Belgium - Albania: agreement on social security - general information

You are leaving Belgium and are going to live in Albania or you are leaving Albania 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 Albania . This agreement between Belgium and Albania may apply to your own situation, the situation of your family members and the situation of your survivors.

The agreement between Belgium and Albania regulates the applicability of the social security legislations of Belgium and Albania. The agreement between Belgium and Albania 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 Albania will apply to you if you work in Albania.
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:

  1. In principle, you have to be on the territory of Belgium or Albania Legislation. 
  2. You have to be or have been subject to the albanian or 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 agreement between Belgium and Albania contains detailed rules of application for the granting of the social security benefits. The agreement bears on the following benefits:

  • health care
  • sickness benefits invalidity benefits
  • benefits for accidents at work
  • benefits for occupational diseases
  • 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 agreement and the text of the administrative arrangement.