Applying for a pension (Rente): how the application reaches the pension insurance

The pension insurance advises about three months before the desired start, so employers and health insurers can send their details in time. § 99 SGB VI sets a hard deadline: if the application arrives by the end of the third calendar month after the month in which all conditions are met, the pension still starts on time. If it comes later, the pension only starts from the month of application.

For every pension application the pension insurance names the insurance number, a copy of your ID if needed, details of health and care insurance, the tax ID if needed, and IBAN and BIC. Depending on the case, add your children's birth certificates and proof of training and of periods still missing from your insurance record. If someone else applies, they need a written power of attorney.

Yes. The eAntrag on the Deutsche Rentenversicherung website needs no registration, only your insurance number. You can save the application and upload proofs digitally. According to the pension insurance, fewer details are needed online than on paper, and tax ID and ID copy are usually not required. For other matters there is the customer portal with the online ID function.

The form is called R0100 «Antrag auf Versichertenrente». It has 22 pages and covers the standard old-age pension, the pensions for long-term and especially long-term insured people, the pension for severely disabled people and the reduced earning capacity pension. Depending on the case it requires further forms, such as R0810 for pensioners' health insurance or V forms for periods abroad.

From 63 only the old-age pension for long-term insured people is possible, with 35 years of insurance and a permanently lower pension: 0.3 percent for each month before the standard age (§ 77 SGB VI). Without a deduction there is the pension for especially long-term insured people after 45 years, at 64 years and 10 months for people born in 1963, at 65 from 1964. We fill in both applications if you have chosen the pension type yourself.

The pension insurance names no fixed processing time on its application pages. It advises applying three months ahead and offers to project earnings or social benefits for up to three months before the pension starts; actually higher income can then no longer be taken into account later. If periods are still missing from your insurance account, get in touch earlier so the account is complete before the pension starts.