Philippine Pensions for OFWs: How to Find SSS, GSIS and Pag-IBIG Money, and the Pensions You Left Behind Abroad

Millions of Filipinos have worked in another country. Many worked in three or four. Each of those working lives may have left a record somewhere, and the systems holding those records do not talk to each other. Nobody sends you a letter. If you do not look, the record simply sits there.

This guide covers the Philippine side first, then the countries where OFWs actually worked, where the honest answer is sometimes nothing and sometimes a real entitlement almost nobody claims. Everything below is checked against an official source, listed at the end with the date we checked it.

Start with the SSS, because most OFWs are in it

The rule that decides everything: 120 contributions

The Social Security System pays a monthly retirement pension to a member who has paid "at least one hundred twenty (120) monthly contributions prior to the semester of retirement" (SSS Retirement Benefit). That is ten years of contributions, and it does not have to be ten years in a row.

Below 120 you are not left with nothing. You get a lump sum equal to "the total contributions paid, including interest earned". The same threshold appears in the law itself, Republic Act 11199 (RA 11199, LawPhil).

Optional retirement is at 60, if you are separated from employment. Technical retirement is at 65 regardless of whether you are still working. Mineworkers and racehorse jockeys have earlier ages.

This is why counting matters. Someone sitting on 112 contributions is close to a lifetime pension, and someone who does not know their number cannot make that decision at all. The SSS also pays a dependents' pension of "ten percent (10%) of the member's monthly pension or P250, whichever is higher" for up to five qualifying children, and a 13th month pension every December.

Yes, coverage is compulsory for land based OFWs

This surprises people. Under Section 9-B of RA 11199, "Coverage in the SSS shall be compulsory upon all sea-based and land-based OFWs", and land based OFWs are treated in the same manner as self-employed persons (RA 11199). The SSS states the same on its OFW member page.

But compulsory does not mean automatic. The SSS is clear that "Coverage for an OFW member takes effect on the applicable month and year of the first contribution payment but should not be earlier than the month of registration" (SSS OFW Member). If nobody paid, nothing was credited. The minimum monthly salary credit for a land based OFW is P8,000. There is also a supplementary OFW savings scheme, the Flexi-Fund, withdrawable at any time, which some members paid into and then forgot (SSS Flexi-Fund).

Your SS number, and the trap of having two

The SSS says the SS number "is the lifetime number and must always be used in all transactions", and warns that "Having more than one (1) SS Number will cause delay in the processing of claim for benefits or loans in the future" (Become an SSS Member). Where a person has ended up with more than one, the extra numbers must be cancelled so the records consolidate under a single retained number.

This is a common reason an OFW's record looks thin. Twenty contributions sit under one number from a first job in Manila, sixty sit under a second number issued by an agency years later, and neither reaches 120 alone.

Name changes cause the same problem, because records built under a maiden name do not merge themselves after marriage. The SSS E-4 Member Data Change Request form handles correction of name and change of civil status from single to married, legally separated or widowed (SSS E-4 form).

Getting at your record from abroad

My.SSS is the member portal, where you see contributions and file claims (Register to My.SSS). An SS number can be applied for online, with scanned documents such as a birth certificate or passport (SSS OFW Member).

The SSS also maintains Foreign Representative Offices. We could confirm active ones this session in London and Madrid, at london@sss.gov.ph and madrid@sss.gov.ph, with scheduled on-site services in Prague (SSS Foreign Branches Schedule), and a service point at the Migrant Workers Office in Vancouver at vancouver@sss.gov.ph (Philippine Consulate General Vancouver). For OFW matters the SSS directs members to ofw.relations@sss.gov.ph.

If you are already an SSS pensioner living abroad, do not ignore the Annual Confirmation of Pensioners. Pensioners abroad must comply every year, and "Failure to comply with ACOP on the right schedule will result in the suspension of the monthly pension", with cancellation after two years (SSS ACOP). Compliance can be done by video conference, by email to a Foreign Representative Office, or by courier.

GSIS, if you worked for the Philippine government

Anyone who taught in a public school, served in a local government unit or worked in a national agency before going abroad was almost certainly a GSIS member, not an SSS member. Membership "shall be compulsory for all employees receiving compensation", with the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police excluded (RA 8291, LawPhil). A retiree qualifies if "he has rendered at least fifteen years of service", is "at least sixty (60) years of age at the time of retirement", and is not receiving a permanent total disability pension. Compulsory retirement is at 65 with at least 15 years of service. The retiree chooses between a lump sum plus an old-age pension, or "cash payment equivalent to eighteen (18) months of his basic monthly pension plus monthly pension for life".

