BELGIUM - AUSTRALIA : agreements on social security - general information

 

You are leaving Belgium and are going to live in Australia or you are leaving Australia and are going to live in Belgium.

Before leaving, you have to inquire of the competent institutions what formalities you should accomplish in order to preserve your social security benefits or in order to receive social security benefits.

Belgium has concluded two bilateral agreements on social security with Australia. These agreements may apply to your own situation, the situation of your family members and the situation of your survivors.

The agreements between Belgium and Australia regulate the applicability of the social security legislations of Belgium and Australia.
The agreements between Belgium and Australia apply to employed persons, self-employed persons and certain categories of civil servants.

Besides a number of exceptions that are mentioned in the agreements, such as in the case of posting, the Australian social security legislation will apply to you if you work in Australia.

Besides a number of exceptions that are mentioned in the agreement, such as in the case of posting, the social security legislation of Belgium will apply to you if you work in Belgium.

However, you should know that the agreements only apply under certain conditions:

  1. In principle, you have to be on the territory of Belgium or Australia.
  2. You must be subject or have been subject to the Australian or to the Belgian legislation.

The agreement guarantees that:

  • you will have the same rights and obligations in the country where you work as an employed citizen of this country;
  • periods of activity in both countries will be taken into account for the entitlement to social security benefits;
  • you will be able, under certain conditions, to receive social security benefits from your country of origin when you live in the other country;
  • your periods of activity in both countries will be totalised for your entitlement to social security benefits and for the calculation of the amount of these benefits, e.g. for the retirement pensions.

The agreements between Belgium and Australia contain detailed rules of application for the granting of the social security benefits.

The agreements between Belgium and Australia bear on the following benefits:

  • health care
  • invalidity benefits
  • retirement pensions
  • survivor's pensions.

You will find more information on "find information", by selecting the criteria that apply to your situation.

Please find here the text of the agreements and the text of the administrative arrangements

Agreement on social security between the Kingdom of Belgium and Australia

Agreement on health care insurance between the Kingdom of Belgium and Australia

Administrative arrangement for the application of the Agreement on health insurance between the Kingdom of Belgium and Australia

Administrative arrangement concerning the terms of application of the Agreement on social security between the kingdom of Belgium and Australia