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What happens to my pension or retirement account if I move to another country?

It depends on the scheme. Some pay out when you leave for good, some stay invested until their normal age, some can be transferred, and agreements can count years worked in two countries.

Part of this answer depends on your country’s system.

Nothing happens automatically, and there is no single rule. Each scheme has its own: some pay you out when you leave the country for good, some stay invested until their normal access age and can pay you wherever you live, and some can be moved to a scheme in your new country. Separately, a social security agreement between two countries can count the years you worked in each towards a state pension. Find out which of these applies to each scheme you hold before you decide anything.

The three things that can happen

  • It pays out when you leave for good. Singapore’s CPF closes an account and pays it out once the member is no longer a Singapore citizen or permanent resident — leaving the country is not enough on its own. Hong Kong’s MPF pays out on permanent departure — but once only: anyone who has withdrawn on those grounds cannot do so again. Malaysia’s EPF pays out to people giving up citizenship or residence to migrate, and to expatriates leaving. Australia pays super to former temporary residents who leave, but not to citizens or permanent residents. Japan offers non-Japanese members a lump-sum withdrawal payment, claimed within two years of leaving. New Zealand lets you withdraw most of your KiwiSaver after a year living abroad (not in Australia), but never the government contributions.
  • It stays where it is until its normal age. Many workplace and personal pensions simply wait — a US 401(k), Australian super for citizens, a UK workplace pension. Taking money early usually costs something: the US, for instance, generally adds a 10% tax to the taxable part of distributions from a qualified plan such as a 401(k) taken before age 59½, unless an exception applies.
  • It can be transferred. A UK pension can be moved to a qualifying recognised overseas pension scheme (QROPS), but the transfer may face a 25% overseas transfer charge. A KiwiSaver balance can be transferred to an Australian super fund if you move to Australia permanently.

State pensions and social security agreements

Countries sign agreements so that people who worked in both do not pay twice and can combine their years to qualify. India’s Ministry of External Affairs lists agreements in force with countries including Germany, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, Japan and South Korea — not the UAE. Without an agreement, years in each country count only towards that country’s pension, and a minimum number of years may be missed.

If you work in the Gulf

Expatriates in the UAE’s private sector usually receive an end-of-service gratuity under the labour law rather than a pension. After at least one year of continuous service, it is 21 days of basic salary for each of the first five years and 30 days for each year after that, capped at two years’ wage — and it is worked out on basic salary only, without housing or other allowances. Employers can instead join a voluntary savings scheme that invests these amounts in approved funds. Either way it is a lump sum, paid when the job ends, so plan for it as money arriving on a date rather than as an income.

Common mistakes

  • Cashing out by reflex. Withdrawing on departure can end years of tax shelter, fix the exchange rate on one day, and use up a once-only right — Hong Kong’s permanent-departure withdrawal cannot be repeated.
  • Forgetting the new country’s tax. A withdrawal or pension that is tax-free where it was earned can be taxable where you live when you receive it.
  • Losing track of small pots. Keep statements, membership numbers and the scheme’s contact details, and update your address with every scheme.
  • Assuming a state pension rises with prices abroad. The UK, for example, pays its State Pension worldwide but increases it each year only in the EEA, Switzerland and certain agreement countries — not in Canada or New Zealand, despite their agreements with the UK.

How to model it in Nivritee

Under Investments, the schemes block is named after the country you will settle in — for example India retirement schemes — and lists its schemes. A pension from a country you used to work in goes in the same block with + Add another scheme, in the currency it is held in. A pension that will pay you an income goes under Income, starting at the age it begins. A gratuity or other lump sum is money arriving on a date; see how to enter money coming in.

Investments

  • India retirement schemes₹12L
    EPF₹8L
    NPS₹4L
  • Cash savings & bank deposits₹20.48L
    Savings account · UAE · AED 40,000₹9.08L
    Savings account · India · emergency fund₹5.4LThe emergency fund — the whole account
    Fixed or term deposit · India₹6L
  • Market investments₹73.86L
    Listed holdings · 5, on 4 markets₹63.86L
    Not listed · typed as one figure₹10L
  • Metals & jewellery₹8L
    Gold jewellery₹8L
  • PropertyNot counted
    Flat in Pune · where you will live₹75LYour home — net worth, not corpus
Everything you hold ₹1.14CrCounted toward your independence corpus ₹1.09Cr
Any class can stay one figure or be broken down. Money set aside as the emergency fund leaves the corpus and sits on the ladder’s first rung instead.

The illustrative household’s Investments page. Their Indian schemes come first, because India is where they will settle.

  • India retirement schemes, with EPF and NPS.
  • Cash savings & bank deposits, including a savings account held in the UAE, shown converted into rupees.
  • Everything you hold, and the figure counted toward your independence corpus.