The point most former government workers miss is what happens when you leave early. RA 8291 provides separation benefits, not nothing. Three to fifteen years of service gives a cash payment based on average monthly compensation for each year served. More than fifteen years, separating before 60, gives 18 times the basic monthly pension plus an old-age pension later.

We should be straight about one thing. The GSIS website rejected every automated request we made this session. If you are outside the Philippines, expect friction, and expect to need a person rather than a portal.

Pag-IBIG, the savings pot people forget

Pag-IBIG, the Home Development Mutual Fund, is not a pension. It is a provident fund, and the money in it is individually yours. Contributions "shall be fully credited to each member, accounted for individually and transferable in case of change of employment" (RA 9679).

Membership runs for twenty years, or 240 monthly contributions, "except when earlier terminated by reason of retirement, disability, insanity, death, departure from the country or other causes as may be provided for by the Board of Trustees" (RA 9679, Senate of the Philippines).

The claim form lists the grounds, including membership term maturity, retirement, permanent total disability or insanity, termination from service by reason of health, critical illness, death, optional withdrawal, and permanent departure from the country (Pag-IBIG claim form PFF285). That last one fits a great many former OFWs who settled abroad and never went back.

Claiming from overseas, the documents matter. Pag-IBIG's checklist requires documents issued abroad to be apostillised where the country is party to the Hague Apostille Convention, and otherwise "duly certified by the Philippine Consulate General/ Philippine Embassy in the country where the document was issued" (Pag-IBIG checklist PFF377). A claim can be filed by the member, a guardian, or an authorised representative.

Totalization: what the Philippines has agreed with other countries

Totalization lets years in two countries be added together so you qualify for something in one of them. The SSS describes it as "combining creditable periods of covered workers under the social security schemes of the Philippines and the host country, to determine eligibility to benefits and manner of calculation of benefit payment (usually on a proportional-sharing basis)".

The SSS bilateral agreements page lists agreements in force with Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Quebec (listed separately from Canada), Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland (SSS Bilateral Agreements).

Read that list again for what is not on it. There is no agreement with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Hong Kong, Singapore, Italy, Australia or the United States, which are among the largest OFW destinations on earth. An agreement is not the only reason to check a country, but its absence tells you the two systems will not help each other, and you must approach each one separately. Our free directory of 53 official pension portals gives you the correct office to write to in each country.

The bigger blind spot: what you left behind where you worked

Here we have to be careful, because the honest answer varies by country, and a lot of people are sold false hope.

Saudi Arabia

For most Filipinos, the answer is no retirement pension. The General Organization for Social Insurance states that "Saudi subscribers are covered with pension and OH branches, while non-Saudis are just OH", OH being the Occupational Hazards branch, which "compulsorily covers all Saudi and non-Saudi workers" (GOSI Employer FAQ). There may still be a live claim if the worker was injured on site, and that route is worth checking.

United Arab Emirates

The UAE government says it plainly: "There are no pension schemes for expatriate workers in the UAE" (UAE Government Portal). What an expatriate has instead is end of service gratuity, payable after one year of continuous service and calculated on the last basic salary. That is an employer obligation, not a state fund, which is why unpaid gratuity is so often the thing a returning OFW is actually owed.

Hong Kong

This one splits sharply. The Mandatory Provident Fund covers employees aged 18 to 64, but "domestic employees", meaning those providing domestic services in the employer's residential premises, are exempt, as are people entering Hong Kong to work for not more than 13 months (MPFA, MPF Coverage). So a Filipino domestic helper usually has no MPF account, and it is unkind to suggest otherwise. A Filipino who worked in a Hong Kong office, hotel, hospital or shop very likely does.

If you left for good, MPF can be withdrawn early on the ground of permanent departure, on a statutory declaration that you left "with no intention of returning for employment or to resettle in Hong Kong as a permanent resident", plus proof you may reside elsewhere. It can only be used once (MPFA, Early Withdrawal).

Singapore

Usually nothing. CPF contributions are required for employees who are "Singapore Citizens or Singapore Permanent Residents, and who are earning total wages of more than $50 per month", and anyone who is neither falls outside the requirement (CPF Board). The exception worth checking is the person who became a permanent resident partway through. Those PR years generate a real CPF balance.

Japan

Japan has two different doors. A foreign national who leaves Japan can claim a Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment if they contributed "to the National Pension system for at least six months in total", and the claim must be filed "within two years after you register to leave Japan" (Japan Pension Service pamphlet, Lump-sum Withdrawal Payments).

The second door is the Japan and Philippines agreement, in force since 1 August 2018 according to the SSS. Under it, "your coverage periods under the Japanese pension systems will be considered for the Philippine benefits", and the reverse applies too (Japan Pension Service). If the two year lump-sum window has closed, that route may still be open.

