How do I find a pension from a job I had abroad years ago?

Start with the country, not the employer. Each country you worked in keeps its own record of those years, under its own number and behind its own login, so the first step is a list of every country and the years you spent there. Then look up the official record for each one in our pension portals directory, which holds 53 entries, each with the date we verified it. For the Netherlands, the entry reads: Mijn Pensioenoverzicht: National pension register showing AOW state pension and workplace pension entitlements. ETS founding member (Source: mijnpensioenoverzicht.nl, read 6 September 2026). Our free map does that first step for every country you choose, with sources and read dates.

What do I need before I look?

The number or login that country gave you. Some official routes ask for a national number or a national identity credential rather than your name, as our entries for two countries show:

• Mexico. CONSAR's AforeWeb asks only for an eleven digit social security number or an eighteen character CURP and an email address (Source: consar.gob.mx and imss.gob.mx, read 4 October 2026).
• Germany. To see your insurance record online, registration requires a German identity card with the online identification function activated, a German electronic residence permit with that function activated, or a German electronic signature card (Source: deutsche-rentenversicherung.de, read 3 October 2026).

Do institutions keep statements for every year?

Not always. For Singapore, our entry reads: The written trail stops at ten years, and CPF does not provide statements beyond that window (Source: cpf.gov.sg, singpass.gov.sg, read 3 October 2026).

What about the workplace pension from that job?

That is a separate trail, and it starts from the employer's name. Our post on what your old employer is called today explains how our connector reads official registers for the current name, and our post on an employer that no longer exists covers the official search services where a company has gone.

What can we do from here?

The country hubs for the examples above, each with the official record, what it asks for and the route from abroad: Netherlands, Switzerland, Mexico, Singapore and Germany.

Our free pension checker and our free map start from your own work history. Our pension questions pages answer single country questions, our authority answers publish what national pension institutions told us in writing, and our monthly data release publishes our agreement routes and deadline rows as CSV, each with its source and read date.

We identify and research. We give no financial advice.

Frequently asked questions

Is there one international register of pensions? We know of none. Each country keeps its own records, which is why our pension portals directory lists them country by country.

What if I no longer have my national number? Our country hubs name the record, what it asks for and the official route from abroad, each with its source. Our reports name who holds the record today and how to reach them.

Does PensionHunter give financial advice? No. We identify and research. We give no financial advice and take no percentage of anyone's pension.

Sources

• Netherlands, pension portals directory entry, citing mijnpensioenoverzicht.nl, read 6 September 2026.
• Mexico, pension portals directory entry, citing consar.gob.mx and imss.gob.mx, read 4 October 2026.
• Singapore, pension portals directory entry, citing cpf.gov.sg, singpass.gov.sg, read 3 October 2026.
• Germany, pension portals directory entry, citing deutsche-rentenversicherung.de, read 3 October 2026.
• Our government pension portals directory, each entry with the date we verified it.