BELGIUM - KOSOVO: agreement on social security - general information

You are leaving Belgium and are going to live in Kosovo or you are leaving Kosovo 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 Kosovo.The agreement regulates the applicability of the social security legislations of Belgium and Kosovo.

The agreement between Belgium and Kosovo applies to employed persons, 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 Kosovo will apply to you if you work in Kosovo.
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 Kosovo.

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 Kosovo contains detailed rules of application for the granting of the social security benefits.

The agreement bears on the following 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.