South Korea

The Philippines and Korea agreement took effect in April 2024. Korea's National Pension Service describes it as a totalization agreement, so periods too short to qualify on their own may still count (NPS, Philippines). Separately, foreign workers on E-8, E-9 or H-2 visas can claim a lump-sum refund regardless of insured period (NPS, lump-sum refund for foreigners).

Italy

Italy has one of the largest Filipino communities in Europe, and no bilateral agreement with the Philippines on the SSS list. Contributions made in Italy still exist at INPS. The Italian old-age pension in 2026 requires age 67 with at least 20 years of contributions, with an alternative at 71 with five years of actual contributions for records entirely in the contributory system (INPS, Old-age pension). INPS also runs a route for foreign workers who have permanently repatriated to claim an old-age or survivor pension from home (INPS, repatriated foreign workers).

Canada

The agreement "came into force on March 1, 1997", with a supplementary agreement from 1 July 2001. Canada will "consider periods credited under the Philippine pension program as periods of contribution to the Canada Pension Plan", and as residence for Old Age Security, and the Philippines counts Canadian contributions and residence in return (Government of Canada, Philippines). If you worked a few years in Canada and assumed it was too short to matter, it may not be.

United States

There is no totalization agreement between the United States and the Philippines. The Social Security Administration's own list of agreements in force does not include it (SSA, International Agreements). US retirement benefits need 40 credits, roughly ten years of covered work, and there is no way to borrow Philippine years to reach that.

What does work is payment abroad. The Philippines appears in SSA's publication among the countries whose citizens continue to receive US Social Security payments based on their own earnings while living outside the United States (SSA Publication 05-10137). So a Filipino who genuinely worked ten years in the States and went home can be paid in the Philippines.

Where people lose track

The patterns repeat. Two or three SS numbers issued over a working life. A record built under a maiden name that never merged after marriage. A recruitment agency that closed twenty years ago and took its files with it. Five addresses in three countries. Contributions an employer deducted but never remitted. A member who died abroad while the family in the province had no idea what he had been paying into.

One free tool almost nobody uses: the Department of Migrant Workers holds the deployment records. Verification of OFW records can be requested by the OFW, a family member with proof of relationship, or an authorised representative, and the fee is stated as none (DMW). It is often the only surviving proof of which countries a person worked in and when.

When the member has died

The Philippine routes are clear enough. The SSS pays a monthly death pension to primary beneficiaries where the member "had paid at least thirty-six (36) monthly contributions prior to the semester of death", and a one-time lump sum below 36 (SSS Death Benefit). Primary beneficiaries are the surviving spouse until remarriage and dependent unmarried children under 21. Where there are none, dependent parents are secondary beneficiaries.

The SSS funeral benefit is separate, and goes to whoever actually paid for the funeral, not necessarily a beneficiary. It is "Php20,000 to Php60,000" where the member paid at least 36 contributions up to the month of death, and P12,000 where at least one but fewer than 36 were paid (SSS Funeral Benefit).

If the person was an active OWWA member at the time of death, OWWA pays a death benefit of P100,000 for natural causes or P200,000 for accidental death, plus a funeral grant of P20,000 (OWWA, Death and Disability Benefit). Active membership at the time of death is what decides most of these cases.

The harder part is always the foreign side. A family in Cavite dealing with a death in Riyadh or Milan has to identify the institution, prove the relationship in that country's language and format, and do it inside that country's deadlines. That is where estates quietly lose money.

What this costs you, and what we actually do

You can do all of this yourself, for free. The SSS portal is free. The Pag-IBIG forms are free. The DMW record certification is free. Every source in this article is public and linked above. We would rather say that plainly than pretend otherwise.

To start, use our free two minute check. It will tell you which systems are worth pursuing in your case.

What a paid report adds is not access. It is completeness and evidence. We work across systems that have no reason to talk to each other, we apply the eligibility rules you cannot search for because they live in circulars and agreement texts rather than on web pages, and we hand you a sourced and dated answer a family, a lawyer or an estate administrator can act on.

We cover 41 countries in our reports, we have studied 54 pension systems, our free portal directory holds 53 entries, and 39 national pension authorities have replied to us in writing. Our scoreboard of 47 systems publishes on 1 October 2026.

A Country Pension Identification Report is $99 and covers one country. An Enhanced Pension Identification Report is $499. A Global Pension Identification Report is $799, for a working life spread across several countries.

Frequently asked questions

I have fewer than 120 SSS contributions and I am nearly 60. Is it worth continuing?

