Korea–US Pension Totalization Eligibility Calculator

What a Korea–US totalization review helps you decide

Working in two countries can leave a person with insufficient coverage in either record when each is considered alone.
The Korea–US Social Security agreement may allow periods from the other country to help establish retirement entitlement.
This calculator brings together Korean National Pension Service contribution months, US Social Security credits, overlapping coverage and refunded periods to support a claim discussion.
It applies the bilateral agreement and Korean and US retirement coverage rules checked in 2026; it is not a universal pension rule or a forecast of monthly benefits, exchange rates or tax.
Use it to organize evidence before contacting NPS or SSA, especially when a short independent record would otherwise lead you to abandon a possible claim.

Two countries, two separate minimum requirements

Totalization does not transfer contributions into a single account.
Each country reviews and pays its own benefit, so a positive Korean coverage result does not automatically establish US eligibility.

How to enter the coverage records

1. Enter the birth date and a review date in 2026.
   The starting values are fictional, not your personal record.
   
2. Use the first and last credited month in each NPS period, including both endpoints.
   Split the period at contribution gaps; employment dates alone do not establish pension coverage.
   
3. Add exclusion periods for refunded months that have not been restored or other uncredited months.
   Only exclusions overlapping included months reduce the result, so an exclusion outside coverage cannot create negative months.
   
4. Enter one US row per year with 0–4 credits.
   Multiple employers in a year do not create separate annual allowances, and omitted years count as zero.
   
5. Select calendar quarters only when their allocation is confirmed by SSA.
   Otherwise keep the placement unconfirmed, check for missing records and refunds, and then confirm the record-review checkbox.
   

Korean records start in 1988, when the national pension system began, and cannot extend beyond the review month.
Future contributions do not count as existing eligibility.
The form accepts no SSN or Korean identification number.
Births before 1929 require separate review of older US credit requirements.

Overlap exclusions and annual reference formulas

Where quarter placement is unknown, the calculator compares possible combinations consistent with the annual US credit count and displays their minimum and maximum.
Earning four credits does not necessarily require twelve months of work.
Do not infer quarter assignments from the months you worked; SSA applies the relevant allocation rules, including flexible crediting after 1977.
The displayed range represents scenarios, not a guarantee that every placement is legally available.

Why partial or fragmented periods need agency review

For partial-quarter records the calculator keeps the annual reference figures visible but withholds the final US totalization status when independent US coverage is insufficient.
Short Korean coverage should still be documented: the Korean 18-month minimum does not govern all use of Korean coverage by SSA.
Ask the agency to review the certified periods instead of discarding a short record or treating an annual remainder as a guaranteed credit.

Worked examples: 84 months and 12 credits

Refunds and duplicate entries mean different things

Entering a Korean coverage period twice increases the duplicate-entry removal count.
Marking refunded or uncredited months as exclusions increases the excluded-month count.
These describe different adjustments: neither should be mistaken for a contribution refund amount.
Someone with a lump-sum refund must check the coverage that remains valid today instead of reusing the original period on an old statement.

Article 78 of the Korean National Pension Act provides for corresponding periods to be included when repayment is made.
This calculator does not decide whether repayment is available, calculate interest or installments, or determine when restoration takes effect.
Remove an exclusion only for months NPS has confirmed as restored.
Saving separate before-and-after worksheets can help explain the difference during a consultation.

Coverage and retirement age are separate tests

US monthly entitlement involves rules such as attaining age on the day before a birthday and being age 62 throughout a month.
The ordinary completed-years age displayed here is not that monthly entitlement test.
A zero coverage shortfall does not settle the birth-date, record, benefit-type or application factors needed for an actual award.

Read the result and prepare the next action

• Independent coverage met: check ordinary benefits and the applicable age with that country.
  Do not assume foreign reference coverage automatically increases the monthly benefit.
  
• Own-country minimum not met: first review the shortfall to 18 Korean months or 6 US credits.
  A large combined reference does not replace that floor.
  
• Totalization candidate: prepare coverage certificates and refund/restoration records for a bilateral claim discussion.
  Agency certification and adjudication remain necessary.
  
• Verification needed: resolve unconfirmed records, ranges spanning the target and partial-quarter certification.
  Do not treat the upper scenario as an established retirement entitlement.
  

The TXT worksheet records country totals, shortfalls, annual overlap references and the entered periods.
Use it as supporting preparation; provide original identity and age evidence, recent US earnings records and other requested documents through official agency channels.
Confirm current forms and filing arrangements with NPS or SSA and explicitly mention the intention to claim benefits from both countries.

Frequently asked questions