Korea sets 15-day stay rule for foreign nationals’ pension back payments

Foreign nationals seeking to fill gaps in their National Pension Service contribution records must now prove they were physically present in South Korea during the months they want to cover, under tighter rules that took effect Monday.

The previous guidelines treated periods of valid foreigner registration and immigration status as residence in Korea, even when applicants were abroad, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the National Pension Service said Tuesday.

Under the revised guidelines, a month will qualify for retroactive contributions only if the applicant spent at least 15 days in Korea. Applicants must submit a certificate of their entry and departure records along with documents proving their marital status.

Retroactive contributions allow eligible subscribers to pay premiums for certain past periods when they were exempt from payment or excluded from coverage. Up to 119 months can be added to a subscriber’s contribution record, while at least 120 months of coverage are generally required to receive old-age pension benefits.

The revision follows controversy over cases in which foreign nationals with only brief contribution histories used eligible past periods to reach the 120-month threshold through retroactive payments.

Applications from foreign nationals rose from 530 in 2023 to 1,517 in 2025. Another 994 applications were filed in the first half of this year, according to NPS data submitted to Rep. Kim Gyo-heung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea.

An application alone does not qualify a person for benefits, as applicants must make the payments and meet other statutory requirements.

The new guidelines do not bar foreign residents from making retroactive contributions. They change how the NPS determines whether applicants lived in Korea during the periods they seek to cover.

Separately, the government plans to amend relevant laws to apply the principle of reciprocity to retroactive contributions. If enacted, the change would allow such payments only for nationals of countries that offer Koreans comparable access to their pension systems.

Reciprocity already applies to National Pension Service coverage and lump-sum refunds but not to retroactive contributions.

The government also plans to check the continued eligibility of pension recipients living overseas twice a year, up from once annually, and expand the exchange of death records with foreign governments.

The ministry said the measures are intended to prevent people who lived in Korea only briefly from using retroactive payments to qualify for long-term pension benefits.