Published on: June 29, 2023 | Last Updated on: November 26, 2024 | By: @rprasanth_kumar
To be entitled to the French social security retirement pension, you must have contributed at least 1 quarter as an employee. A quarter or trimester means a duration of 3 months. For every year of work, 4 quarters are added to your French retirement account irrespective of your nationality.
Retirement Age
France’s retirement age varies according to your date of birth. It is 62 years for those born between 1955 and August 31st, 1961. It was then increased by 3 months per generation to reach 64 years for people born in 1968 and later.
| Date of birth | Retirement age |
|---|---|
| 01/09/1961 to 31/12/1961 | 62 years and 3 months |
| 1962 | 62 years and 6 months |
| 1963 | 62 years and 9 months |
| 1964 | 63 years |
| 1965 | 63 years and 3 months |
| 1966 | 63 years and 6 months |
| 1967 | 63 years and 9 months |
| From 1968 | 64 years |
However, you need to complete a minimum number of quarters, in order to qualify for the full pension.
- For example: A person born in 1968 or after, will need 172 trimesters to qualify for a full pension. This means 43 years of work history.
- From the age of 55, you can notify the pension office about any discrepancies in your career statement and ask for them to be corrected: missing jobs, inconsistencies, etc.
- In certain cases, it’s possible to buy up to 12 missing trimesters. Ex: Years spent on higher education. This known as “rachats de trimestres”.
- You can find your work history, trimesters earned, retirement age, pension amount, simulate your retirement, etc. in your official retirement account and on lassuranceretraite.fr
People moving abroad, including to non-European countries, will receive the pension after their retirement. You can find more details here
Reimbursement of Pension contributions
- If you have only contributed less than 9 quarters to your Social Security Retirement Insurance during your working life, you can request a reimbursement of your retirement contributions when you leave France permanently. Login into your official retirement account . and contact them.
- If you have crossed the above limit, the funds are locked until your retirement age and then paid as pension.
Hi Prasanth, thanks for the useful information. I have a related question. If a person works in France for say, 5 years, and then decides to go back to his country of origin, is it possible to get back the money paid to the pension fund and what is the procedure to be followed to get it?
Unfortunately, the person has to wait till the retirement age in France. There is no other option.
I came france in July 2023 on talent passport visa and I am leaving france finally in October 2024. So what is the procedure to get refund if only contributed less than 9 quarters to my Social Security Retirement Insurance during working life, how can request a reimbursement of my retirement contributions when I will leave France permanently.
As explained in the article, login into your official retirement account and contact them.