Pension reviews – Expatriates with international careers

Calculating your French pension after working abroad depends on a number of factors, including the country(ies) where you worked, the social security agreements between France and the country(ies) concerned, and the pension schemes to which you contributed.
Here are the main steps to follow:
- Determine whether the country(ies) have a social security agreement with France
- Request your career record in France
- Check that periods worked abroad are taken into account
- Calculate your pension taking into account your international career
- Apply for your pension with the appropriate contact person
- Find out about specific tax issues

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.

For expatriate employees in a relationship, the spouse must often leave their job in France. There are options for your spouse to make voluntary pension contributions under certain conditions. You can make contributions to the CFE pension fund as head of the household. Your situation dictates whether or not this contribution is appropriate.

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.