🇧🇦 German Pension Refund for Citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina
As a Bosnian citizen, you can claim a German pension refund with no limit on contribution months, once at least 24 months have passed since your last mandatory pension contribution in Germany, the EU, the UK, Türkiye or an ex-Yugoslav country — and you live outside the EU, the UK, India, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo. Living in Switzerland, the USA, Canada or Australia? The route is open.
Trust bar: ⭐ Over 4.9/5 on ProvenExpert from more than 1,250 reviews
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✅ Our retained completed paid cases across all nationalities show an average refund of €11,571.66
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✅ Completed refunds on record: under €200 to over €53,000
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✅ More than three quarters of our 300 most recent completed refunds reached the client escrow account within three months
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✅ No German bank account required
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✅ No refund, no fee — success-based only
Who Can Claim a German Pension Refund as a Citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina?
As a Bosnian citizen, you can claim a refund of your German pension contributions if you live outside the EU, the United Kingdom, India, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo — and at least 24 months have passed since your last mandatory pension contribution in Germany, the EU, the UK, Türkiye or an ex-Yugoslav country. Pension contributions in your new home country — Swiss AHV, US Social Security, Canadian CPP — never block the German claim.
North Macedonia, Croatia and Slovenia are not on the blocking list for Bosnian citizens: Croatia and Slovenia count as EU countries anyway, and living in North Macedonia does not block your claim. (India is on every nationality's list except Indian citizens' — an agreement one-off.)
No 60-month limit — Bosnia's biggest advantage
Unlike citizens of the USA, Canada or Australia, Bosnian citizens face no cap on contribution months: whether you contributed for one year or twenty, you can claim the full refund of your employee share once you live outside the countries above and the waiting period has passed.
With 60 or more months there is an alternative — a German old-age pension at retirement age, payable worldwide. Alternative is the operative word: a completed refund pays out the entire refundable balance and dissolves the old insurance relationship, so refunded months never become pension months. Which route stands open in your case is exactly what our free eligibility check shows you.
Why your place of residence decides everything
The Social Security Agreement gives Bosnian citizens the right to keep paying voluntary German pension contributions while living in the EU, the UK, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro or Kosovo. As long as you hold that right, German law blocks the refund. Once you live outside those countries — Switzerland is the classic example for the Bosnian diaspora, alongside the USA, Canada and Australia — the voluntary-insurance right ends, and the refund route opens 24 months after your last mandatory contribution.
Living in Bosnia right now? The refund isn't available from there — but it isn't lost either: the entitlement waits, and if you move outside the region, the route opens. Until then, contributions of 60+ months stand ready to become a German pension at retirement age, payable in Bosnia.
When can you apply?
24 full calendar months after your last mandatory pension contribution in Germany, the EU, the UK, Türkiye or an ex-Yugoslav country — counted from the last month of employment or credited benefits, not from your deregistration date. Eligibility is checked at the date of your application: you can take up work in the EU again the day after submitting, and a later return does not undo a claim that was valid when filed.
One honest note: the pension office can verify EU and UK insurance periods. A refund obtained while actually living or insured in the EU or UK can be withdrawn retrospectively, reclaimed and enforced. If your situation is unclear, ask us first.
How Much Money Can I Expect from My German Pension Refund?
Our retained completed paid cases across all nationalities show an average refund of €11,571.66 and a median of €10,327.10 (calculated 24 August 2026) — completed refunds on record run from under €200 to over €53,000. The actual amount depends on your personal work history and income level in Germany. Typically, you will be refunded:
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100% of the mandatory contributions deducted from your salary while you worked
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50% of any voluntary pension contributions you made, for example while self-employed
Since 2018, the pension contribution rate has been 9.3% of your gross salary, up to a capped maximum income (Beitragsbemessungsgrenze). In 2026, this cap is €8,450 per month (2025: €8,050). Income exceeding this threshold is not subject to pension deductions and is not included in refund calculations.
What Are the Costs for Claiming My German Pension Refund?