That is a real decision and only you can make it. The rule is that 120 monthly contributions before the semester of retirement gives a lifetime monthly pension, while fewer gives a lump sum of total contributions plus interest (SSS). Land based OFWs are treated as self-employed and can pay contributions themselves, including in advance (SSS). We identify what your record shows. We do not advise you on whether to buy more.

I think I have two SS numbers. What happens now?

The SSS treats one number as your lifetime number and asks members to cancel the extra ones so records consolidate under the retained number (SSS). Until that is done, contributions sitting under a second number are not counted toward your 120.

I worked in Saudi Arabia for eleven years. Do I have a Saudi pension?

Almost certainly not. GOSI covers non-Saudi workers only under the Occupational Hazards branch, not the pension branch (GOSI). If you were injured at work there, that is a different question and may still be live.

My mother worked in Hong Kong as a domestic helper for fifteen years. Is there MPF money?

Usually no. Domestic employees working in the employer's home are exempt from MPF (MPFA). If she had any other Hong Kong employment, that period may be a different matter.

My husband died in Italy. Where do we start?

Two tracks at once. On the Philippine side, the SSS death and funeral benefits, and OWWA if he was an active member at the time of death. On the Italian side, INPS holds any contributions he made, and runs a survivor pension route (INPS). Get the death certificate apostillised early, because both sides will want it.

Can I get my Pag-IBIG money if I have settled abroad permanently?

Permanent departure from the country is one of the grounds printed on the Pag-IBIG provident benefits claim form (Pag-IBIG). Documents issued abroad will need an apostille or Philippine Embassy certification.

PensionHunter is a trading name of Battersea Park Capital Ltd, a research and administrative assistance service. We are not regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines, the Financial Conduct Authority, or any equivalent authority. We identify what exists in a person's name, who holds it now, and how to reach them. We do not give financial advice and we do not give tax advice. All decisions remain with you.

Sources, all verified 26 August 2026

• https://www.sss.gov.ph/retirement-benefit/
• https://www.sss.gov.ph/ofw-member/
• https://www.sss.gov.ph/become-an-sss-member/
• https://www.sss.gov.ph/register-to-mysss/
• https://www.sss.gov.ph/sss-for-filipinos-abroad/
• https://www.sss.gov.ph/sss-foreign-branches-schedule-of-activities/
• https://www.sss.gov.ph/bilateral-agreements/
• https://www.sss.gov.ph/death-benefit/
• https://www.sss.gov.ph/funeral-benefit/
• https://www.sss.gov.ph/flexi-fund-program/
• https://www.sss.gov.ph/comply-to-the-acop-program/
• https://www.sss.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/E4-Member-Data-Change-Request.pdf
• https://www.lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra2019/ra_11199_2019.html
• https://www.lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra1997/ra_8291_1997.html
• https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocs/2/19155
• https://web.senate.gov.ph/republic_acts/ra%209679.pdf
• https://docs.congress.hrep.online/download/adminreqs/pagibig/PFF377_ProvidentBenefitsClaimChecklistRequirements_V05.pdf
• https://www.generaltrias.gov.ph/storage/pdf_files/PAG-IBIG%20PFF285_ApplicationProvidentBenefitsClaim_V08.pdf
• https://dmw.gov.ph/archives/poea/services/workers/ofw_record.pdf
• https://owwa.gov.ph/death-and-disability-benefit/
• https://www.vancouverpcg.org/sss/
• https://www.gosi.gov.sa/GOSIOnline/FAQ_Employer?locale=en_US
• https://u.ae/en/information-and-services/moving-to-the-uae/expatriates-working-in-the-uae/pension-schemes-for-expatriate-workers
• https://www.mpfa.org.hk/en/mpf-system/mpf-coverage
• https://www.mpfa.org.hk/en/mpf-system/withdrawal-of-mpf/early-withdrawal
• https://www.cpf.gov.sg/employer/employer-obligations/who-should-receive-cpf-contributions
• https://www.nenkin.go.jp/international/english/japanese-system/benefit/payment.html
• https://www.nenkin.go.jp/international/english/agreement/mechanisms/noteseach/notesphilippines.html
• https://www.nenkin.go.jp/service/pamphlet/kaigai/kokunenseido.files/2English.pdf
• https://www.nps.or.kr/eng/soclsecuagre/ctrtcny/getOHAI0025M0.do?div=39&menuId=MN25000009
• https://www.nps.or.kr/eng/ntnlpnsplan/frgnrlpsmrfnd/getOHAI0015M0.do
• https://www.inps.it/it/en/dettaglio-scheda.en.schede-servizio-strumento.schede-servizi.pensione-di-vecchiaia.html
• https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/publicpensions/cpp/cpp-international/philippines.html
• https://www.ssa.gov/international/agreements_overview.html
• https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10137.pdf