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Social insurance · 社会保障協定 · shakai hoshō kyōtei

Social security agreements: Japan’s pension and your home country

Japan has social security agreements with 24 countries. They do two things: stop you paying pension contributions in two countries at once when your employer sends you to Japan, and let you add up your years in Japan and at home to qualify for a pension. Which countries, who is covered, and why claiming the pension refund when you leave can cost you a pension later.

The 24 countries

Pension in Japan

Checked against the websites of the Japan Pension Service and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare on October 7, 2026 · Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment · Social insurance overview

Agreements in force (Austria since December 2025)24

Of them let you add up pension years20

Longest normal posting with a certificate of coverage5 years

Of coverage needed for a Japanese pension10 years

In short

Social security agreements in five lines

  • 24 countries have an agreement with Japan in force, among them India, the Philippines, China, Korea, Brazil, the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and many Western European countries. Vietnam is still negotiating.
  • Posted workers: if your employer at home sends you to Japan for up to 5 years, a certificate of coverage (適用証明書, tekiyō shōmeisho) keeps you in your home system and out of the Japanese pension.
  • Hired in Japan: you are in the Japanese system like everyone else — the agreement does not exempt you.
  • Adding up years: 20 of the 24 agreements let you count your years in both countries toward the 10 years a Japanese pension needs. The UK, Korea, China and Italy agreements do not.
  • The refund trap: the Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment erases all your Japanese years before the claim — they can then no longer be added up under an agreement.

What an agreement does

Two problems it solves

Elimination of dual coverage

No double contributions

  • Without an agreement, a worker sent to Japan by an employer at home may have to pay into the Japanese system and keep paying at home — twice for the same work.
  • With an agreement, the general rule is that you are covered only by the system of the country where you work.
  • The exception: a temporary posting of up to 5 years. Then you stay only in your home system and are exempt from the Japanese one.
  • Which systems this covers differs by country: always the pension, sometimes also health insurance or Employment Insurance.

Totalization of coverage periods

Adding up your years

  • A Japanese old-age pension needs at least 10 years of coverage. Many home systems have a minimum too.
  • Without an agreement, 3 or 4 years in Japan and some years at home may each be too short to give any pension.
  • With a totalization agreement, the years in both countries are added up to meet each country’s minimum.
  • Each country then pays its own pension, calculated only on the years spent in its system.

The 24 countries

Agreements in force

Japan has social security agreements in force with 24 countries; the latest, with Austria, took effect on December 1, 2025. The table follows the Japan Pension Service list of agreements and the Japanese systems each one covers.

Country In force since Adds up pension years Japanese systems covered for posted workers
Germany February 2000 yes pension
United Kingdom February 2001 no pension
Korea April 2005 no pension
United States October 2005 yes pension, health insurance
Belgium January 2007 yes pension, health insurance
France June 2007 yes pension, health insurance
Canada March 2008 yes pension
Australia January 2009 yes pension
Netherlands March 2009 yes pension, health insurance
Czech Republic June 2009 yes pension, health insurance
Spain December 2010 yes pension
Ireland December 2010 yes pension
Brazil March 2012 yes pension
Switzerland March 2012 yes pension, health insurance
Hungary January 2014 yes pension, health insurance
India October 2016 yes pension
Luxembourg August 2017 yes pension, health insurance
Philippines August 2018 yes pension
Slovak Republic July 2019 yes pension
China September 2019 no pension
Finland February 2022 yes pension, Employment Insurance
Sweden June 2022 yes pension
Italy April 2024 no pension, Employment Insurance
Austria December 2025 yes pension, Employment Insurance; health insurance only in special cases (posted employees still join Japanese health insurance)

“Japanese systems covered” means the systems a worker posted to Japan can be exempted from with a certificate of coverage. The details depend on each agreement and on the home country’s own law — for example, under the agreement with the US you are exempt from Japanese health insurance only if you and your family have US private health insurance that covers treatment in Japan. The official, always current list is on the Japan Pension Service status page.

Signed, in negotiation, and no agreement

  • Signed, not yet in force: Poland (signed in April 2026).
  • Government negotiations: Turkey, Norway and Vietnam (third round of talks in June 2026).
  • Preparatory talks: Thailand.
  • No agreement: every other country — for example Nepal, Indonesia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Mongolia, and Vietnam until its agreement is signed and in force. You pay full Japanese contributions, and your Japanese years cannot be combined with your home pension.

Status according to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare list as of June 2, 2026. An agreement only applies from the day it enters into force.

