Employment abroad and pension/PRSI

This is a topic that may become very relevant as we move to total contributions in Ireland. Many people have had a stint working abroad and we can see it can be very important to keep track of the pension landscape in countries you may have worked and how to best maximise your pension entitlements.

Maybe we can build it into a key post? I have listed the most common countries that my peers/family have worked in but maybe there are other trends? Maybe it moves too much to be a key post but some things will be enduring. Basically is there anything that can be proactively done now eg paperwork on hand so that there is less struggle when time comes to calculate your state pension in Ireland or to avoid missing out on any entitlements abroad?

Ireland
Make sure to register for an account on welfare.ie so that you can view your PRSI record.
Get corrections for any missing contributions eg unpaid maternity leave, homemakers scheme, any missing data from employers
How can you get missing PRSI contributions added?

UK
Voluntary contributions well covered in this forum, there may already be a key post?

USA

Australia
No separate social contributions, how does this work? Do you get credits for time spent working there?
Does having claimed a refund of superannuation when leaving impact this?

New Zealand

Canada

I am trying to deal with this based on 12 years spent working in Australia and having emailed the DSP here I am still non the wiser!

Anyone have any actual experience doing this so you can combine PRSI in Ireland with residence time spent overseas?

Reni10 said:

I am trying to deal with this based on 12 years spent working in Australia and having emailed the DSP here I am still non the wiser!

Anyone have any actual experience doing this so you can combine PRSI in Ireland with residence time spent overseas?

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You need to contact the Records Office for the DSP which is based in Buncrana , in Donegal. If you give them your details I.e. where you worked, what Company you worked with, the time frame and if possible your National Insurance number…..then Buncrana will do all the leg-work and advise you of your options.

Reni10 said:

I am trying to deal with this based on 12 years spent working in Australia and having emailed the DSP here I am still non the wiser!

Anyone have any actual experience doing this so you can combine PRSI in Ireland with residence time spent overseas?

Click to expand...

You can't combine them. The years in Aistralia can be used to qualify if you have less than 520 contributions but You only get the value of your years in Ireland. The same for Australia.

My semi-knowledge of this is that the situation is totally different for the UK, US, Australia, Canada, etc.

The EU is similar enough for social insurance but there are national differences.

A key post for each the different jurisdictions would make sense.

Ireland has a number of bi-lateral Social Security Agreements with a range of countries. From memory, Australia is one of those countries. These generally allow you to combine overseas national insurance contributions with Irish PRSI contributions in order to improve your State Pension in Ireland.