Pension in Slovakia for Ukrainians — work record, minimum payment, and Ukrainian pension

The agreement between Ukraine and the Slovak Republic on social security has been in force since January 1, 2002. Years of work in both countries are combined when checking your pension rights, but each state pays separately — only for its own period of work record. The minimum Slovak pension from January 1, 2026, is €412.00 per month for 30 years of qualified work record.

We write this first because in search results and even in automatic Google replies, the opposite still appears: "There is no agreement between the countries, Ukrainian work record is lost." This is not true. The document is signed, valid, and has the Slovak number 53/2002 Z. z.

Can a Ukrainian receive a Slovak pension?

Yes. Slovak citizenship is not required for a pension: what matters is how many years you were insured in Slovakia and what contributions were paid for you. Permanent residence (trvalý pobyt) is also not a condition — it was removed from the requirements on January 1, 2004. Insurance counts, not the type of your stay in the country.

There are two basic conditions, and they are the same for everyone: reaching retirement age and having at least 15 years of dôchodkové poistenie (pension insurance). The pension is assigned and paid by Sociálna poisťovňa — the Slovak Social Insurance Institution.

There is a limit that is almost nowhere mentioned. If under Slovak law you have less than one year of insurance, the right to a Slovak pension does not arise at all — even if you have 35 years of work record in Ukraine. The same rule is written in the Agreement itself: work record shorter than 12 months under the legislation of one of the Parties does not generate payments. One year in Slovakia is the entry threshold; without it, the rest of the calculations make no sense.

Is Ukrainian work record counted and is there an agreement between the countries?

The "Agreement between Ukraine and the Slovak Republic on social security" was signed on December 5, 2000, in Bratislava and came into force on January 1, 2002. In Slovak law, this is document 53/2002 Z. z. The Slovak Ministry of Labor keeps it in the list of bilateral agreements marked "Valid from January 1, 2002" and with the status "Agreement is implemented".

Article 12 formulates the main rule: insurance periods acquired under the legislation of both Parties are added together if the periods do not overlap. Then the proportion applies. The competent institution of each country assigns payment "in the amount corresponding to the ratio between the insurance period established according to its own legislation and the total insurance period."

Simply put, Ukrainian work record helps you cross the pension eligibility threshold, but Ukraine pays for it, not Slovakia. You will have two payments from two countries, not one bigger payment.

Article 23 adds one more thing: work record acquired before the Agreement came into force is also counted. The Ukrainian Pension Fund agrees with this framework — Slovakia is among nine EU countries with which the proportional principle applies, alongside the Czech Republic, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The Agreement covers old-age pension, disability pension, and survivor's pension.

What the Agreement does not do — it does not transfer your Ukrainian pension to the Slovak budget. Sociálna poisťovňa explicitly states on its Ukrainian-language page that neither the Agreement nor Slovak law allows it to "take over" the payment of a pension assigned in Ukraine.

And a very recent detail. On May 28, 2026, Ukraine and Slovakia held official negotiations to update the Agreement: they discussed a draft Agreement that would add payments for occupational accidents, maternity and childbirth benefits, and unemployment benefits. The Agreement has not yet been signed, so the 2007 amended version is still in force.

What is the minimum pension amount in 2026?

The minimum pension from January 1, 2026, is €412.00 per month for 30 years of qualified work record. For each additional year, the amount increases: for 40 years it is €484.50, for 45 years — €527.10. This is a guaranteed level: if your calculated pension is lower, it is raised to this threshold.

The amounts are given according to the Sociálna poisťovňa table, valid from January 1, 2026.

Where does €412 come from? It is 1.45 times the living minimum (životné minimum) for an adult person: 1.45 × 284.13 = 411.99, and the amount is rounded up. The number €284.13 is the living minimum valid from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026; from July 1, 2026, it will be €295.22. This does not yet affect the minimum pension: its amounts are rewritten only from January 1 and calculated from the minimum valid on that date. Until the end of 2026, they continue to be based on €284.13. The next recalculation is from January 1, 2027.

Here is a trap where most make mistakes. "30 years of work record" is not 30 worked years. It is 30 years of kvalifikované obdobie (qualified period), and they are counted differently: years before January 1, 1993, are counted fully, all days. Each year from 1993 counts only if your personal salary score for it is at least 0.241 — that is, if the annual income was not less than about 24% of the average salary in the country. A half-year may not count.

The 15 years enough for a regular old-age pension are not enough for the minimum pension. Sociálna poisťovňa separately warns about this in its analysis of the most common pension myths.

You do not need to apply for an increase to the minimum pension: the institution decides on its own initiative. But you must confirm in writing the periods acquired abroad and the pension amounts paid to you from abroad. Silence is read as "no periods."

