The Poland-U.S. social security (totalization) agreement

Since when has the agreement applied?

The Agreement on Social Security between the Republic of Poland and the United States of America was signed in Warsaw on April 2, 2008 and entered into force on March 1, 2009. Since that date, insurance periods completed in both countries can be combined.

What does combining periods actually mean?

Where the periods completed in one country are not sufficient for a benefit to be granted, periods completed in the other country are added. Combining serves to establish entitlement - it does not mean that one country will pay a pension for the other country's years.

Each state decides entitlement, calculates the amount, and pays its own benefit separately. Combining periods does not move American contributions into the Polish system. How the amount is worked out depends on the system the person falls under: a Polish pension built from contributions recorded in the ZUS account follows those contributions, while a benefit whose entitlement rested on combined periods is set in the part corresponding to the periods completed in Poland. In practice this produces two separate benefits, each from its own system.

Where do you file from the United States?

There are two routes, and both work from the United States:

• through the American insurance institution, which forwards the application to the Polish side - Social Security Administration, Office of International Operations, P.O. Box 17775, Baltimore, Maryland 21235-7775, USA. The SSA directs people living in the United States to its offices there;
• or straight to ZUS, through the unit that handles international agreements, which a representative in Poland can do for you.

The Federal Benefits Unit at the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw is a different address than people expect: it serves residents of Poland claiming American benefits, not residents of the United States claiming Polish ones. Either way there is no need to file documents in Poland in person, or to travel.

What usually causes the most difficulty

The hardest part is rarely the agreement itself. It is evidencing Polish insurance periods from several decades ago - particularly where the employer no longer exists and the personnel files have gone to an archive. Establishing where the records are held, and obtaining certificates from them, is often the longest stage of the matter.

How we help

We establish which periods you can evidence and what is missing, search archives for employment records, assemble the application, and handle correspondence with the pension authority. Under a power of attorney we act for you in Poland.

This article is general information about an international agreement, not legal advice about your situation. It describes only the rules flowing from the Poland-U.S. agreement itself. The amount of a benefit, retirement age and required contribution periods are governed by separate national rules, which need to be checked for each individual case. Legal basis: the Social Security Agreement between the Republic of Poland and the United States of America, signed in Warsaw on April 2, 2008 (Journal of Laws 2009 item 374), and the government statement of January 27, 2009 confirming that the agreement entered into force on March 1, 2009 (Journal of Laws 2009 item 375). If you would like to know how this looks in your case, describe it to us.