Use this topic page when several refund eligibility questions come up at once.

You can claim a German pension refund once you're no longer compulsorily insured in Germany, have no right to insure voluntarily, and 24 months have passed since your last compulsory contribution (§ 210 SGB VI). That usually applies if you hold no EU, EEA or Swiss passport and live outside those countries. With a passport from a treaty state such as the US, Canada, India or Turkey, a refund usually only works with fewer than 60 contribution months; UK citizens who started working in Germany from 2021 count as a treaty case, while those who started earlier are treated like EU citizens. German, EU, EEA and Swiss citizens, and anyone living in Germany, usually only get their contributions back at the standard retirement age, and only with fewer than five years paid in. A second German, EU, EEA, Swiss or UK passport blocks the refund in the same way, which is why your own case needs a check before you apply.

In almost every case, yes. The Deutsche Rentenversicherung only refunds contributions once 24 full calendar months have passed since your last compulsory pension contribution (§ 210(2) SGB VI), and you cannot shorten that period. It starts with your last insured month in Germany, such as your last payslip or your last month on unemployment benefit (ALG I); leaving the country or deregistering doesn't move the start. If you become compulsorily insured in Germany again during that time, the clock starts over. Have Fundsback check your case when you leave anyway. You'll know your earliest date, everything is ready, and the claim goes out as soon as the wait is over.

Yes, if your passport is from a country without a social security agreement with Germany; citizens of most treaty countries lose the refund once they reach 60 contribution months (five years). At 60 months a German pension entitlement exists. With a Ukrainian, Vietnamese or Emirati passport, for example, you then choose between that pension and the refund. With a US, Canadian or Indian passport, the pension replaces the refund, and insurance months from your home country can count towards the 60. Morocco and Tunisia have treaties without this limit, and UK and EU citizens follow their own rules, so check your country page before you rely on the number.

No — the refund claim under § 210 SGB VI has no filing deadline and does not expire, so contributions from many years ago can still be reclaimed. The timing rules work the other way around: at least 24 months must have passed since your last mandatory contribution, and once you start drawing a German pension a refund is no longer possible.

Your contributions stay in your German pension account; the layoff does not touch them. If you find a new job in Germany, they continue. Every month you worked, 9.3% of your gross salary went in as your employee share, which becomes claimable as a refund once you live outside the EU and 24 months have passed since your last mandatory contribution. Months on unemployment benefit (ALG I) count as mandatory contribution months: they push back the 24-month clock and count toward the 60-month threshold at which treaty-country citizens lose the refund. The free Pension Check tells you where you stand.

Yes. While you receive Arbeitslosengeld I, the employment agency pays mandatory pension contributions for you, based on 80% of your previous gross salary. Two consequences follow. The months count toward the 60-month threshold: citizens of treaty countries such as the US, India or Turkey lose the refund option permanently at 60 contribution months, so check your insurance record before a long benefit period pushes you over. And the 24-month waiting period for the refund starts only after your last mandatory contribution, which means after ALG I ends, not after your job ends. Bürgergeld is different: it pays no pension contributions. Neither point makes claiming ALG I a mistake; it just belongs in the timing plan.

The count runs in calendar months: a month with mandatory contributions counts as a full month, however many days you worked in it. More periods count than most people expect. Months of regular employment count, months on unemployment benefit (ALG I) count, and child-raising periods count as well, up to three years per child. A minijob counts if it paid into the pension system; if you opted out of contributions, it does not. For citizens of treaty countries such as India, Turkey or the US, months insured at home can be added to the German total, which is often what pushes a case over the line. Sitting at 59 months and deciding whether to take one more contract is exactly the situation where you should pull your insurance record first: at 60 months, a treaty citizen loses the refund permanently.