting the conditions makes the pension run from that date; later, from the filing date. The decision is due within 45 days, extendable by 30, and can be contested within 45 days.

The mandatory documents are the application (Annex 3 to the norms), identity card, birth and marriage certificates, and the carnet de muncă (work book). Periods before 1 April 2001 need the work book or employer or archive certificates; later periods sit in CNPP’s database. Residents abroad add a declaration of habitual residence (Annex 5 to the norms). All forms are on CNPP’s “Formulare pensii” page.

Living in another EU or agreement country, you file at your local social-security institution (Article 89), which forwards everything to Romania. Payment goes to a bank account in your country of residence once you file a transfer declaration with BIC/SWIFT and IBAN; a life certificate is due by 31 March or 30 September each year. A power of attorney signed abroad must be apostilled where the Hague Convention applies and, if not in Romanian, accompanied by a legalised Romanian translation; it is valid 18 months. CNPP’s international directorate is at str. Latină nr. 8, Bucharest, telephone 0040 21 311 80 47, weekdays 10:00-12:00.

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