Submitting a pension application

What happens after you submit a pension application?

The time of reviewing the pension application depends on whether the right to receive pension already exists and whether we have all the information for calculating the pension.

Please note that if you submit the pension application before the right to pension has been created (such as before reaching the retirement age), we can still make the decision when the right to pension exists.

Also, the size of your future pension can be calculated only then. The reason for this being that if you work until you retire, the social tax calculated on your wages also increases your pension.

• After we have collected all the correct documents, we will make the decision within 30 days as of the day when the right to pension was created
• If it appears during the review of the documents that we need to make further inquiries from institutions or the archives, the decision-making may be postponed. In this case we will make the decision within 30 days as of receiving the last document necessary for granting the pension

If necessary, we will contact you at the contact details indicated in the application. Further inquiries from the institutions where you have worked or from the archives will be made upon agreement with you. Please note also that a fee is charged for the inquiries from the archives. 

Example 1:
Toomas becomes eligible for a pension on March 1st, which is his birthday and the date he reaches the old-age pension age. Toomas had submitted his pension application and employment record book to the Social Insurance Board already on January 1st. If no additional information or documents are required from Toomas, the Social Insurance Board will make a decision on the specific pension amount to be granted to him by April 11th at the latest, i.e., within 30 working days from the date he becomes eligible for a pension.

If there are issues with Toomas’s documents — for example, if he cannot prove his pensionable service period or has not submitted the written consent of his daughter’s mother to include the raising of their joint child as part of Toomas’s pensionable service — then the Social Insurance Board will make a decision at the earliest opportunity, but no later than the date Toomas reaches old-age pension age, stating that a pension will not be granted to him.

Example 2:
Pille reaches old-age pension age on December 1st. She submitted her pension application and employment record book to the Social Insurance Board already on June 1st. At the end of October, Pille discovered that her employment from 1991 to 1996 had not been recorded in her employment book. Therefore, on November 15th, she asked the Social Insurance Board for assistance with an archive inquiry to include those years in her pensionable service and thereby qualify for a higher pension. The Social Insurance Board received the supporting documents and evidence of Pille’s employment on December 15th. The Board will make a decision on her pension by January at the latest, i.e., within 30 working days from the receipt of the new evidence. The decision will be effective retroactively from December 1st, when Pille reached pensionable age and became eligible for a pension.
 

• When the decision has been made, we will send it to the e-mail address that you have provided. You may also collect the decision from our customer service.
• We will send you the pension certificate by post within 10 working days after making the decision.
• The first pension will be paid to you as soon as possible after making the decision. Hereinafter you will receive the pension on the 5th day of each month. If the day of the bank transfer falls on a public holiday or other holiday, within the following 2 working days shall be the payment day.

If you have questions about applying for pension and processing the application, contact the Estonian National Social Insurance Board

• by e-mail, at [email protected];
• via self-service of the Estonian National Social Insurance Board;
• by post, at the following address: Paldiski mnt 80, Tallinn, 15092;
• in person, at the customer service of the Estonian National Social Insurance Board.