Recently, it has been claimed that Ukrainian refugees are allowed to draw their pensions earlier than everyone else in this country. The opposite is the case. The facts.
Authorities in Germany are repeatedly falsely accused in social networks of providing better financial support to refugees than locals, for example. This envy debate has recently been about pensions and when they are paid.
Claim: Ukrainian refugees receive pensions in Germany up to ten years earlier than Germans.
Rating: Wrong.
Facts: When drawing a German pension, foreigners have the same entry age as German citizens. The German pension insurance confirms this to the German press agency (dpa): “The statutory retirement age varies – depending on the type of old-age pension – between 63 and 67 years.”
Every person who works in Germany that is subject to social security contributions pays into the pension fund. This means that foreigners such as Ukrainian citizens also acquire pension entitlements.
However, access to the German pension system is more difficult for people from Ukraine. They have a general waiting period of five years. This means that they can only draw a pension once they have paid contributions for five years.
This waiting period applies to all foreigners who do not come from EU countries or from countries with which Germany has concluded a special social security agreement. A corresponding agreement was negotiated with Ukraine. This has so far been ratified by the German Bundestag, but not yet by the parliament in Kyiv, reports the German pension insurance.
So far, aid for refugees from Ukraine has been granted under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act. However, according to information from the Federal Ministry of Labor, this should change in most cases from June 1, 2022. Then people from the Ukraine of retirement age, like German pensioners, can apply for the so-called basic security in old age if they have little or no income.
