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I have performed civic service in France or abroad

You can earn pension entitlements through international volunteer work and through civic service.

In order to be eligible for these entitlements :

  • You must be a citizen of France or another European Union member State and/or of a European Economic Area member State
  • And each of your periods of international volunteer work or civic service must have lasted at least six months.

In 2010, the civil volunteering program was transformed into the civic service commitment. This new program covers all of the major types of volunteering: membership organization volunteering, social cohesion-based volunteering, technical assistance-based volunteering, and voluntary civic service.

How quarters are credited to your account

  • Eligibility criterion: You must have performed your civic service when you were between the ages of 16 and 25 (or under the age of 30 if you have a disability).

  • While performing civic service, you will receive an allowance rather than a salary. However, contributions will be credited to your account.

  • Quarters will be credited to your account by Assurance Retraite, the basic scheme for private-sector salaried workers, public-sector workers other than civil servants, and artist-authors.

Read the article entitled “I started working before the age of 20” on Info Retraite’s website

Whether you volunteer in an administration (International voluntary service in administration, VIA) a company (International voluntary service in a company, VIE), or through a solidarity program (VSI), international volunteer work constitutes civic service abroad.

How quarters are credited to your account

  • Eligibility criteria: you must have done your international volunteer work when you were between the ages of 18 and 28, and the period of volunteer work must not exceed 24 months.

  • 90 days of volunteer work from date to date count as 1 quarter. Each quarter is credited to the calendar year in which the 90-day period ends.

  • Quarters are credited to your account by the basic pension scheme in which you hold or held compulsory membership following your international volunteer work.

Exception:

If you are or have been a member of a special scheme, your period of international volunteer work can be recognized by this scheme, rather than by the one in which you held compulsory membership after your period of international volunteer work, under certain conditions.

 

  • Periods of national service, including international volunteer work, count towards your entitlement to early retirement due to a long career, with an upper limit of 4 quarters.

Read the article I started working before the age of 20 on Info Retraite’s website

Periods of national service do not entitle you to points from the supplementary retirement schemes.

À noter :

Le service civique et le volontariat international sont retenus pour le décompte des trimestres de début de carrière ouvrant droit à la retraite anticipée pour carrière longue ; c'est à dire que ces trimestres doivent se situer au début de votre carrière (avant la fin de l'année civile de vos 16, 17, 18, 20 ou 21 ans).

Pour bénéficier du dispositif de retraite anticipée, vous devrez également enregistrer le nombre total de trimestres requis. Ce nombre dépend de votre année de naissance. Pour en savoir plus, utilisez ce simulateur Info Retraite.

For personalized information based on your pension schemes, please log into your pension account.

You can also use this account to :

  • access your career history
  • and estimate your pension entitlements

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