How far back can a pension be backdated if I apply late?

It depends on the country, and some do not backdate at all. Our Cross-Border Pension Deadline Register holds 40 rows that limit backdating, across 21 countries. At one end of the range: Portugal pays the old-age pension only from the application, never for the months before it (Source: files.diariodarepublica.pt, read 1 September 2026). For the United Kingdom, the row reads: A person who reaches State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016 and applies late can receive a one-off arrears payment of at most 52 weeks; any deferral beyond 52 weeks is not paid as arrears but converted into extra weekly State Pension (Source: gov.uk, read 1 September 2026). Every row names its official source and the date we checked it, and each country has its own deadline page.

Which countries pay nothing before the application?

• Sweden. Swedish national public pension is never paid automatically and can never be backdated: every month of delay in applying is a month of pension that is never received (Source: pensionsmyndigheten.se, read 1 September 2026).
• Norway. NAV pays alderspensjon from the national insurance scheme (folketrygden) at the earliest from the month after it receives the application (Source: nav.no, read 1 September 2026).
• New Zealand. NZ Super is not backdated to the person's 65th birthday (Source: workandincome.govt.nz, read 1 September 2026).

Which countries pay some months back?

• United States. A late application is paid up to six months retroactively, and only at or after full retirement age (Source: ssa.gov Handbook 1513, ssa.gov international payments, and SSA POMS, read 3 October 2026).
• Ireland. Not knowing of an entitlement to an Irish social welfare payment is not accepted as a reason to backdate it further than six months (Source: gov.ie, read 1 September 2026).
• Canada. A CPP retirement pension applied for after age 65 can only be backdated 11 months before the month of application, and never earlier than the month after the 65th birthday (Source: canada.ca, read 1 September 2026).
• Netherlands. Dutch AOW state pension arrears are capped: the pension cannot start earlier than the first day of the twelfth month before the day of application, so a late application permanently loses the older entitlement unless the SVB treats the case as special (Source: wetten.overheid.nl, read 1 September 2026).
• Latvia. The old-age pension may be applied for no earlier than 1 month before reaching pension age; if the application is submitted later, the right to the pension arises no earlier than 6 months before the day the application is submitted (Source: vsaa.gov.lv, read 1 September 2026).
• Spain. Payable retroactivity is capped at three months from the application, so a pension applied for more than three months after the nominated date is paid back only three months from the application, not from the nominated date itself (Source: seg-social.es, read 1 September 2026).
• Germany. There is a three month window once you qualify, and Deutsche Rentenversicherung states that if you apply later the pension as a rule begins only from the month you applied, so the months in between are gone (Source: deutsche-rentenversicherung.de, read 3 October 2026).
• Iceland. If a person waits to apply for ellilífeyrir beyond the general pension age of 67, they can apply for their entitlement up to two years back in time (Source: island.is, read 1 September 2026).

Where do I see the rule for one country?

On that country's deadline page, for example Spain or Ireland. Our free map shows the dated deadlines for the countries and years you choose. The country hubs for the examples above: Portugal, United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, New Zealand, United States, Ireland, Canada, Netherlands, Latvia, Spain, Germany and Iceland.

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.

Frequently asked questions

Is a backdating limit the same as losing the pension? The rows above limit the months paid before an application. They do not say the pension itself is refused.

Why does the date of the application matter so much? Because in the rows above the payment starts from it, or from a short window before it. Our post on whether a pension is paid automatically shows that the application is the step that starts it.

Does PensionHunter give advice on when to apply? No. We identify and research, and set out each rule with its source and read date.

Sources

• Deadline register row uk-13, citing gov.uk, read 1 September 2026.
• Deadline register row ie-7, citing gov.ie, read 1 September 2026.
• Deadline register row ca-3, citing canada.ca, read 1 September 2026.
• Deadline register row nl-3, citing wetten.overheid.nl, read 1 September 2026.
• Deadline register row lv-2, citing vsaa.gov.lv, read 1 September 2026.
• Deadline register row es-1, citing seg-social.es, read 1 September 2026.
• Deadline register row no-6, citing nav.no, read 1 September 2026.
• Deadline register row pt-3, citing files.diariodarepublica.pt, read 1 September 2026.
• Deadline register row se-5, citing pensionsmyndigheten.se, read 1 September 2026.
• Deadline register row nz-5, citing workandincome.govt.nz, read 1 September 2026.
• United States, pension portals directory entry, citing ssa.gov Handbook 1513, ssa.gov international payments, and SSA POMS, read 3 October 2026.
• Germany, pension portals directory entry, citing deutsche-rentenversicherung.de, read 3 October 2026.
• Deadline register row is-1, citing island.is, read 1 September 2026.