Benefits included in the Agreement

General Information:

The Agreement applies:

Relating to Spain:

To the following contributory benefits from the Social Security System:

• Permanent disability, death and survival due to common illnesses or non-work-related injuries
• Retirement

In relation to the Republic of Colombia:

To legislation regarding economic benefits under the General Pension System (Average allowance with a definite benefit and Individual Savings with Solidarity), for:

• Old age, disability and survivors, due to a common origin.

For these benefits, you must be aware that:

1. To get the contribution benefits included in the Agreement, periods of insurance completed in Spain and Colombia can be added together, as long as they do not overlap.
2. Economic contribution benefits can be collected regardless of whether the interested party is resident or currently located in Spain or Colombia.
3. Each country will pay its own benefits directly to the beneficiary. However, if the amount corresponding to similar benefit payments is higher than that owed by the Social Security of the other country, it can be deducted from the first payments of the pension granted.
4. Those who meet the requirements of the legislations of both countries for entitlement to a contributory pension may receive it from either country.

BENEFITS

Permanent disability or handicap, retirement or old age, and death and survival or survivors.

1. Common resolutions to apply Spanish and Colombian legislation.

   Each country will examine each application for benefits separately in the following way:

   • They will check whether the interested party is entitled to the benefit, taking into account only their own insurance periods, without adding those of the other country.
   • Then the benefit will be calculated by adding together their own insurance periods and those accredited in the other country (theoretical pension). In this case, the benefit will not be for the whole amount but a proportion of the periods of insurance in the country granting it and the sum of the periods for Spain and Colombia (prorated pension).
   • The benefits calculated as indicated in previous sections will be compared, and each country will recognise and pay the benefit which most favours the interested party.
   • To qualify for benefits in certain special schemes (for example, Seafarers and Coal Mining) only the periods in the other country that were spent in the same profession or employment will be taken into account.
     
2. Specific provisions in Spanish legislation for recognising entitlement to benefits.
   • The Spanish Institution that calculates the pension will consider that the worker is subject to its legislation if that person is insured in Colombia or is receiving a benefit from that country, of either a similar or a different type, for which they were the originator. For the recognition of survivor's pensions, it will be considered whether the deceased was insured in or received a pension from the other country.
   • If, for a benefit to be recognised, it is a requirement that some periods of insurance accrued before the causal event of that benefit, this requirement will be considered to have been met if the interested party can prove that they took place in the period immediately prior to the acknowledgement of the benefit by Colombia.
   • The pension reduction, suspension or cancellation clauses in Spanish legislation for pensioners who work will be applicable even if the work was carried out in Colombia.
   • If, in order to recognise a Spanish pension it is necessary to add in Colombian periods of insurance, the pension will be calculated using the actual contribution bases of the insured person for the years immediately prior to the payment of the last contribution to Spanish Social Security. The amount obtained will be increased annually according to the established revaluations until the date of the causal event for benefits of the same kind.
   • In the case of a Spanish Social Security retirement pension that considers a total of insurance periods accredited in Colombia, this total shall also be used to determine the age of entitlement to the pension.
     
3. Specific provisions in Colombian legislation for recognising entitlement to benefits.
   • If, in order to recognise a Colombian pension it is necessary to add in Spanish periods of insurance, the pension will be calculated using the average salary or income for which the interested party made contributions in Colombia for the ten years prior to the entitlement. If the period for making this calculation was in Spain, the period of ten years will be calculated using the last contribution made in Colombia.
   • The resulting amount will be adjusted up to the date of the accrual of the benefit.
   • Workers who are affiliated to a Pension Fund Administration will fund their pensions in Colombia with the accumulated balance of their individual savings and the additional amount from the insurance company. However, if the balance of their individual account is not sufficient to finance the minimum pension, the periods of Spanish insurance can be added in to bring it up to the minimum pension, using the corresponding prorating. In addition, the sum of the Spanish and Colombian proratings will be taken into account if less than the legal minimum wage in Colombia.