In Ukraine, pensioners who decide to relocate beyond the country's borders may, under certain circumstances, receive a one-time pension payment covering six months in advance. This was explained in a comment to RBC-Ukraine by Olga Khomich, an attorney at the Khomych Law Firm. According to her, such an advance is not a widespread practice and applies only when one strict condition is met — the official deregistration of the citizen in Ukraine and the processing of departure for permanent residence abroad.
The Only Condition: Official Departure for Permanent Residence
As the lawyer explained, the advance payment is made upon the pensioner's own application and is calculated from the month following the month of deregistration at the place of residence in Ukraine. In such a case, the Pension Fund closes the current monthly payments with a one-time six-month advance and does not continue automatic transfers thereafter. It is important to understand that this is not a "bonus" for moving, but a mechanism that allows a person relocating for permanent residence to receive funds for the transitional period until they arrange the receipt of their pension in the new jurisdiction or resume payments through the Ukrainian fund.
How Formal Departure Differs from Actual Residence Abroad
Olga Khomich specifically emphasized that there is a common mistake in which people confuse official departure with mere actual residence outside Ukraine. If a citizen is physically abroad but has not formally deregistered, there is no question of a six-month advance. In this case, the pension continues to accrue and be paid under standard conditions, as if the person remained in the country. The attorney stressed: "Even after such a departure on record, the right to further payments is legally preserved for the person and does not permanently lapse."
The Constitutional Court Removed the International-Treaty Barrier
Previously, the second part of Article 51 of the Law "On Mandatory State Pension Insurance" stipulated that, when residing abroad, a pension is paid only if there is an international treaty between Ukraine and the relevant state. However, these provisions were declared unconstitutional by the decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine of 7 October 2009, No. 25-rp/2009, and lost force from the day the decision was adopted. This means that today the right to pension provision is not tied to the existence of bilateral agreements and is preserved for the citizen regardless of the country of residence.
Contradictory Data
Despite the clear legal position, in practice there is a significant gap between the legislation and the actions of the Pension Fund. The lawyer notes that the fund often interprets deregistration and the one-time six-month payment as the final closure of the citizen's pension file. Legally, according to Khomich, this is incorrect: the right to a pension is preserved regardless of place of residence, and payments can be resumed without any time limit. The key argument in favor of the pensioner is that the interruption in payments is caused not by their own fault, but by the actions (or inaction) of the state. Thus, the fund's formal position and the citizen's actual legal status diverge, and it is precisely this contradiction that gives rise to numerous court disputes.
The Supreme Court Consistently Sides with Pensioners
Judicial practice on this issue is clearly established. The Supreme Court of Ukraine regularly confirms the right of citizens who have moved abroad to resume pension payments, including cases of people who left the country as far back as the 1990s or even earlier. Moreover, the resumed pension is indexed on the same basis as payments to those who remained in Ukraine. "Practice in such cases is consistently in favor of the people," Olga Khomich summarized. For a pensioner whose file was "closed" by the fund, this means that when they turn to the court, the chances of restoring payments and receiving the arrears with indexation taken into account are extremely high.
Context: Other Pension Payments in Ukraine
It is worth reminding that in Ukraine other mechanisms of additional support for pensioners operate in parallel. Thus, some Ukrainian women — mothers of many children who raised at least five children until they reached the age of six — receive a pension supplement of up to 1,038 hryvnia per month. In addition, certain categories of citizens, in particular single pensioners and people with disabilities from frontline communities, may receive a one-time payment of almost 19,500 hryvnia for the heating season. These programs, together with the six-month advance mechanism upon departure, form the overall picture of social protection for elderly citizens amid the current challenges.
