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Can I claim back German Pension contributions after BREXIT? Has Brexit changed my situation?

In general, Brexit has not changed the situation for you, if you have worked in Germany before 01.01.2021.

1) Regardless of your nationality, if you worked in Germany before BREXIT (01.01.2021) and now you are living in the UK, you are eligible to voluntarily pay pension contributions in Germany. Even though you might not be paying voluntary pension contributions you could and that fact makes you NOT eligible for earlier refund.

Your situation might change if you move to a country which is outside...
1) of the United Kingdom (UK)
2) and the European Union
3) and the European Economic Area (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway)

Probably you are planning to move to your your nationality country in the future?
Or you plan to move to Switzerland?
Or you have a second nationality/citizenship?

Use our free eligibility check, answer 5 questions and get your result in 1 minute.

2) As UK citizen and if you worked in Germany before BREXIT (01.01.2021) and now you are living in any country in the world, you are eligible to voluntarily pay contributions in Germany. Even though you might not be paying voluntary contributions you could and that fact makes you NOT eligible for earlier refund. At the end of this FAQ we added a reply we have received from the German Pension Insurance on a similar case.

Here a translated reply we have received from the Pension Refund on a similar case:
"Reimbursement of contributions is only permissible if the right to voluntary insurance does not exist. For periods after the age of 16, all Germans in Germany and abroad who are not subject to compulsory insurance, as well as foreigners who are resident or not only temporarily staying in the Federal Republic of Germany, have this right. As a British citizen, you are also entitled under EU law, even if you have your habitual residence outside the European Union (EU), to pay voluntary contributions based on the contributions you made to German statutory pension insurance before January 1st, 2021, and thus have an influence on your pension entitlement. Since the requirements for voluntary insurance are met, there is no entitlement to a refund of contributions. It is immaterial whether permissible voluntary insurance is intended or not. Nothing else results from the fact that the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (United Kingdom) left the EU at the end of January 31, 2020 (Brexit). You belong to the group of persons under Article 32 of the Brexit Agreement. This includes persons who have completed insurance periods in the United Kingdom and Germany (in an EU country) before 01/01/2021. These enjoy the protection of legitimate expectations and the protection of existing rights of the Regulation -VO- of the European Community (EG) No. 883/2004 and the VO(EG)No. 987/2009 for all performance-related matters. This also applies to British nationals who have no official insurance periods but completed German (member state) insurance periods by December 31, 2020, and accordingly for German nationals (nationals of other EU countries) who do not have German (member state) insurance periods, but have acquired periods of insurance up to December 31, 2020. The application of Art. 32 Brexit Agreement leads to the further application of Regulation (EC) No. 883/2004 and Regulation (EC) No. 987/2009. This means that Regulation (EC) No. 883/2004 and Regulation (EC) No. 987/2009 continue to apply to the determination of a claim and the amount of the benefit as well as to the necessary administrative procedure. There are no deviations from the application of the law until the end of the transition period on December 31, 2020."