Workers who have contributed in the United States should know that they may be entitled to a pension in Spain through what is known as totalization of periods, that is, the sum of the contribution periods accredited in both countries in order to meet the requirements for access to the pension. Miriam Ruiz Acosta, labor lawyer, explains a real resolution of one of her clients and gives a surprising figure.
“A retirement with totalization of periods with the United States has been resolved in less than three months,” he says while showing the official document on camera. The request was submitted on December 17 and the response arrived on February 11 (specifically, 56 days later).
The lawyer explains that the mechanism has two phases. In the first, the contribution periods accredited in both countries are added to verify if the worker meets the minimum requirement of each system. In Spain, this minimum is 15 years of contributions to access the contributory retirement pension. If the Spanish years do not reach that figure on their own but the American years complete the calculation, the totalization allows access to be accredited.
The second phase is that each country calculates and pays its own share independently. The amount is not full, but proportional. “The pension will correspond in proportion to the insurance periods completed in the country that grants it,” establishes the text of the Agreement on Social Security between Spain and the United States of America. If a worker contributed for 18 years in Spain and 12 in the US, the National Social Security Institute will pay the proportional part of those 18 years and the American Social Security Administration will pay the part corresponding to the 12 American years.
It must be clarified that coinciding periods in time do not accumulate. That is, the totalization adds sections, it does not duplicate contributions.
The deadlines depend on the other country: fast with the US, variable with the rest
The fact that Ruiz Acosta highlights is not only that the procedure works. It’s the speed. “When you request a retirement pension based on an international agreement, the response times vary greatly, since in the end it depends on the other country in which you have contributed,” he explains in the video. But in this case with the United States the file was closed in less than three months. Fast.
The Spain-USA agreement In addition to retirement, it covers permanent disability and survivor’s pensions. Both Spanish workers with periods of contributions to the American system and American citizens who contributed in Spain can benefit. The application is processed in Spain through the INSS service centers if the interested party resides in Spanish territory at the time of requesting it.
A novelty that improves the pension of those who collect in both countries
The regulatory framework has recently improved due to a legislative change in the United States. The Social Security Fairness Act, approved at the beginning of 2025, eliminated two penalties that the American system applied to those who already received a pension from a foreign system (the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset). Until then, receiving a Spanish pension automatically reduced what the US paid. That’s over. Workers who receive pensions from both countries no longer see their American share cut due to the fact that they also receive the Spanish share.
Added to this is that on April 8, 2024, Spain and the United States signed a new bilateral agreement, the first since 1986, which improves the calculation of the Spanish pension for those who finished their working career in the United States. The new text, pending parliamentary ratification, establishes that the INSS will carry out two parallel calculations and pay the most favorable one. It does not come into force until Congress ratifies it, but its approval is already underway.