What to do with your home social security record before you move

Key rules

• Timing: Request your contribution records before you leave, because they are hard to get once you are abroad.
• Voluntary contributions: Voluntary periods count toward a Spanish pension only if an EU rule, the UK arrangements or a bilateral agreement covers you.
• Before paying: Check with your home pension authority and the INSS before you start paying voluntary contributions.
• Copies: Keep copies of every record, and be ready to translate them if the INSS asks.

Document names, voluntary contribution rules and costs vary by country and change, so confirm them with your home pension authority and the INSS before acting.

Request your records before you leave

Ask your home pension institution for formal proof of your contribution history before you move. Records are much harder to get once you are abroad, so do this while you still have your home address, online access and local contacts.

Ask for these:

• A statement of your contribution history (an earnings and contribution record). In the US this is a Social Security statement. In the UK it is your National Insurance record.
• Any certificate of coverage or portable document that applies to you. Posted workers may need a Portable Document A1 or the UK equivalent.
• Proof of your contribution periods, so they can be added to Spanish periods when you claim a pension.
• Records from any private or employer pension scheme you paid into.

Most institutions let you request these online or in writing. The names of the documents and the way to ask differ by country, so look at your home authority's website first.

Keep copies. Later, the INSS, Spain's social security institute, uses these records to add up your periods. If it asks, you may need translated copies. The documents list below shows what to gather.

Decide about voluntary contributions

Voluntary contributions are payments you make to your home system while living abroad, to keep your record growing. Whether they help you depends on two things.

1. Whether your home country lets you pay from abroad. The UK does, with conditions, through Class 2 or Class 3 National Insurance. The US has no voluntary contributions, only work credits earned by working.
2. Whether Spain will count those periods. The INSS counts home-country periods only through an EU rule, the UK arrangements or a bilateral agreement that allows adding periods together, and only where your home institution recognises them. Without one of these routes, voluntary periods do not count toward a Spanish pension.

So do not pay until you know which route covers you. Costs and conditions vary by country. Ask your home pension authority and the INSS, and compare the cost with what the payments would add. The decision block below sets out the two choices.

Tie it to your move date

Request your records early, since some institutions take weeks to reply. If you are being posted by a foreign employer, ask for the A1 certificate at the same time. The timeline below shows where these steps fit around your other dates.

Choosing between options

Should you pay voluntary contributions to your home system while you live in Spain?

• Pay voluntary contributions: Your home country allows them from abroad, for example the UK with Class 2 or Class 3 National Insurance under conditions, and Spain can count those periods.

• Do not pay voluntary contributions: Your home system has no voluntary option (the US only gives work credits), or there is no route for Spain to count the periods.

Pay only if your home country lets you and Spain's INSS will count those periods through an EU rule, the UK arrangements or an agreement between the two countries. Without such a route, voluntary periods do not count toward a Spanish pension.

Your move-date timeline for work and social security

Your move-date timeline

• Write down your target move date and mark it as fixed or flexible: Before you start, as soon as you have a target date

• Note your other dates: end of your current job or lease, start of your Spanish job or rental, and any posting start date: Right after you set the move date; mark each as fixed or flexible

• Check for overlaps and gaps in housing and pay between those dates: Before you commit to a date

• Ask your employer to register you in Spanish social security and request your certificates from your home system: Your employer must register you no later than the day work begins, and at most 60 days before it starts

• If you are posted by a foreign employer, ask for the A1 certificate: Before the posting starts; a posting from an EU, EEA or Swiss state keeps you in your home system for up to 24 months, with an A1 certificate

• Re-check the whole timeline if any fixed date moves: Whenever your move date, start date or lease date changes, and again one month before you leave

Documents you need

Records to request from your home institution

• Statement of your contribution history (an earnings and contribution record), issued by your home pension institution, for example a Social Security statement in the US or a National Insurance record in the UK. Request it online or in writing.

• Translated copies of these records, if the INSS asks for translations.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to translate my contribution records for Spain?

Translate them if the INSS, Spain's social security office, asks for it. The INSS uses your home records later to add up your contribution periods, so keep copies of everything you request.

Do voluntary contributions from my home country count toward a Spanish pension?

They count only if an EU rule, the UK arrangements or an agreement between Spain and your country lets periods be added together. Without such a route, voluntary periods do not count toward a Spanish pension, so ask your home pension authority before you pay.