Hello again, apologies if this has already been covered umpteen time's, but does anyone know how long the minimun contribution period is to qaulify for the State Pension in Spain, and how much it is ?

Have gogled it, but keep coming up with differing amount's and qaulifying period's !

Thank'sin advance for all your help !

I was told that the minimum period was 15 years although I may be corrected by anyone else here. As to the amount, I am still trying to work that out, although I have a long way to go!! I may just ask my gestor to see if he can give me a ball park figure.

It`s got to be a lot more than the UK one. ;-))

It depends how you measure it but based on the pension compared to the average wage, Spain is in the top section within the EU.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ension-EU.html

Thanks for your replies, as I have made no pension provision (other than UK state), this is quite an important consideration for me, when considering a move to Spain

Through Googling, managed to find out that the MINIMUM paying in period is 15 year's, couldn't find any amount's for that period, and the standard paying period is 35 year's, at two 3rd's of your final salary for the 15 year's prior to claiming.

Not sure how old the information was.

Your contributions to the UK state pension may count to the total.

That means that even a couple of years contributions to the Spanish system should give you the corresponding Spanish pension depending on your total contributions in both countries.

A friend has a UK state pension and also a pension from Spain, Switzerland and Italy even though he never lived in those countries for more than 5 years. He says the Italian one is the best deal!

Do you mean you can get pensions from more than 1 country? Does this mean that I can get pension from UK & Canada as I've contributed to both, plus my private pension?

Yes, you can get pensions from a number of countries. Within the EU it is easy to combine them. Outside the EU you would probably need to qualify in each country rather than be able to add the contributions together to meet the minimum.

Also there are different rules about pension increases. Here in Spain the UK pensions are all subject to revision every year. If you live in Australia this doesn't apply and you get a fixed pension. It depends on reciprocal arrangements.

Thank you so much Fred for telling me this. I wouldn't have known this & would miss my chances of getting the state pensions from UK & Canada.

When you claim your pension they ask if you have paid into any other countries systems.

I don't quite understand your statement. Should I be telling them that I've paid into other countries systems or should I not tell them?

I didn't even know that I got to apply to claim the pensions as I thought they will automatically send me the pension when I reach the age.

They allegedly send you the forms to fill in 3 months before it is due, and ask if anytime you have been out the country did you pay into the other countries system.
I assume they add all the countries contributions up and just lump it all into one payment.
Don`t forget to ask for your E121 forms so you and your dependants can join the Spanish health service.

Thanks JDR. I don't think they can lump it into 1 payment as 1 is in UK & the other is in Canada & I got a UK private pension at the moment. I'm going to try to get E121 but I'm not sure about that too as I've left UK since 1995 & I'm still living in Canada. I've no dependants as they are living in UK & support themselves. I'm moving over to Spain next year when my villa is ready.

If you are on a UK pension you are entitled to the form so ask when you fill in the pension forms, you give it to the Spanish Social security office with your residencia certificate and padron when you get them, then you are covered for health and prescriptions etc.

At the moment. I can't help thinking that some tough decisions are going to have to be made over the next few years to balance the books as Spain comes to terms with the collapse of tax receipts from the construction industry amongst others.

I suppose it all depends on whether you're retiring in 1 year or 25 but I would expect some sort of normalisation over the next decade or so.