Pension Refund Checker
Korea does not refund pension contributions to every foreigner. It depends on your nationality or your visa. Check which applies to you first, then see what the refund is worth.
The refund is what you paid in, what your employer paid in, and the interest on both. Only income up to ₩6,590,000 a month counts toward it.
If no route applies, your contributions are not lost. They stay on your NPS record, and some agreements let you count them toward a pension in your home country later.
| Contributions (yours + employer’s) | 9,855,000 KRW |
| Interest added | 312,840 KRW |
| Before tax | 10,167,840 KRW |
| Retirement income tax (est.) | −136,431 KRW |
| Value if a route applies | 10,031,409 KRW |
An estimate from the numbers you enter. NPS decides both eligibility and the amount from its own record. The country lists come from NPS (24 agreement and 26 reciprocity jurisdictions, checked Aug 25, 2026). The rates and the ₩6,590,000 ceiling are the ones in force for 2026. Nothing you enter is stored.
How it works
Because for most foreigners the answer to “how much will I get back?” is “nothing, unless one of three routes applies.” Korea does not refund pension contributions to foreigners by default. Your nationality has to be on one of two published lists, or you must have been enrolled under a listed residence status. In practice that means E-9 or H-2. The “E-8” named in the statute is an abolished category, and today’s seasonal-work E-8 does not qualify.
From the National Pension Service’s own published tables: 24 jurisdictions whose social security agreement with Korea covers the lump-sum refund, and 26 more that refund Koreans the same way (the “reciprocity” list), some of them only after a minimum number of months paid in. We checked both on August 25, 2026. NPS updates the lists, so treat a “yes” here as a strong indication, not a decision.
The refund is your own contributions plus your employer’s, with interest. We apply the contribution rate in force each year: 9% up to 2025, then rising half a point a year from 2026 toward 13% in 2033. Monthly income is capped at the ₩6,590,000 ceiling, and interest is added at the 2.2% rate NPS published for 2026.
The refund counts as retirement income, so NPS withholds tax before paying it. We estimate that with the National Tax Service’s published method. Long enrollment cuts the rate sharply, because the tax is spread across the years you were enrolled.
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Questions people ask
Not through your passport. None of those countries is on either NPS list. But the visa route is separate and just as valid: enrollment on E-9 or H-2 counts regardless of nationality. If you are Korean-Chinese, that difference decides everything. An H-2 working-visit enrollment qualifies; F-4 does not.
Not always. Korea has agreements with far more countries than pay out this refund, and NPS names the exceptions explicitly. Ireland, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, Finland, New Zealand and Norway have agreements but no lump-sum refund. Switzerland is the reverse case: its agreement only stops you paying into both systems, yet the refund is paid.
You can apply before you fly or after you have left. There is an NPS counter at Incheon Airport that can pay on the day you depart, in foreign currency only, not won. The claim expires five years after you become entitled, so it is not urgent, but it is not indefinite either.
Your contributions are not confiscated. They stay on your NPS record, and depending on your country’s agreement with Korea they may count toward a pension at home later. Ask NPS what your record supports before you assume the money is gone.
Figures as of Aug 25, 2026 — the rules, lists and official sources are set out in the full Leaving Korea guide.