We believe you should only pay for results, so the model is success-based: no upfront fees and no minimum fee. Our fee is 9.75% of the refunded amount — capped at €2,500 including VAT even for very large refunds — and it covers the agreed managed administrative scope, including our partner law firm's support within that scope. Separate representation in an objection, appeal or court proceeding is not included automatically. You only pay after you have successfully received your pension refund.
What you need to apply
Passport, German pension number (Versicherungsnummer — our guide shows where to find it), your approximate employment dates and employers, current address, payout account, and the Abmeldung if you kept one. Missing items don't stop the process: we can help recover your pension number, German deregistration is available as an optional €50 add-on (including VAT), and we obtain and review the relevant account information during the managed process where required.
How much of it happens online?
The client side, almost entirely — details and signatures are digital for most clients, and we handle the pension-office correspondence within the agreed scope. One document steps off the screen: the Certificate of Life and Nationality we prepare, confirmed by a notary or another authority accepted by the responsible pension office; online notarization is often accepted, and any local notary or certification cost is borne by the client. And when DRV Oldenburg-Bremen is the office responsible for your refund, we prepare the power of attorney and payment declaration and ask you to send us the signed originals — a limited exception rather than the rule.
Is a German Bank Account Required to Get My Refund?
ot at all. Once your refund is approved, the payment first arrives in the escrow account operated by our German partner law firm. After the agreed fee is deducted, the balance is forwarded to the bank account you nominate — in Switzerland, the USA or wherever you live. A third-party account can be used where the required account-holder declaration and compliance checks are satisfied. Account-holder checks, international sanctions and banking restrictions can limit where — and in which currency — the money can be sent.
How Long Does It Take?
The measured record: more than three quarters of our 300 most recent completed refunds reached the client escrow account within three months — 229 of 300 (76.3%) within 90 days of complete submission — see the full data and methodology. Individual processing times vary; the deciding office keeps its own calendar. 93.3% of our latest 300 completed refunds reached escrow within six months, entitlements never shrink in the meantime, and German law can provide 4% annual interest from the seventh calendar month after a complete application.
On our side: complete files, professional follow-up — a process designed to avoid preventable delays — a status update at least every four weeks during an active claim, and known response deadlines tracked within the managed scope. An inactivity action (Untätigkeitsklage) can become available after six months as a case-dependent last resort; in our operating history, none has yet been required.
Can I Still Return to Germany or the EU After Applying?
Yes. Filing does not stop you from returning to Germany or moving elsewhere in Europe afterward: submit today, move back tomorrow, and the claim remains valid, because eligibility is checked at the date of application. Work in Germany again later and a new pension record simply starts from zero.
Frequently Asked Questions
I live in Bosnia right now — is there any path to the refund? Not while you live there — but the entitlement waits. Move outside the EU, the UK, India and the four ex-Yugoslav countries above, and the route opens 24 months after your last mandatory contribution.
I live in Switzerland — am I eligible? Yes. Switzerland is not on the blocking list, and your Swiss AHV contributions never affect the German claim.
Is there a limit on how many months I can have contributed? No — Bosnian citizens have no 60-month cap. One year or twenty, the full employee share is claimable once the other conditions are met.
Do pension contributions in my new home country block the refund? No — contributions in Switzerland, the USA, Canada or Australia never block the German claim and never restart the waiting period. (Mandatory insurance in the EU, the UK, Türkiye or an ex-Yugoslav country is different — that restarts the 24 months.)
What happens to my German months if I stay in Bosnia? With 60 or more months they stand ready as a German old-age pension at retirement age, payable in Bosnia. Below that, the refund entitlement simply waits for a move outside the region — nothing is lost either way, though refund and pension remain alternatives: a completed refund dissolves the record it pays out.
Claim Your Pension Refund Today
One clear promise: you pay only when your money arrives — and starting your claim takes less than one minute.
Want the full rules, forms and process in detail? Read our complete guide: How to Claim a German Pension Refund: Complete 2026 Guide