Claiming your old-age pension

Your old-age pension will not start automatically; you must claim it yourself. Submitting your pension application about one month prior to your planned start of retirement is a good idea.

You can claim your old-age pension from a pension provider and Kela with the same application. You can complete the application form in the e-service of your pension provider. If you do not know your pension provider, log into Työeläke.fi, the e-service of the Finnish Centre for Pensions, and you will be automatically forwarded to your pension provider’s service. By submitting your pension application online, you can speed up both the submission process and the processing of the application.

• Työeläke.fiOpens in a new window.
• Old-age pension - Elo.fiOpens in a new window.
• Old-age pension - Ilmarinen.fiOpens in a new window.
• Old-age pension - Keva.fiOpens in a new window.
• Old-age pension - Varma.fiOpens in a new window.
• Old-age pension - Veritas.fiOpens in a new window.
• Pension security - Farmers’ Social Insurance Institution Mela, Mela.fiOpens in a new window.
• Old-age pension - Seafarerspensionfund.fiOpens in a new window.

If you are unable to use the e-service, you can also claim your pension using a printable form. For instructions on how to claim your pension with the form, see your pension provider’s service or the Forms page at Työeläke.fiOpens in a new window..

For additional information on how to claim your old-age pension from Kela, see When should I submit a pension application to Kela?

If you switch to old-age pension from another pension, a separate application may not be necessary. For instructions on different situations, see Switching to an old-age pension from another type of pension.

If you have accrued little or no earnings-related pension, you can receive a national pension paid by Kela and, under certain conditions, a guarantee pension.

You can apply for an old-age pension paid as a national pension from Kela with the same application form as for an earnings-related pension paid by a pension provider.

If you have not accrued any earnings-related pension at all, you can submit your old-age pension and guarantee pension applications directly to Kela. You can only apply for a guarantee pension from Kela.

• How to claim your old-age pension – Kela.fiOpens in a new window.
• How to claim your guarantee pension – Kela.fiOpens in a new window.

A partial early old-age pension can only be applied from a pension provider. You should submit your application at least two weeks prior to the time you want your partial early old-age pension payments to start. Submitting the application early is a good idea, because no partial old-age pension will be granted retroactively.

On the application, you must choose whether you want to receive 25% or 50% of your accrued earnings-related pension.

The time when you start to receive your partial early old-age pension will affect the amount of your future pension. If you start your partial early old-age pension:

• Before you have reached your retirement age, your pension will be permanently reduced by the amount of the reduction for early retirement, which is 0.4% for each month prior to the retirement age
• After you have reached your retirement age, your pension will be permanently increased by the amount of the increment for late retirement, which is 0.4% for each month prior to the retirement age

You can complete the application form in the e-service of your pension provider. If you do not know your pension provider, log into Työeläke.fi, and you will be forwarded to your pension provider’s service.

For more information about the partial old-age pension, see Työeläke.fi.Opens in a new window. Also see the application instructions of your pension provider:

• Partial old-age pension - Elo.fiOpens in a new window.
• Partial early old-age pension - Ilmarinen.fiOpens in a new window.
• Partial early old-age pension - Keva.fiOpens in a new window.
• Partial old-age pension - Varma.fiOpens in a new window.
• Partial old-age pension - Veritas.fiOpens in a new window.
• Partial old-age pension - Farmers’ Social Insurance Institution Mela, Mela.fi (in Finnish)Opens in a new window.
• Flexible partial old-age pension - Seafarerspensionfund.fi Opens in a new window.

You do not qualify for a partial old-age pension if you are already receiving another earnings-related pension from Finland or farmers’ early retirement aid, or if your disability pension is dormant because you are employed.

If you receive a partial early old-age pension, the payments will continue until you switch to the old-age pension. If you are granted a disability pension, the partial early old-age pension payments will cease.  

You will have to separately claim your old-age pension after the partial early old-age pension. To claim the pension, submit an old-age pension application. You can complete the application in your pension provider’s e-service. If you do not know your pension provider, log into Työeläke.fi, and you will be forwarded to your pension provider’s service.

