Pension for foreigners: how the Italian law works

How does the pension work for foreigners residing in the country? The subject matter is very complex, diverse and depends on the agreements made by Italy with various countries. There are two major categories: the EU worker (having the exact same rights and duties as an Italian worker) and the non-EU foreign citizen who comes to Italy and works in order to later stay or return to his or her home state. For EU foreigners EU citizens enjoy the exact same conditions as Italian workers: both in pay and various working conditions, including pension. For these workers, all insurance or contribution periods accrued in the different countries are added together, and they receive a final "pro-rata" treatment appropriate to the work performed in the various nations and the corresponding contributions. The pension is paid in the state of "last residence" or in which the application was made. For non-EU citizens with conventions. A non-EU citizen who is regularly employed in Italy is entitled to the payment of all social security contributions. For some countries, for example, there are certain conventions that produce a legal situation quite similar to that of EU states. In these cases the worker, whether he remains in Italy or returns to his country of origin will be entitled to his pension in its entirety. For non-EU citizens who remain in Italy. Non-EU citizens, even if they do not become Italian citizens, fully enjoy equal treatment with Italian workers: a non-EU citizen who comes from a country without a convention, after paying contributions and correctly reaching retirement age, will normally receive the treatment due if he or she stays in our country. The pensions of foreigners who repatriate? A special case is those non-EU nationals from countries with which there are no agreements in place that permanently repatriate. These are nonseasonal workers, who have worked regularly in Italy for a period corresponding to the minimum contributory period (at least 5 years). The Bossi-Fini law introduced two case histories:

• non-EU workers hired after January 1, 1996 can receive, in case of repatriation, the old-age pension (calculated with the contributory system) upon reaching 66 years of age and even if they have not fulfilled the requirements (thus, even if they have less than 20 years of contributions) as long as they do not return to Italy (in which case they lose their right). Of course, they will only receive the amount proportionate to what they have paid in.
• non-EU workers hired before 1996 can receive, in the event of repatriation, an old-age pension (calculated under the earnings or mixed system) only upon reaching the age of 66 for both men and women and with 20 years of contributions.

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