International Social Security Agreements with Other Countries

What are international social security/pension agreements?
As the world becomes more global and connected, there are more opportunities every year to be send abroad for work or move to another country in the future. However, when you work abroad, you are at risk of 2 things:

1. Double taxation on income with regards to pension
   You may have to pay into your own country’s pension as well as the foreign country’s pension.
2. Losing eligibility for your pension due to a lack of coverage
   Most pensions require that you be paying into the system/covered under the system for a set amount of time. If your time working abroad does not count for your pension coverage, then you might not be covered long enough to be eligible.
   （Totalization: the process when time spent on another country’s pension scheme is added toward your own pension）

International social security agreements are in place to prevent these things from happening.

Social security agreements between Japan and other countries
As of November 2015, countries that have made social security agreements with Japan are listed below. Japan has signed agreements with 19 countries, 15 of which are in effect. These are the only countries that Japan has agreements with, so please check carefully. Note: The agreements with the U.K., South Korea, and Italy only eliminate double taxations, and are not totalization agreements.

Social security agreements in effect	Germany, U.K., South Korea, U.S.A., Belgium, France, Canada, Australia, Denmark, Czech Republic, Spain, Ireland, Brazil, Switzerland, Hungary
Agreements have been signed	Italy, India, Luxembourg, Philippines

Systems and procedures

Please contact the Japan Pension Office or your country’s embassy regarding procedures with these social security agreements.

Please note: All inquiries regarding Japan’s pension system should be referred to Japan’s Pension Office. Their English homepage can be found here.

• here（外部リンク）