There is a minimum age limit for switching from the partial early old-age pension to full old-age pension, but there is no upper age limit. You can switch from the partial old-age pension to full old-age pension at the earliest when you have reached your retirement age. If you postpone the claiming of your final old-age pension, you will accrue an increment for late retirement on the non-early part of the old-age pension.

The switch to the old-age pension will be different if you receive a disability, partial disability, years-of-service or workers’ compensation pension.

You will receive your earnings-related pension from Finland once you have reached your retirement age and submitted a pension application. The retirement age in Finland may not be the same as the retirement age in your country of residence, which means that you may have to claim your old-age pensions at different times. You may continue working in your country of residence even if you have claimed your old-age pension from Finland.

The amount of your earnings-related pension from Finland will not change if you are currently living in Finland but move abroad when you are already receiving your earnings-related pension.

How you claim your pension from Finland depends on where you are living when you claim your pension. If the amount of your pension is small, it will be paid as a lump sum. As a rule, no national pension is paid for those living abroad. For more information about national pensions paid abroad, see the Kela website.Opens in a new window.

 Submit your pension application to the pension provider in your country of residence if:

• You live in an EU/EEA member state (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway), the United Kingdom or Switzerland
• You live in a country covered by a social security agreement (Australia, Chile, South Korea, India, Israel, Japan, Canada and the United States).

The pension provider in your country of residence will submit the application to Finland for processing.

Contact details of pension providers are available on the website of the International Social Security Association (ISSA) under “Members by country”.Opens in a new window.

Social security agreements differOpens in a new window., and you may only qualify for an earnings-related pension in Finland based on the agreement. If you move to a country with a social security agreement with Finland, the payment of Kela’s pensions included in the scope of the agreement will continue under certain conditions. For additional information, contact Kela’s Centre for International Affairs.Opens in a new window. However, there are different conditions for the payment of pensions in different countries in terms of the period of residence and nationality, for example.

Submit your pension application in Finland if you live in another country, including China, with which Finland has a social security agreement. You can only apply for an earnings-related pension from Finland. Complete the Finnish application form and send it to the Finnish Centre for Pensions or your own pension provider. You can use a paper form or a form you complete online and print out.

If you have taken out a voluntary personal supplementary pension insurance policy, you can start claiming your pension at the time of your choice once you have reached the retirement age according to the terms of insurance. If you do not want to start claiming your pension savings immediately after having reached the retirement age according to the terms of insurance, you must inform the insurance company that you want to postpone your pension.

You can postpone your pension if the pension entitlement period has not started yet. You must claim your pension by the age specified in the terms of insurance, however. 

Voluntary supplementary pensions do not affect or reduce the amount of your earnings-related pension.

Read more about voluntary pension insurance at Työeläke.fi.Opens in a new window.

If you are unemployed, you must notify the employment services of your retirement so that your right to receive unemployment security can be checked and interrupted. You can make the notification, for example, when you submit your pension application. Submit your last unemployment status report up until the day preceding your retirement. Claim your pension from your pension provider or Kela. Also make sure that the payment of your unemployment benefit will end when you start receiving your pension.

When you retire and start to receive an old-age pension, you will no longer need the services of your unemployment fund. However, retiring will not automatically end your unemployment fund membership, and you must resign in writing. Contact your unemployment fund to find out how to terminate your membership. You can often resign via the unemployment fund’s e-service. Enter the day before your retirement starts as the resignation date.

If you work during retirement, don’t forget to separately claim the accrued pension: 

• For work done while receiving an old-age pension once you reach the age at which your insurance obligation ends
• For work done while receiving a disability pension once you have stopped working and the disability pension changes to an old-age pension

Claim your pension by logging into your pension provider’s e-service and completing the old-age pension application. If you receive any pension or housing allowance from Kela, notify Kela of the change in the amount of your earnings-related pension, as the change will affect the pension from Kela.

You should claim your old-age pension from your pension provider.

Read more about working while retired at Työeläke.fi.Opens in a new window.