10.25.5.20 Totalising to Qualify for a Finnish Benefit - Agreement with Finland

Totalising for a Finnish benefit

No totalisation of Australian working life residence is included in the Agreement for qualification for Finnish National Pensions.

Article 15, paragraph 2 of the Agreement states that a Finnish national or Australian citizen residing in Australia only needs 3 years residence in Finland after the age of 16 (which cannot be totalised), to claim a Finnish National Pension under the Agreement.

Article 15, paragraph 3 of the Agreement states Finnish National Pension is portable from Finland to Australia, under the Agreement, as long as the person is a Finnish or Australian citizen and has at least 3 years residence in Finland after the age of 16 (which cannot be totalised).

Article 16 of the Agreement covers totalisation in order to qualify for a Finnish Earnings-Related Pension. There is normally no minimum earnings period required to qualify for a Finnish Earnings-Related Pension.

However, if entitlement to a Finnish Earnings-Related Pension requires a person to have completed certain periods of insurance (e.g. 5 years worth of employment during the past 15 years for a Finnish Earnings-Related Unemployment Pension), periods of employment in Australia can be added to the Finnish periods of insurance to meet the requirement.