Left Japan and received three years, possible to recover lost pension?

[concerned]

I have been here quite a number of years, left Japan twice and had 3 years of my pension returned each time as per the rule at the tome, and have lost about 9 years of pension payments by doing this... There were a couple of reasons for doing this; I was not sure if I was going to return here, and I needed the money at the time..

Anyway just wondering if someone else in a similar position has been able to recover these lost years by back paying pension or by some other method?

[zeroshiki]

We got a similar question recently so I decided to start googling. Its not an official answer from the NTA but this law firm says:

脱退一時金を受領した場合、その基礎となった期間は、加入期間ではなくなりますので、再度来日して働き始めた場合、前の就労期間は日本の年金を受けるための受給資格期間には含まれませんので注意が必要です。

https://www.hamamatsu-sr.com/2019/07/08/797/

Which basically says that once you receive the refund, ALL years before that (not just the 3 that you refunded) become invalid for pension and you start from scratch.

[concerned]

Thanks! zeroshiki fir your reply I guess getting the money back was unlikely indeed

[adamu]

I'm not optimistic, but I didn't see anything yet that says you can't voluntarily repay those years. Zeroshiki's quote just says the refunded years are no longer considered as years of subscription. That's subtly different from can never be considered.

I think it's worth finding an official policy or confirming with the pension office before giving up.

[concerned]

Thanks! Adamu will check with the pension office

[ClearAsMud]

Not encouraging news, but the Japan Pension Service website essentially says the same thing as zeroshiki's link:

脱退一時金を受けとると、脱退一時金を請求する以前のすべての期間が年金加入期間ではなくなってしまいます。したがって、脱退一時金を請求するかどうかは、将来、日本の老齢年金を受け取る可能性などを考えた上で慎重に検討してください。

https://www.nenkin.go.jp/faq/jukyu/sono ... 42808.html

In other words, you are considered not to have been enrolled at all for any period prior to making your claim, so it's very hard to imagine being allowed to contribute anything retrospectively, although laws do change (10 years now instead of 25 to qualify) and you might keep your eye on the situation. It certainly wouldn't hurt to ask the pension office in person, but exceptions are not mentioned anywhere I've looked.

As for English, I don't know when it may have been added, but the current "Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment Claim Form" contains the following caution, printed in red at the top of the form:

"If you receive a Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment, all periods before your Claim for the Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment will no longer be considered to be the pension enrollment periods."

See following page to download a PDF document with the actual form, together with instructions; the form will be found at the end of the document:
https://www.nenkin.go.jp/international/ ... yment.html

Also, a further disadvantage -- mentioned on page 2 (in Japanese) and page 4 (in English) of the same document -- is that since you are considered not to have been enrolled in the pension, the period also no longer counts toward eligibility under the totalization agreements Japan has with 17 other countries. This could conceivably cause problems under certain circumstances.

[concerned]

Thanks! clear as mud does not look good indeed