BELGIUM - TUNISIA: agreement on social security - general information

You are leaving Belgium and are going to live in Tunisia or you are leaving Tunisia 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 a bilateral agreement on social security with Tunisia . This agreement between Belgium and Tunisia may apply to your own situation, the situation of your family members and the situation of your survivors.
The agreement between Belgium and Tunisia regulates the applicability of the social security legislations of Belgium and Tunisia.
The agreement between Belgium and Tunisia applies to employed persons, to self-employed persons and certain categories of civil servants.
Besides a number of exceptions that are mentioned in the agreement, such as in the case of posting, the social security legislation of Tunisia will apply to you if you work in Tunisia.
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 agreement only applies under certain conditions:

• In principle, you have to be on the territory of Belgium or Tunisia.
• You need to have the nationality of Belgium or Tunisia, be stateless or recognized refugee end be or have been submitted to the legislation of one of both countries

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 agreement between Belgium and Tunisia contains detailed rules of application for the granting of the social security benefits.
The agreement bears on the following benefits:

•  retirement pensions
• survivor's pensions
• health care
•  sickness benefits (including maternity and paternity)
• invalidity benefits
• benefits for accidents at work
• benefits for occupational diseases
• unemployment benefits
• family allowances

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