To Keep Receiving Your Ukrainian Pension From Japan, Complete ID Verification by December 31 Each Year

What happens to the pension of someone who was receiving a Ukrainian pension and then evacuated to Japan? The answer lies in Ukraine’s pension law and in a government procedure set out in 2025. You can still receive your pension while abroad. The condition is completing identity verification by December 31 each year; without it, payment stops from January 1 of the following year.

This article is based on Ukraine’s Law “On Mandatory State Pension Insurance” (2003, No. 1058-IV), its 2024 amending law, and Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 299 of 2025, as confirmed in September 2026 in the legal database of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. This article does not determine how your own pension will be treated, or which procedure you can use. Please confirm with the Pension Fund of Ukraine (Пенсійний фонд України, PFU), which administers pensions. The relationship with Japan’s pension system is covered in the article Japan’s Health Insurance and Pension.

Living Abroad Is No Longer a Reason to Stop Payment

The pension law originally had a provision that payment would stop while a pensioner lived abroad, unless an international treaty concluded by Ukraine provided otherwise (Article 49, paragraph 1, item 2, and the second sentence of Article 51). The Constitutional Court of Ukraine, in a decision dated October 7, 2009 (No. 25-rp/2009), found these two provisions unconstitutional and voided them.

On this basis, the rules for paying people living abroad were set out in Law No. 3674-IX, passed by the Verkhovna Rada on April 25, 2024. It was published on June 22 of the same year and took effect the following day. This law added Article 47-1 to the pension law, which provides:

Pension payments to a person temporarily residing outside Ukraine shall be made to a current account opened at a bank located within Ukraine, on the condition that the person undergoes identity verification by December 31 of each calendar year.

Law “On Mandatory State Pension Insurance,” Article 47-1, paragraph 1 (English translation by the editors, via the Japanese)

The same amendment also added two new reasons for stopping payment: when the pensioner requests suspension because of temporary residence abroad (Article 49, paragraph 1, item 2-1), and when the person does not undergo the identity verification required by law (item 4-1 of the same paragraph). Separately, payment also stops if the pension goes unclaimed for 6 consecutive months (item 4 of the same paragraph).

Who Counts as “Temporarily Living Outside Ukraine”

The details of the procedure are set out in the “Procedure” (Порядок) approved by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 299, adopted by the Cabinet on February 11, 2025. This resolution took effect when it was published in the government gazette on March 20, 2025. The Procedure defines a “person temporarily residing outside Ukraine” as a citizen of Ukraine who meets either of the following:

• A person who is outside Ukraine for 183 days or more in a calendar year (including the days of departure and return)
• A person who has obtained temporary protection or refugee status abroad in connection with Russian aggression

The definition also requires that the person has not completed the procedure for permanent residence abroad under Article 4 of Ukraine’s law on entry to and exit from Ukraine. This procedure also does not apply to people receiving a pension under an international treaty concluded by Ukraine. There is no social security agreement between Japan and Ukraine (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, “Status of Social Security Agreements,” as of June 2, 2026).

Whether a person living in Japan falls under either part of this definition can depend on their status of residence and the number of days they have stayed. This article does not determine that.

Four Ways to Complete Identity Verification

Under the law and Resolution No. 299, identity verification (фізична ідентифікація) is normally done at a Pension Fund office or at the bank where the pension is received. Three further methods, given equivalent standing by the Procedure, appear usable from Japan.

If you use a certificate from a diplomatic mission, you send the certificate and a free-form written request asking that pension payments continue, by registered mail or mail with a declared value, to the local Pension Fund office where you are registered. You can also submit a scanned copy of the certificate and the request through the Pension Fund’s e-services portal, using a qualified electronic signature or similar (Item 6 of the Procedure). That a diplomatic mission can certify the fact that a person is alive is also set out in Article 38 of Ukraine’s Law on Notarial Services.

Points to watch when logging in to Diia from abroad are covered in the article Diia’s Electronic Passport, and the counters and appointment method at the Ukrainian Embassy in Japan are covered in the article The Embassy.

After December 31

Under Item 7 of the Procedure in Resolution No. 299, if the Pension Fund has no record of identity verification as of December 31, pension payments stop from January 1 of the following year.

A stopped payment can be resumed. Item 8 of the Procedure provides that payment is resumed by decision of the local Pension Fund office if the person completes identity verification within a year of the stoppage, or if a request for resumption is submitted through Diia.Signature or the Pension Fund’s portal and the person’s identity is confirmed by video call. People who are abroad, or who have obtained temporary protection or refugee status, can also send their resumption request by mail.

How the amount for the period during which payment was stopped is paid, once resumed, depends on the conditions in Article 46, paragraph 1 of the pension law. That paragraph provides that pension not received due to the person’s own responsibility is paid for the past, up to a maximum of 3 years before the date of the claim, with up to 12 months of it paid in a lump sum and the remainder paid in monthly installments.

The Account Must Be at a Bank Inside Ukraine

As Article 47-1 provides, the pension of a person temporarily living abroad is paid into an account at a bank inside Ukraine. Resolution No. 299 also added a clause to the same effect to Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 1596 of 1999, which sets out the procedure for banks handling pension payments. The bank holding the account into which the pension is paid sends the Pension Fund information on verified recipients by the 25th of each month.

How you can withdraw, from Japan, a pension paid into a Ukrainian account, and what fees apply, differs by bank. This article does not cover that.

Not a Special Measure Limited to Martial Law

After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the Cabinet, by Resolution No. 162 of February 26, 2022, set out special rules for paying and delivering pensions during martial law. However, Article 47-1, which governs payment to people living abroad, is part of the main body of the pension law, and is not limited to the period of martial law. Even once martial law ends, the annual identity verification requirement will continue unless this article is amended.

Note that Resolution No. 299 also sets out payment rules for people living in occupied territory and people who have moved from occupied territory to government-controlled territory, but this article covers only the part concerning people living abroad.

Things to Confirm Before You Start

• Which local Pension Fund office administers your pension
• Whether this year’s identity verification is already recorded as complete (the deadline is December 31)
• Whether the account that receives your pension is at a bank inside Ukraine
• Whether you can use Diia.Signature; if not, whether to use a video call or a certificate from a diplomatic mission
• The appointment process and documents required to get a certificate of being alive from a diplomatic mission (the Ukrainian Embassy in Japan)
• If payment has stopped, where and how to submit a request to resume it

The provisions and procedures described here are the versions in force as confirmed in September 2026 (the pension law as of August 2, 2026, and Resolution No. 299 as of February 5, 2026). The Pension Fund’s guidance can change, so confirm the current handling with the Pension Fund before you begin the procedure.