The Ministry of Home Affairs has just completed a draft Circular detailing the time of pension payment, calculation, and determination of benefits for each case to resolve pension regimes according to the provisions of Clause 4, Article 101 of the Law on Social Insurance (SI).
In this draft, the content that attracts much attention is the pension conditions for voluntary social insurance participants implemented according to the provisions of Article 98 of the Social Insurance Law.
Accordingly, employees who are old enough to retire and have paid social insurance for 15 years or more will receive a monthly pension. This is a change from the requirement to pay for 20 years under the old regulations.
This increases the opportunity for those who have withdrawn social insurance at one time before to still be able to pay social insurance for 15 years. At the same time, creating conditions for employees to participate in social insurance late or not continuously can still accumulate enough 15 years of social insurance contributions to receive monthly pension.
Notably, according to the draft Circular of the Ministry of Home Affairs, in cases where voluntary social insurance participants have paid for the method of 03 months at a time; 06 months at a time; 12 months at a time; or once for many years later as prescribed in Points b, c, d and Point d, Clause 2, Article 36 of the Social Insurance Law, the time to consider the conditions for the expected social insurance payment period is stipulated as follows:
Option 1: The last month of the payment method that the voluntary social insurance participant has paid (even though the employee previously met the age and payment period requirements).
In this case, the Ministry of Home Affairs cited that Mr. T.V.H was born on September 2, 1965, participated in voluntary social insurance, in August 2025, Mr. T.V.H registered for the one-time payment method for the next 3 years and had paid for the period from August 2025 to July 2028.
In June 2027, Mr. T.V.H reached the prescribed retirement age and requested to receive a pension. The time to consider the conditions for social insurance payment period to settle the pension regime for Mr. T.V.H is the payment period up to July 2028.
Option 2: Month in which voluntary social insurance participants meet the age requirements and are eligible for pension (there will be 2 cases: recording the payment period until the time of application + refunding the number of months paid later; or recording the payment period up to the end of the payment method).
In this case, the Ministry of Home Affairs cited that in the case of Mr. T.V.H born on September 2, 1965, participating in voluntary social insurance, in August 2025, Mr. T.V.H registered for the one-time payment method for the next 3 years and had paid for the period from August 2025 to July 2028.
By June 2027, Mr. T.V.H will reach the prescribed retirement age and will be eligible for a pension. The time to consider the conditions for social insurance payment period to settle the pension regime for Mr. T.V.H is the payment period up to July 2028.
According to the draft of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the provisions in this Circular are expected to be applied from July 1, 2025.
