Dienstleistungen
Procedure descriptions
Apply for a standard old-age pension
You may be entitled to a standard old-age pension once you reach the standard retirement age:
- If you were born between 1947 and 1963, the standard retirement age is being raised in stages.
- If you were born in 1964 or later, the standard retirement age is 67.
You can only claim the standard old-age pension if you have been insured under the statutory pension scheme for a certain period. This minimum insurance period (qualifying period) for the standard old-age pension is five years.
The following are taken into account for the qualifying period:
- Contribution periods:
- Contributions from employment or self-employment.
- Under certain conditions, the following also count:
- months in which you received sickness benefit or unemployment benefit,
- months between January 2005 and December 2010 during which you received Unemployment Benefit II or transitional allowance,
- Voluntary contributions,
- periods spent bringing up children during the first two and a half or three years of the child’s life,
- months spent providing informal care at home,
- Periods during which you were employed in a ‘minijob’ and, together with your employer, paid contributions into the statutory pension scheme.
- Substitute periods: e.g. months spent as a victim of political persecution in the GDR.
- In the event of divorce: creditable months arising from a pension rights equalisation.
- Eligible months resulting from pension splitting between spouses or registered civil partners.
- Eligible months for marginal employment (mini-jobs) that are exempt from social security contributions.
You cannot claim the standard old-age pension early, not even with reductions.
Forms/Online Services
Responsible authority
- the local authority or town council in your place of residence
- the information and advice centres and the regional centres of the German Pension Insurance (DRV), or
- the DRV’s volunteer insurance advisers
Bürgerbüro [Stadt Heubach]
Personal contact
Frau Linda Dieroff
Building Rathaus-Ordnungsamt
Room EG Bürgerbüro
- Bürgerbüro
- Ordnungswidrigkeiten
- Plakatierungen
- Schankerlaubnisse
Frau Stefanie Schwarzkopf
Building Rathaus-Bürgerbüro
Room EG, Bürgerbüro
- Bürgerbüro
- Rentenangelegenheiten
- Standesamt
- Wahlen
Details
Prerequisite
You have:
- reached the standard retirement age and
- fulfilled the minimum insurance period (qualifying period) of five years and
- submitted a pension claim.
Procedure
You can submit your pension application in person, online or in writing.
If you wish to receive your decision in electronic form, you must first give your consent to electronic communication. You can do this via the DRV’s online services once you have registered.
Applying for a pension in person:
- Arrange a face-to-face appointment with the pensions office (town hall) in your place of residence or with the DRV.
- When booking an appointment online, you will need to provide your personal details and, where possible, your social security number.
- You can select your preferred advice centre and your preferred date.
- Depending on the availability of free slots and the estimated duration of the consultation, you will be offered a proposed, confirmed appointment.
- Book your preferred appointment. You will be informed by email of what you need to apply for a pension and which documents you should bring with you.
- At your appointment, your pension application will be recorded electronically and forwarded to the relevant pension insurance provider.
- You will receive your pension decision by post or in your electronic inbox at the DRV.
Online application:
- You can also complete and submit your pension application online yourself.
- To do this, go to the DRV website.
- Click on the ‘Online Services’ button in the top right-hand corner of the page.
- Fill in all the questions on the application form completely.
- Once you have answered all the required questions, the ‘Submit data’ button will appear. Clicking this will send your application to the relevant pension insurance provider.
- A summary of the questions and answers will then be provided to you as a PDF document.
- Please note: If you have an identity card with electronic identification, an electronic residence permit or a signature card with an electronic signature function, you can complete the entire process online. Otherwise, please post the signature sheet to us by post.
- You will receive your pension decision by post or in your electronic inbox at the DRV.
Written pension application:
- Download the application form from the German Pension Insurance (DRV) website.
- Please note: You can also collect the application form from information and advice centres or at your local council.
- Complete the application form online, print it out and sign it.
- Send your pension application by post to your pension insurance provider.
- You will receive your pension decision by post or in your electronic inbox at the DRV.
Deadlines
Where possible, you should submit your pension application three months before your desired pension start date.
The pension must be applied for by the end of the third calendar month following the end of the month in which all eligibility criteria are met. If the pension is applied for later, it can only start from the month in which the application is made.
Required documents
The following are required:
- Identity documents, such as an identity card, passport, birth certificate or family register,
- Birth certificates for the children or family register, including for fathers – important for pensioners’ long-term care insurance contributions,
- Evidence of vocational training,
- All insurance documents relating to pensionable periods that have not yet been recorded, or evidence of periods during which unemployment benefit or sickness benefit was received.
- If you have periods of service as a civil servant: a statement setting out the periods of service qualifying for a pension or old-age allowance, and
- if a person you trust is to submit the pension application on your behalf: a power of attorney or a guardianship certificate.
Unless original documents or certified copies are expressly required, copies are sufficient.
Costs
none
Processing time
Several weeks.
Miscellaneous
none
Detailed information
- Informationsblatt "Ihr Rentenantrag – so geht's" auf der Internetseite der Deutschen Rentenversicherung
- Formularpaket Versichertenrente einschließlich Krankenversicherung der Rentner (KVdR) auf der Internetseite der Deutschen Rentenversicherung
Legal basis
Sechstes Buch Sozialgesetzbuch (SGB VI)
- § 35 Regelaltersrente
- § 235 Regelaltersrente
- § 99 Beginn
- §115 Beginn
Release note
machine generated, based on the German release by: Sozialministerium Baden-Württemberg, 27.10.2026