At what age do people retire?

The retirement age in Slovakia is the same for men and women; the difference is only created by the number of children raised. In 2026, those born in 1962–1964 reach retirement age.

For each child raised, the age is reduced by six months, but a maximum of 18 months — so the third child still works, the fourth does not. A mother of three children born in 1964 will retire at 62 years 2 months.

For those born after 1966, the age is tied to average life expectancy and shifts by several months each year. Therefore, it is better to check the number for your birth year with the Sociálna poisťovňa table rather than memorize "64 years" forever: half of the articles in search results are based on this outdated number.

How much do pensioners actually receive in Slovakia?

The reference amount for 2026 is €702.30. This is the average monthly old-age pension paid by Sociálna poisťovňa from the first level. From January 1, 2026, all pensions were increased by 3.7%.

Once a year, pensioners also receive a thirteenth pension — €667.30 for old-age pension recipients. This amount is frozen at the 2025 level and will not change until 2028.

Your own amount will depend on two things: how many years contributions were paid for you and from what salary. You can see typical earnings by professions and regions in our salary guide — it is more realistic to calculate from them than from the country average.

What to do with the Ukrainian pension after moving?

There are two different scenarios — temporary departure and permanent residence. Documents and deadlines differ.

You are abroad temporarily. This applies to those with temporary protection status, refugee status, or simply staying outside Ukraine for at least 183 days a year. The pension continues to be paid to an account in a Ukrainian bank. The condition is one: to undergo physical identification every year by December 31.

You can do this in three ways:

1. Online via Diia.Signature — on the portal portal.pfu.gov.ua or in the "Pension Fund of Ukraine" app: authorization, photo verification, code entry.

2. By videoconference — sign up through the portal or contact center 0800 503 753, connection via Google Meet, Signal, Telegram, Viber, WhatsApp, or Zoom.

3. Through the Ukrainian consulate — they will certify the fact that you are alive.

The date and method of the last identification are visible in the personal cabinet on the PFU portal; the service is called "My Identification." If you miss the deadline, payment will be stopped, and you will have to renew it with a separate application.

You are moving for permanent residence. The procedure is different. Before departure, you must apply to the territorial PFU body with an application, a foreign passport with the appropriate entry, and a deregistration certificate from your place of residence. The pension can be paid six months in advance, counting from the month following the deregistration month. Further payment continues under the Agreement — Slovakia is one of the nine countries where the Ukrainian pension continues to be transferred.

Where to check your work record and how to apply?

Slovak work record is visible in the Elektronický účet poistenca — electronic insured person's account. It lists employers for whom Sociálna poisťovňa keeps records of pension insurance periods from January 1, 1993, with start and end dates for each. Access is activated with an electronic ID card on the eServices portal, without visiting a branch.

It is better to check there in advance, not a month before retirement. If an employer once did not submit data, correcting it after twenty years will take noticeably longer than after two.

Ukrainian work record is confirmed by a certificate from the Pension Fund of Ukraine. Without official confirmation from the competent institution, the Slovak side will not count the periods — a copy of the work book and oral explanations do not work here.

Applications for a pension are accepted at any Sociálna poisťovňa branch — not necessarily at the place of residence. Those living in Ukraine apply through the Pension Fund of Ukraine, which then forwards documents to the Slovak side; the same applies to EU countries. Direct application to the central office (ústredie) in Bratislava is the way for those living in countries without an agreement with Slovakia. For annual confirmation of life for pensioners living abroad, the institution has a separate address [email protected].

If you opened a živnosť (sole-trader licence — self-employment), you pay contributions to Sociálna poisťovňa yourself — and your future work record consists of these. Months without paid contributions will not count towards the pension.

What other pensions exist?

Besides old-age pension, Sociálna poisťovňa assigns several other payments. Widow's pension (vdovský dôchodok) is 60% of the pension the deceased husband had or would have had on the day of death. Orphan's pension (sirotský dôchodok) is 40% of the deceased parent's pension. A child who lost both parents receives two orphan's pensions, both paid in full. However, when the orphan's pension coincides with a disability pension, the higher one is paid in full, the lower one at half.

There are also disability pension (invalidný dôchodok) and early old-age pension (predčasný starobný dôchodok), which is assigned only a few years before retirement age, for very long work record, and with lifelong reduction of the amount. Each has its own conditions, and for Ukrainians, they work under the same Agreement as the old-age pension.

Start with the electronic insured person's account: activate it and see which years Sociálna poisťovňa already sees for you. The second step is to order a certificate of Ukrainian work record from PFU while documents are available. And mark December 31 in your calendar: by this date every year you must undergo identification, otherwise the Ukrainian payment will stop.