Kiwis who worked in Germany can reclaim their pension contributions. With no social security agreement in place, the standard rules decide your claim.
New Zealand has no social security agreement with Germany, so only your German contribution months count toward the 60-month threshold. If you worked in Germany for fewer than 60 months and now live outside the EU, you likely qualify for a refund. Average refund across 3,500+ documented cases: EUR 12,926.
“Got €16,400 back. Camilo kept me updated every step.”
James T. · Canada
What to check first
Country pages should narrow the likely route, not replace the full refund review.
The first job is orientation: current residence, voluntary contribution questions, waiting periods and document readiness still need to be checked together.
Current residence outside Germany still matters first
Country intent usually starts with residence context, because that can change which pension route is more realistic.
The 24-month rule and the broader contribution history remain core
A country page should never imply that nationality or current location alone decides the outcome.
Document and transfer details matter early in cross-border cases
Identity documents, current address details and payout handling often shape how smoothly a case can move after the fit is clear.
No agreement between New Zealand and Germany: your German record stands on its own.
New Zealand and Germany have no bilateral social security agreement. Your New Zealand work history therefore never counts toward the German 60-month minimum pension threshold; the tally is made from your German contribution months alone. From outside the EU and the UK the refund stays available whether you stayed under 60 German months or passed them; past 60 it competes with a vested German pension, so it becomes a choice rather than the default. The waiting period still applies: 24 months must have passed since your last German contribution.
Your German pension didn't get on the plane with you
For most Kiwis, Germany came with a known end date. The OE that turned into a Berlin contract, or the transfer that turned into a few Hamburg years; eventually the return ticket got used. The pension you built along the way stayed put, logged against your Versicherungsnummer (German pension insurance number). It doesn't fade with time, and the Deutsche Rentenversicherung (German statutory pension insurance) won't post a reminder to New Zealand.
Whatever reached your pension account each month was double what left your wallet. You paid 9.3% of your gross salary; the company you worked for added the mirror image from its own books. Only your own 9.3% can come back as a refund. The matching half stays in the fund, and no clause opens a route to it.
Voluntary insurance, and why your new address decides the case
German law bolts the refund to one question: may you keep paying into the pension system voluntarily, out of your own pocket? The permission has a name, freiwillige Versicherung (voluntary insurance). While it's yours, cashing out isn't. The DRV reads an open voluntary account as a sign you might still retire on German money one day, so it leaves your contributions where they sit.
Residence hands you that permission or takes it away, and for a Kiwi the boundary runs at the edge of Europe. An EU or UK home keeps the voluntary door open, and an open door means nothing to refund. A New Zealand home shuts it, and a shut door is what your claim runs on. Your passport plays no part. What the DRV checks is your current address proof, because that one document tells it whether it can still keep you paying in.
Under or over 60 months: two different outcomes
One more number frames the case: the minimum insurance period of 60 contribution months, roughly five years on the job. Below the line you build no German pension entitlement at all, so the refund is the only value your German years can take. Sixty months and beyond, you've earned a standing claim to a German pension, and for a New Zealander, with no treaty in play, the refund still stands beside it; what changes is that collecting the money erases the record behind the pension.
Leaving Germany for good sets up a fork in the road: take your contributions back now, or keep a pension to draw later. Crossing 60 months doesn't slam a door; it opens the second one, a lifelong pension standing next to the single payout, and which serves you better turns on your age, your other savings, and how the figures land. So count your months before you decide anything. With no social security agreement between New Zealand and Germany, your Kiwi work years never enter that count; the tally is built from your German record alone, and a free eligibility check settles it in minutes.
Three things that shut the door regardless
A few cases fail whatever your address and your waiting time. Three of them recur:
- A German pension has already been approved for you, or the payments have started.
- A German paycheck is still reaching you, which keeps you inside compulsory insurance there.
- The voluntary route is still open, which for a New Zealander only happens from an EU or UK address.
None of the three in play? Then nothing stands between you and the money. The contributions belong to you, and the only thing left is the paperwork to collect them.
Filing from the far side of the world
The claim never touches a website. You fill in a German-only application by hand, sign it, and post the package to the DRV, which answers by letter, in German. New Zealand sits about as far from a German mailbox as a document can travel, so send it tracked and keep a copy of everything that leaves your hands.
What holds Kiwi files up is rarely the form itself. The DRV wants current proof that you've settled in New Zealand, a country the EU's coordination rules don't reach, and it needs an account it can wire to from abroad, which turns a plain NZ account number into a SWIFT or BIC code on the form. The document list on this page is what the insurer will ask you to produce.
How long the whole thing runs comes down to two things: the distance your envelope covers, fixed the day you post it, and how cleanly your record reads when it lands. A file the DRV can approve without a follow-up question is paid inside a few months; each gap it has to query by post drags the case toward a year.
One letter outranks the rest, the Bescheid (decision letter) that lists the months counted and the amount approved. Read the month list before you read the figure at the bottom: a contribution period it left off only counts again if you object before the reply deadline, and that deadline runs on German time, indifferent to how long the letter took to reach New Zealand.
From New Zealand, the alternative to a year of German post is to hand the file to people who run these claims for a living. Fundsback has done exactly that since 2015, in English and online: we run the application and field every German letter it triggers, and the risk stays on our side, so if the pension refund doesn't come through, neither does a bill.
Common questions that usually come up on country pages
Who can claim a pension refund?
Pension refund is usually relevant for people who paid into the German pension system, may not fit the standard pension path and want to check whether reclaiming contributions makes more sense than waiting for regular retirement benefits.
ExploreDo I have to wait 24 months for a pension refund?
In many refund cases, the 24-month gap after your last mandatory contribution is part of the timing logic. The exact fit still depends on your insurance history and whether another pension route is more relevant, so it should be checked in context first.
ExploreReady to move from country-specific research into the actual refund path?
Use the country page to get the first orientation right, then continue into Pension Refund or contact if the case needs more human guidance.
