According to Social Insurance In Vietnam, the current Social Insurance Law does not prohibit employees who have withdrawn their Social Insurance contributions once from participating again to receive a pension. According to Article 60 of the Social Insurance Law 2014, the level of one-time Social Insurance benefits is calculated based on the number of years of Social Insurance contributions. Thus, after receiving Social Insurance contributions once, if the employee wants to receive a pension, the Social Insurance contribution period of the employee must be recalculated from the beginning, with a minimum of 20 years. However, according to the Social Insurance Law 2024, effective from July 1, 2025, employees who reach retirement age and have paid Social Insurance for 15 years or more will receive a monthly pension. Thus, compared to current regulations, from July 1, 2025, people who reach retirement age and have paid Social Insurance for 15 years will receive a pension, instead of 20 years as at present.

Employees who have withdrawn their social insurance contributions once can pay them again for 15 years to receive a pension. Illustration: Le Anh Dung

Labor experts assess that this regulation creates opportunities for those who have withdrawn their social insurance contributions at one time to return to participate late (45 - 47 years old), or participate intermittently, to have the opportunity to accumulate enough 15 years of contributions to receive a monthly pension. This regulation on the minimum number of years of contributions does not apply to pensioners with reduced working capacity. One-time social insurance withdrawal is not recommended. Mr. Nguyen Duy Cuong, Deputy Director of the Social Insurance Department (Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs) said that in all cases, receiving social insurance contributions at one time is worse than reserving the payment period to receive a pension. Therefore, the Social Insurance Law 2024 has added many regulations to increase benefits, increase attractiveness, and encourage employees to reserve their payment period to receive a pension, instead of receiving social insurance contributions at one time. In addition, because the current Social Insurance Law and the new law do not stipulate that employees who have withdrawn their Social Insurance at one time will be refunded to preserve their Social Insurance payment period, employees need to consider carefully before deciding to withdraw their Social Insurance at one time. Employees who receive Social Insurance at one time will lose the opportunity to receive a monthly pension and will not be granted a free health insurance card during their pension period. Mr. Cuong emphasized that a stable monthly pension, periodically adjusted by the State, will contribute to better ensuring the lives of employees. Labor experts also assessed that allowing employees to withdraw their Social Insurance at one time will not ensure social security policies for employees when they retire. However, many people, due to their difficult lives and not knowing where to look, think about withdrawing their Social Insurance at one time. “The Social Insurance Law does not prohibit employees from withdrawing their Social Insurance at one time, but to help employees continue to stay in the system and ensure social security policies, the State needs to have policies to support employees when they encounter difficulties. Only then will workers feel secure in finding new jobs and continue to pay social insurance until retirement," said a labor expert.
According to Vietnam Social Security, in the first 6 months of 2024, the number of employees receiving one-time social insurance benefits continued to increase. Specifically, more than 686,000 people received one-time social insurance benefits, an increase of more than 3% over the same period. Of which, 595,000 people received one-time social insurance benefits, an increase of 3.7%; the majority of them were employees who stopped paying social insurance after 1 year, accounting for about 98%. The number of employees receiving one-time social insurance benefits continued to increase over the years. In the period 2016 - 2023, nationwide, there were about 6 million employees receiving one-time social insurance benefits. The number of employees receiving one-time social insurance benefits was higher than the previous year with an average growth rate of about 10.5%. According to the assessment of the Social Security agency, employees withdrawing one-time social insurance benefits are mainly concentrated in the non-state sector. Those who withdraw one-time social insurance benefits are mainly between the ages of 20 and under 40 (accounting for 78%).

Vietnamnet.vn

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/dieu-kien-de-nguoi-rut-bhxh-mot-lan-van-co-the-nhan-luong-huu-2308866.html