Conditions for buying back insurance

You can buy back AOW insurance for past years if:

• you started living or working in the Netherlands within 50 years of your AOW pension age, and
• you have not yet reached your AOW pension age when you apply, and
• your application for buying back insurance is made within 10 years after you first come to live or work in the Netherlands, and
• you have been insured under the AOW scheme on the basis of residence or employment in the Netherlands for at least 5 years. There are two exceptions to this:
  
  
  1. If you have been insured for a state old age pension in another country of the European Union (EU), we may be able to take that insurance period into account as well. Contact us and we will find out for you.
  2. If you first lived in the Netherlands on the basis of a residence permit, you may not have been covered by AOW insurance for that period. Contact us and we will find out for you.

When is it not possible to buy back AOW insurance?

If you are insured in another EU country and receive a pension from that country, you cannot buy back AOW insurance.

If you return to the Netherlands with your children, you can buy AOW insurance for past years for them providing they have come to the Netherlands for the first time within the 50-year period preceding their AOW pension age.

If your child was aged between 15 and 17 when you left the Netherlands, it may not be possible to buy back AOW pension insurance for them. Different rules will apply. Contact us about this before your child reaches the age of 18.