A public register
Every dated obligation we have verified in a national pension system that expires, destroys money, or suspends a payment, for a person who no longer lives in that country. Each row says what starts the clock, how long it runs and what is lost, with the official source and the date we checked it. 286 obligations across 35 countries. Checked 27 August 2026.
This register currently covers 35 of the 41 countries we research. We are working through the remaining 6 and publishing each country as its deadlines are sourced and dated. Last expanded 27 August 2026.
Where an official source is silent or contradicts itself, we say that on the row rather than choosing an answer for you.
This register is not exhaustive. It contains what we have verified from official sources, with the date we checked it. Where a rule rests on an authority's published guide rather than on the statute itself, we say so. Where we could not establish a rule, it is absent rather than guessed. If you find an error, tell us and we will publish the correction the same day.
Showing 25 of 286 obligations.
The grant is lost outright
What this means if you no longer live in Bulgaria
The three years run from 1 January of the year after the death, not from the death itself. After that the grant is gone, however good the reason for the delay.
The benefit is extinguished, not suspended
What this means if you no longer live in Chile
More than 180 days outside Chile in a calendar year, whether continuous or added up, extinguishes the benefit rather than pausing it. Living abroad and drawing the PGU are not compatible.
Where none of the three conditions is met, there is no spouse's pension
What this means if you no longer live in Iceland
Whether a spouse's pension exists at all is decided by the deceased's contribution record in the 36 months before the death. Someone who stopped contributing after leaving Iceland may leave no spouse's pension behind.
After six months no benefit is granted
What this means if you no longer live in Latvia
The six months run from the date of death, and a funeral held abroad does not extend them. After six months no benefit is granted.
The right to that individual arrear is extinguished by prescription. The source states the right to a pension as such does not prescribe, but each arrear does after five years.
The amount is forfeited.
Forfeiture. The source states the payment obligation is on pain of forfeiture.
The insurance terminates.
The pension is withdrawn, and it cannot be granted for the three months following the withdrawal unless the insured proves the examination could not take place for reasons outside their control.
The grant is lost outright
Rests on a Segurança Social administrative guide, not on Decreto-Lei 322/90, which we could not retrieve in readable form.
What this means if you no longer live in Portugal
The 180 days run from the registration of the death, not from the death itself, and for a death abroad the registration is often the slow part. Once those days have passed the grant is gone.
Where the survivor was under 35 at the date of death, the pension ends after five years
What this means if you no longer live in Portugal
The five-year limit is fixed by the survivor's age at the date of death, so nothing you do later changes it. Living abroad does not extend it.
The enrolment itself
What this means if you no longer live in Portugal
Voluntary insurance lapses one year after your last payment, so a gap while you settle abroad can end the enrolment itself. Restarting is a new enrolment, not a resumption.
The authorisation covers the whole proven period or nothing. You cannot buy only the cheapest years
What this means if you no longer live in Portugal
If you are buying back prescribed contributions from abroad, the authorisation covers the whole proven period or nothing. You cannot pick out the cheaper years.
The benefit is lost outright
What this means if you no longer live in Romania
The three years run from the date the death certificate was issued. A certificate issued abroad and only later registered in Romania does not restart that clock.
The guaranteed widow's pension, and the backdating to 1 January 2024
Binds a widow or widower who on 28 December 2023 was already drawing a pension and also met the conditions for a widow's pension. File in time and it backdates to no earlier than 1 January 2024. The guaranteed pension is 785 euros a month from January 2026. A foreign pension affects both entitlement and amount and must be evidenced.
What this means if you no longer live in Slovenia
This binds people already drawing a pension on 28 December 2023, wherever they live. A pension you draw from another country affects both entitlement and amount and has to be evidenced, which takes longer from abroad.
The refund is extinguished by prescription
Read together with Lump-sum refund, the second door.
What this means if you no longer live in South Korea
If you left Korea and never claimed your refund, the claim is extinguished five years after entitlement arose. Read this with the second door below before assuming the money is gone.
What the source does not say
The source does not define which event starts this five-year clock, so we cannot tell you your own date. We have asked the National Pension Service and will publish the answer here.
Payment will be cancelled and the cancellation will take effect from the date of suspension. The payment will remain cancelled unless a certified proof of life certificate is provided to Services Australia.
Part two of the proof of life sequence. The suspension in row au-1 hardens into a cancellation, and the cancellation is backdated to the day the payment was suspended, not the day it was cancelled.
Administrative policy in the Social Security Guide.
Read together with Proof of life notice, 13-week return, Proof of life, 39-week full arrears limit, Proof of life, signatures within 7 days, Proof of life, 12-month certificate validity.
What this means if you no longer live in Australia
The cancellation backdates to the suspension date, so the gap in payment starts earlier than the cancellation letter suggests. Read this together with the 13-week suspension row and the 39-week arrears row.
The super fund transfers the money to the ATO as unclaimed super money. The ATO page adds that you may be able to claim ATO-held super as DASP.
What this means if you no longer live in Australia
This row exists only for former temporary residents who have left Australia. After 6 months the money moves from the fund to the ATO, where it must be traced through a different route.
Continuation insurance terminates at the end of the last paid month.
Pension splitting application cannot be made after the deadline.
The entitlement to the survivor's pension as a divorcee is lost.
It cannot be paid to anyone else. If the contributor was over 70 at death, the estate may receive only payment for the month of death and the 11 months preceding the death.
What this means if you no longer live in Canada
If a CPP contributor died abroad before applying and was 70 or younger at death, the retirement pension is lost to everyone except a limited estate payment.
The Bank pays the amount without interest to the Receiver General and may destroy all records relating to the debt, instrument, claim or returned payment. For balances of 1,000 dollars or more after 100 years, the Bank is not liable.
What this means if you no longer live in Canada
If you left Canada and forgot a bank account, unclaimed balances move to the Receiver General after 40 years and records may be destroyed. Larger balances are no longer the Bank's liability after 100 years.
The right to the amount lapses for a cohabitant, and the payment is time-barred for children.
After 3 years ATP has no possibility of correcting errors in the contributions.
A pension you cannot name is a pension you cannot claim before its clock runs out. The free checker asks where you worked and tells you which systems could hold something in your name.