Illustrative figures — not anybody’s real plan.

What happens to this country’s pensions and retirement accounts when you leave, and how its state pension treats time abroad.

In United States

401(k) plans and IRAs stay in the United States when you move; moving abroad does not itself force a withdrawal. Early distributions from a qualified plan such as a 401(k) — generally those before age 59½ — carry a 10% additional tax on the taxable part, on top of income tax, unless an exception applies; and the country you live in may tax them too.

The United States has totalization agreements with several countries, mainly so that you do not pay social security taxes to both. The IRS points to the Social Security Administration’s list of agreement countries; check whether your other country is on it before assuming years there will count.

Sources for United States

  1. Topic no. 558, Additional tax on early distributions (other than from IRAs) — Internal Revenue Service
  2. Totalization agreements — Internal Revenue Service

In Canada

Canada coordinates its pensions with other countries through social security agreements. Under one, periods of contribution in the other country may count towards qualifying for the Canada Pension Plan, and periods of residence there may count towards Old Age Security.

To be paid OAS while living outside Canada, you normally need 20 years of residence in Canada after age 18 (10 years if you live in Canada). An agreement can help you reach the 20 years, but the amount still depends on your years in Canada.

Sources for Canada

  1. Lived or living outside Canada — pensions and benefits — Government of Canada
  2. Old Age Security pension — eligibility — Government of Canada
  3. Lived or living outside Canada — eligibility — Government of Canada

In United Kingdom

The UK State Pension is paid worldwide, but it rises each year only if you live in the EEA, Switzerland or a country whose social security agreement provides for increases. In Canada and New Zealand it does not rise, despite their agreements with the UK, and India is not on the list either.

Workplace and personal pensions can stay in the UK. Transferring one to a qualifying recognised overseas pension scheme (QROPS) may cost 25% tax. You usually pay none if you live in the country the QROPS is based in and the transfer is within your overseas transfer allowance (usually £1,073,100), but moving away from that country within five years can bring the charge back. HMRC changed the rules on when the charge does not apply on 30 October 2024, so check the current guidance before you move a pension.

Sources for United Kingdom

  1. Countries where we pay an annual increase in the State Pension — Department for Work and Pensions (GOV.UK)
  2. Transferring your pension: transferring to an overseas pension scheme — GOV.UK (figures as of read October 2026)
  3. Overseas pensions: pension transfers — HM Revenue & Customs (GOV.UK) (figures as of last updated 29 July 2025)

In Europe

If you have worked in several EU countries you may have pension rights in each. You claim through the country where you live or last worked, which collects your records from the others. Each country then pays its own part — but only once you reach that country’s legal pension age, which differs between them.

Each EU country generally pays into a bank account in your country of residence if you live in the EU; outside it, you may need an account in the paying country. Occupational and private pensions follow national rules — check each scheme you hold.

Sources for Europe

  1. State pensions abroad — Your Europe (European Union)

In Australia

If you worked in Australia on a temporary visa, you can usually claim your super after you leave as a departing Australia superannuation payment, paid less tax, once your visa has ceased. Australian and New Zealand citizens and permanent residents cannot; a New Zealand citizen leaving permanently may be able to transfer their super to New Zealand.

You claim it only after you have left Australia and your visa has ceased. For everyone else, super stays in the system: generally accessible from 60 once you retire or leave a job, and from 65 regardless.

Sources for Australia

  1. Departing Australia superannuation payment (DASP) — Australian Taxation Office (figures as of last updated 21 April 2026)
  2. Getting your super — Moneysmart (Australian Securities and Investments Commission) (figures as of last updated 6 August 2026)

In New Zealand

If you move to Australia permanently, you can transfer your KiwiSaver savings to an Australian super scheme, though you do not have to. After living in any other country for a year, you can withdraw your own and your employer’s contributions, the kickstart if you received it, and interest — but not the government contributions. You can also ask to transfer to an approved foreign superannuation scheme.

New Zealand Superannuation is paid from 65 and its residence criteria changed for people turning 65 from 1 July 2024; if you live overseas, Work and Income’s international services team decides whether you qualify.

Sources for New Zealand

  1. Getting my KiwiSaver savings when I move overseas — Inland Revenue (New Zealand)
  2. New Zealand Superannuation — Work and Income (Ministry of Social Development)

In Singapore

Moving abroad does not by itself release CPF savings. The CPF Board closes an account, and pays the savings to your bank account, only for members who are no longer Singapore citizens or permanent residents — for example after renouncing permanent residence. A citizen or permanent resident who moves away keeps their CPF under its usual rules and ages.

