Foreign nationals

Earned rights are preserved for the fund or funds you have paid into. When the time comes for pension payments, you must apply for them.

Under the Pension Fund Act, foreign nationals being paid wages in Iceland shall pay into a pension fund under the same regulations as Icelandic nationals. An exception to this is when a foreign national within the European Economic Area (EEA) is employed by a foreign company for a limited time and is in possession of an E 101 Certificate issued by his/her home country. Then, he/she enjoys the same insurance as the social security legislation of his/her home country stipulates.

According to Article 19, Paragraph 4 of Act no. 129/1997, it is permissible to reimburse foreign nationals’ pension fund contributions upon moving away from Iceland, provided that such reimbursement is not prohibited under international agreements to which Iceland is a party.

Iceland has already concluded international agreements with over thirty countries, referred to hereinafter as contracting states. Contracting states are the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Faroe Islands, European Economic Area (EEA) member countries, and Switzerland; i.e., all EFTA and EU member states. 

• EFTA states are Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland, according to the Vaduz Convention.
• EU member states are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, Croatia, Cyprus (the Greek part), Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Germany.

A person who is a citizen of a contracting state may not apply for reimbursement of pension contributions upon moving away from Iceland.

Even if a person has multiple citizens, it is not permissible to reimburse contributions if the person is a citizen of one or more contracting states.

A citizen who does not have citizenship in a contracting state and is not moving to a contracting state is permitted to have pension fund contributions refunded due to emigration from Iceland.

Pension from another EEA country or the USA