Missing 18 months of social insurance participation, is it possible to pay once to be enough to receive a pension?

Legal Consulting Department of Lao Dong Newspaper answers:

Current social insurance laws stipulate that to receive a monthly pension, there are two conditions regarding age and number of years of social insurance participation.

Clause 1, Article 98 of the 2024 Law on Social Insurance stipulates that voluntary social insurance participants are entitled to a pension when they reach retirement age as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 169 of the Labor Code and have paid social insurance for 15 years or more.

Clause 1, Article 7, Decree 159/2025/ND-CP stipulates: Participants in voluntary social insurance who have reached retirement age as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 169 of the Labor Code but the social insurance contribution period is not less than 5 years (60 months) are entitled to one-time contribution to reach 15 years to receive a pension.

Because your social insurance participation period is still 18 months short, you are eligible to register to participate in voluntary social insurance and choose the one-time payment method for the remaining months to meet 15 years of social insurance contributions and enjoy monthly pensions.