Weigh what closing an account gives up: CPF interest stops on what remains, and your part in schemes such as CPF LIFE and MediShield Life ends.

Sources for Singapore

  1. On leaving Singapore: account closure for non-Singapore Citizens and non-Permanent Residents — CPF Board

In Hong Kong

MPF is normally paid at 65. One of the grounds for early withdrawal is permanent departure: you make a statutory declaration that you have left, or will leave, Hong Kong to live elsewhere with no intention of returning to work or settle, and prove you may live elsewhere. It is once only — anyone who has withdrawn on these grounds cannot do so again with a later departure date.

Early retirement from 60 is a separate ground, if you have stopped all work and declare you will not work again.

Sources for Hong Kong

  1. Early withdrawal of MPF — Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority

In Japan

A non-Japanese national who leaves after a short spell in the National Pension or Employees’ Pension Insurance can apply for a lump-sum withdrawal payment, within two years of leaving and once no longer covered.

The alternative is to keep your Japanese coverage: the Old-age Basic Pension is paid from 65 to people with 10 years or more of coverage, and Japan’s social security agreements can let years covered in an agreement country count towards qualifying. A lump-sum withdrawal gives up the years it pays out for, so weigh it against a pension you might otherwise qualify for.

Sources for Japan

  1. Lump-sum Withdrawal Payments — Japan Pension Service (figures as of last updated 1 October 2026)
  2. Old-age Basic Pension — Japan Pension Service
  3. International Social Security Agreement — Japan Pension Service

In India

The Ministry of External Affairs lists India’s social security agreements in force with Belgium, France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Hungary, Denmark, the Czech Republic, South Korea, Norway, Germany, Finland, Canada, Japan, Sweden, Austria, Portugal, Quebec, Australia and Brazil, plus an agreement with the United Kingdom on contributions. Such agreements can spare a worker on a short posting from paying in both countries, let contributions be taken along on moving to India or a third country, and combine periods in both countries to qualify for benefits. The UAE is not on the list.

Under the NPS, exit normally comes at 60, and part of the accumulated pension wealth must buy an annuity paying a regular pension. Under rules amended in December 2025, that share is at least 20% for subscribers outside government service; check the current rule with PFRDA before you plan on the lump sum.

Sources for India

  1. Social Security Agreements — Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India (figures as of read October 2026)
  2. Social Security Agreements (statement in the Lok Sabha) — Press Information Bureau, Ministry of External Affairs (figures as of 9 March 2016)
  3. PFRDA (Exits and Withdrawals under the National Pension System) (Amendment) Regulations, 2025 — Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Gazette of India) (figures as of December 2025)

In Malaysia

The EPF has a Leaving the Country Withdrawal: Malaysians and permanent residents who have given up citizenship or PR to migrate, and expatriates or foreign workers who are no longer employed or intend to leave, can withdraw all their savings. Members who have reached 60 are pointed to the Age 60 Full Withdrawal instead.

You can apply from within Malaysia or from overseas. If you stay a member instead, your savings are consolidated into one account at 55, from which you can take a full withdrawal, partial withdrawals or monthly payments.

Sources for Malaysia

  1. Leaving the Country Withdrawal — KWSP (Employees Provident Fund Malaysia) (figures as of read October 2026)
  2. Age 55 & 60 Withdrawal — KWSP (Employees Provident Fund Malaysia)

Sources

  1. End of service benefits for workers in the private sector — The Official Portal of the UAE Government (u.ae)
  2. Social Security Agreements — Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India (figures as of read October 2026)
  3. International Social Security Agreement — Japan Pension Service
  4. On leaving Singapore: account closure for non-Singapore Citizens and non-Permanent Residents — CPF Board
  5. Early withdrawal of MPF — Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority
  6. Leaving the Country Withdrawal — KWSP (Employees Provident Fund Malaysia) (figures as of read October 2026)
  7. Departing Australia superannuation payment (DASP) — Australian Taxation Office (figures as of last updated 21 April 2026)
  8. Lump-sum Withdrawal Payments — Japan Pension Service (figures as of last updated 1 October 2026)
  9. Getting my KiwiSaver savings when I move overseas — Inland Revenue (New Zealand)
  10. Topic no. 558, Additional tax on early distributions (other than from IRAs) — Internal Revenue Service
  11. Transferring your pension: transferring to an overseas pension scheme — GOV.UK (figures as of read October 2026)
  12. Countries where we pay an annual increase in the State Pension — Department for Work and Pensions (GOV.UK)

See this in your own plan.

Open Investments

Last reviewed 1 October 2026.

This is general information, not advice for your circumstances. Rules and limits change; check the official source for your country, and consult a licensed professional before making financial decisions.