Office for Foreign Social Securities (ofss)

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The Swiss Pension Insurance

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Social Security Performance

The Swiss Pension Insurance offers the following:

The mandatory retirement age for men is 65, for women it is 64. Men and women can apply for their respective pensions 1 or 2 years earlier or delay the receipt of their benefits by 1 but no more than 5 years.

In case an insured worker becomes so ill that it is apparent that he or she will not be able to work for quite a long time or is even permanently disabled, that worker can apply for an disability benefits. The amount of the benefits will depend on the degree by which the income has been reduced.

In case of the death of a husband the surviving spouse can, depending on her age and the length of the marriage, receive survivor benefits, which will be charged against the survivor's income.

In case of the death of the wife the surviving husband can apply for survivor benefits as long as he has children below the age of 18.

Divorced spouses can under certain circumstances receive survivor benefits.

In case one or both parents of a child die before the child turns 18, the surviving child can receive semi- or full orphan benefits. If the surviving child is still in job-training benefits will be paid until the child turns 25.

Conditions for receiving a pension

In order to receive a pension you have to be insured for at least one year. That means you have to accumulate at least 12 month of contributions.

Your claim to a pension begins on the first day of the month following the insured reaching the mandatory retirement age. The claim expires at the end of the month following the insureds death.

For all males the mandatory retirement age begins at age 65.

Insured persons can under the provisions of the 'Flexible Mandatory Retirement Age' move the receipt of their pensions forward by one or two years (Vorbezug) or delay the receipt of their pensions by a maximum of 5 years (Aufschub). With married couples it possible that one spouse delays the receipt of the pension and the other moves it forward.