Retirement

Steps

1. Check your Finnish career statement (työeläkeote, employment pension statement) on Työeläke.fi as soon as you work in Finland, and check that every employer appears on it.
2. Calculate your retirement age with the Työeläke.fi tool (year and month of birth): the pension can start at the earliest the month after that age.
3. Claim your pension online or from your Finnish pension provider, a few months beforehand. If you live in Finland, the same form serves as a claim to the other EU, EEA, Swiss and UK countries where you have worked: your Finnish provider forwards it (Työeläke.fi, 18/09/2026). Exceptions: foreign supplementary and collectively agreed pensions (in France, for example, check with your supplementary fund that it has received your claim), which the Eläketurvakeskus (ETK, the Finnish Centre for Pensions) does not forward; for countries bound by a social security agreement (United States, Canada…), the ETK also forwards the claim, but you also fill in the country-specific form, which it sends you, and China is applied to directly with its authorities.
4. If your employment pension is low, ask Kela for the national pension, then the guarantee pension, after claiming all your pensions, Finnish and foreign.
5. Apply for your pensioner's tax card from Vero as soon as the pension decision is issued (see FI-RETRAITE-TOUS-001).

Documents

• Henkilötunnus and access to Työeläke.fi and OmaKela (strong identification).
• Career statements from other countries (in France: career statement from the French Assurance retraite, for example).
• Foreign pension decisions (gross amounts) for the national or guarantee pension claim.

Costs and timelines

• Minimum retirement age (employment pension): it rose by 3 months per birth cohort up to 65 for people born from 1962 to 1964 (Työeläke.fi scale, 30/09/2026: 63 years and 6 months for 1956, 63 years and 9 months for 1957, 64 years for 1958, 64 years and 3 months for 1959, 64 years and 6 months for 1960, 64 years and 9 months for 1961, 65 years for 1962 to 1964). From the 1965 birth cohort, it is set according to life expectancy, with a variation of at most 2 months from one cohort to the next; the first setting will take place in 2027. Always check your exact age with the Työeläke.fi tool.
• National pension (kansaneläke) in 2026: €787.07 per month at most for a single person, €702.69 for a couple; every euro of employment pension reduces it by 50 cents; it disappears above €1,624.63 (single) or €1,455.88 (couple) of employment pension per month. Age: 65, then it follows the employment pension age.
• Residence condition: having lived at least 3 years in Finland after the age of 16; if you have lived in Finland for less than 80% of the time between 16 and retirement, the national pension is pro-rated. Periods lived or worked in the EU, the EEA, Switzerland or the United Kingdom may count if you have lived at least one year in Finland.
• Guarantee pension (takuueläke) in 2026: up to €990.90 per month, if the gross total of your other pensions does not exceed €982.90 per month (Kela, 12/10/2026). The gap is explained as follows: the guarantee pension tops up what you lack to reach €990.90, but it is not paid if this top-up is less than €8.01 per month. Almost all your pensions, including foreign ones, count in this calculation.
• 2026 increases: +0.9% for employment pensions, +0.5% for the national pension and the guarantee pension (ETK).
• Foreign pension: you generally need about 12 months of work in a country to be entitled to a pension there, sometimes less; Finnish and European periods can be added together to open up the entitlement (Työeläke.fi).

Common pitfalls

• Expecting the national pension from the moment you arrive. You need at least 3 years of residence in Finland after the age of 16, and one year of residence before the European periods count.
• Believing that the guarantee pension can be exported. It is not paid if you live abroad permanently.
• Forgetting to claim your foreign pensions. Kela requires that you have claimed all the pensions you are entitled to before granting the guarantee pension.
• Confusing minimum age and target age. Retiring later increases the pension; the minimum age is not compulsory.
• Thinking that each country pays a pro-rata share of your whole career. Each country calculates its pension on your periods in that country; adding up periods mainly serves to open up the entitlement.

What changes by country of origin

• EU, EEA, Swiss and British citizens: periods from these countries taken into account to open up the entitlement (European regulations and agreement with the United Kingdom); each country pays its pension.
• Countries with a social security agreement with Finland: periods sometimes taken into account too (Työeläke.fi).
• Åland Islands: same pension system (employment pension and Kela); information to be requested in Swedish from Kela and your pension provider.