Posted from home, or hired in Japan

Who is exempt from the Japanese system

The agreement does not exempt foreigners in general. It matters who employs you and for how long you are sent.

Your situation You are covered by
Sent to Japan by your employer in an agreement country, expected for up to 5 years your home country’s system only — with a certificate of coverage
The posting is extended beyond 5 years for unexpected reasons the Japanese system in principle; the home system only if both countries agree to an extension
Sent to Japan for an expected period of more than 5 years the Japanese system
Hired locally by an employer in Japan the Japanese system
From a country with no agreement, whoever employs you the Japanese system (and your home system if its law requires)

The certificate of coverage (適用証明書)

  • It proves that you are still covered by your home country’s system while you work in Japan, and so establishes your exemption from the Japanese one.
  • Your employer at home applies for it to the social security institution of your country, before you come. If the application is refused, you are covered by the Japanese system.
  • In Japan, you hand the certificate to your workplace. It must be shown when the Japan Pension Service asks why you are not enrolled.
  • To be exempt you must stay covered by your home system, stay employed by your home employer (which keeps control of your personnel matters), and be expected to work in Japan for no more than 5 years.
  • If the work takes longer than planned, your home employer applies for an extension. How long an extension can be depends on the agreement — for India and the Philippines, up to 3 more years if both countries agree.
  • The same rules generally apply to the self-employed, but some agreements leave them out — those with India and China, for example.

Locally hired? Then you are enrolled in Japanese health insurance and Employees’ Pension Insurance like any other employee, whatever your nationality. US citizens hired in Japan still owe US Social Security tax under US law; under the agreement they can be exempt from it with a certificate of coverage issued by the Japan Pension Service, which the employer in Japan applies for at a pension office. Status of residence for transferred staff: Intra-company Transferee.

Adding up your years

How totalization works

If your Japanese coverage alone is too short for a Japanese pension, the years in your agreement country fill the gap — and the other way round.

  1. 4 years in JapanNot enough on its own: a Japanese old-age pension needs 10 years.
  2. + 8 years at home in an agreement country with totalizationTogether: 12 years — more than 10.
  3. Japan pays for its 4 yearsFrom 65, for life — calculated only on your Japanese years.
  4. Your home country pays for its 8 yearsUnder its own rules, counting your Japanese years toward its own minimum.
  • Small, but for life. The full old-age basic pension for 40 years of coverage is ¥847,300 a year (FY2026), so each full year of coverage adds about ¥21,200 a year. Years in Employees’ Pension Insurance add an earnings-related part on top.
  • Periods when you paid into both countries at the same time are counted only once.
  • You can add Japanese years to the years of one agreement country only. If you could qualify through several, you get the highest of the possible pensions.
  • Only periods in the systems the agreement covers count. India, for example: the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS) counts, the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) does not.
  • Agreements also help with disability and survivors’ pensions: home-country periods can count toward the Japanese conditions.

How you claim later

Living in your agreement country, you can usually file the claim for a Japanese pension with your own country’s social security institution, which forwards it to the Japan Pension Service (for the UK, Korea and China you file with the Japan Pension Service directly). Living in Japan, you file at a pension office with a declaration of your coverage abroad. Your Japanese pension is paid to you in the country where you live. Keep your Basic Pension Number (基礎年金番号) and your pension records.

The refund or a pension

The Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment erases your years

A foreigner who leaves Japan with less than 10 years of coverage can usually claim the Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment (脱退一時金, dattai ichijikin) — part of the contributions back, for up to 5 years of coverage. It is tempting. But it closes the door on a Japanese pension.

What the Japan Pension Service says. “If you receive the Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment, you cannot add up your Japanese pension enrollment periods that occurred prior to your claim for the Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment because these periods are thereby considered invalid.” And on the claim form you sign: “I acknowledge that receiving the Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment will nullify all enrollment periods in the Japanese Pension System before making this claim.”

  • If your totalized coverage already reaches 10 years (120 months), you cannot claim the refund at all — you are entitled to a pension instead.
  • Under 10 years with a totalization country: compare. The refund is money now, capped at 5 years of contributions. Keeping the years means a small Japanese pension for life from 65, if your years at home and in Japan add up to 10 — and Japanese years may also help you reach your home country’s minimum.
  • From the UK, Korea, China, Italy or a country with no agreement: your Japanese years cannot be added to your home years. Unless you expect to reach 10 years of Japanese coverage — for example by coming back to work in Japan — the refund is often the only way to get something back.
  • If you may return to Japan, remember that years kept in the Japanese system still count when you come back; refunded years do not.
  • The claim must reach the Japan Pension Service within 2 years from the day you no longer have an address in Japan. Conditions, amounts and the tax on it: Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment.

What to do

Step by step, by situation

  1. Check your countryFind it in the table above: is there an agreement, does it add up years, which systems does it cover?
  2. Before a posting to JapanAsk your employer at home to apply for the certificate of coverage in your country before you leave. In Japan, give it to your workplace and keep a copy.
  3. Hired in JapanYou are enrolled in the Japanese system. Check your payslip for health insurance and Employees’ Pension deductions, and keep your Basic Pension Number and the yearly Pension Record Notice (ねんきん定期便).
  4. Before you leave JapanDecide between the refund and keeping your years — before you claim; a refund cannot be undone. File the moving-out notification (転出届) at the city office.
  5. When you need helpAsk at a Japan Pension Service pension office (年金事務所) in Japan, or at your home country’s social security institution — the Japan Pension Service lists them on its foreign institutions page.

How the Japanese pension works in general: Pension in Japan. Everything else to do when you leave: leaving Japan.

If you have a family

Spouse, children, parents: what changes

A dependent for tax and a dependent for health insurance are two different things with different income limits. All the rules for families: Family and dependents.

  • A spouse and children who come with a posted worker and hold the Dependent status of residence are, under most agreements, also exempt from the Japanese pension (and, under some agreements that cover health insurance, from National Health Insurance). They need the worker’s certificate of coverage and proof of the family relationship, such as a certificate of residence (住民票).
  • Not under the agreements with the UK and the Netherlands: there, accompanying family members are covered by the Japanese system in the usual way.
  • Family members who are exempt can still choose to join the Japanese system if they wish.
  • If you are hired in Japan, your family is treated like any employee’s family: a spouse with a low income can be your dependent in health insurance and a Category III insured person in the pension.
  • Survivors’ pensions: under an agreement, years in your home country can also count toward the conditions for a Japanese survivors’ pension for your family.

FAQ

Social security agreement questions

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Which countries have a social security agreement with Japan?

24 countries as of October 2026: Germany, the United Kingdom, Korea, the United States, Belgium, France, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Spain, Ireland, Brazil, Switzerland, Hungary, India, Luxembourg, the Philippines, the Slovak Republic, China, Finland, Sweden, Italy and Austria. An agreement with Poland is signed but not yet in force.

Not yet. Japan and Vietnam are negotiating (the third round of talks was in June 2026), and preparatory talks are under way with Thailand. Nepal, Indonesia and most other countries have no agreement, so workers from there pay full Japanese contributions and cannot add their Japanese years to their home pension.

No. Locally hired workers are covered only by the Japanese system, whatever their nationality. The exemption is for workers sent to Japan by their employer at home for an expected period of up to 5 years who hold a certificate of coverage from their home country.

It is a document (適用証明書 in Japanese) proving that you stay covered by your home country’s social security system while you work in Japan. Your employer at home applies for it to the social security institution of your country before the posting; you hand it to your workplace in Japan.

Yes, if your country’s agreement includes totalization — 20 of the 24 do. The UK, Korea, China and Italy agreements only prevent double contributions. With totalization, years in both countries count toward each country’s minimum, and each country pays a pension only for the years in its own system.

Think first. The Japan Pension Service treats all your Japanese coverage before the claim as invalid once you receive the Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment, so those years can no longer be added up under the agreement. If your totalized coverage already reaches 10 years, you cannot claim the refund at all and get a pension instead.

Only some do. For posted workers, the agreements with the US, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Hungary and Luxembourg also cover Japanese health insurance. Employees posted from Austria are not exempt: they must join Japanese health insurance as well. Under the US agreement you must also have US private health insurance covering treatment in Japan.

Normally up to 5 years. If the posting is extended for unexpected reasons, both countries can agree to an extension; how long depends on the agreement, for example up to 3 more years under the agreements with India and the Philippines. A posting expected to last more than 5 years from the start is covered by the Japanese system.

Sources

Where this information comes from

Rates, limits and deadlines on this page were checked against the official websites of the Japan Pension Service and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare on October 7, 2026. Amounts are in Japanese yen. When a rule changes we update the page and the date above.

This page is general information. Your employer, the health insurance association, the Japan Pension Service and your city office decide your actual premiums and benefits. A Labor and Social Security Attorney (社会保険労務士, sharōshi) can help with a dispute.

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