BELGIUM - THE PHILIPPINES: agreement on social security - general information

Belgium has concluded a bilateral agreement on social security with the Philippines. This agreement may apply to your own situation, the situation of your family members and the situation of your survivors.

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

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 the Philippines.
  2. You have to have the nationality of the Philippines or the Belgian nationality or you have to be recognised as a displaced person or as a refugee.

The agreement between Belgium and the Philippines 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 the Philippines contains detailed rules of application for the granting of the social security benefits.

The agreement between Belgium and The Philippines bears on the following benefits:

  • 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 arrangement: