Serbian Citizens to Be Able to Get Australian Pensions from February

The agreement between Serbia and Australia about social security will come into effect on February 1, 2024, and it will enable the citizens of those two states who worked in one of those states to realize their right to a pension, regardless of where they live, announced the Ministry of Labor.

– This agreement is significant for all citizens of Serbia who spent their working days in Serbia and Australia, as well as for those who currently live and work in Australia, of whom, according to the estimates of the Embassy of Serbia in Canberra, there are 150,000 to 200,000 – the press release says.

The agreement envisages that, if the completed pensionable service in the territory of one state that is party to the agreement is not enough to realize the right to a pension, that state, for the purpose of fulfilling the requirements for a pension, also takes into consideration the service completed in the other state that is party to the agreement, whereby the pension is determined proportional to the length of the pensionable service in each state.

In addition to that, the citizens will be able to use the right to a pension, realized based on the legal regulations of one state, even outside its territory, and the payments will be made in the country of residence, without any reductions.

That means that, if a Serbian citizen who has realized the right to a pension in Australia returns to Serbia, Australia will keep paying their pension, that is, it will transfer the money to Serbia, without any reductions.

When the agreement comes into effect, the Australian party will get the basis for the payment of pensions to the citizens of Serbia who return to Serbia, which has not been possible so far.

Ministarstvo za rad, zapošljavanje, boračka i socijalna pitanja Republike Srbije

right to a pension

Australian pension

pensioners from Australia