Prime Minister Luc Mercelina recently explained (see Monday newspaper) that people who leave the country before reaching the pensionable age will stop accumulating old age pension rights after they deregister. The pension is paid out based on number of years as resident.
Although that appears reasonable enough, there are circumstances to consider. Those who study in the Netherlands, for example, must deregister here to register in a Dutch municipality. If they don’t reach the maximum 50 pension build-up years due to such, will they in effect be punished for continuing their education?
At the same time, students in the US and elsewhere don’t have similar requirements and can thus remain a local resident while abroad. They therefore run no risk of losing pension years.
On another note, a considerable number of persons in St. Maarten who spent part of their adult life in Curaçao receive that share of their pension from the Social Insurance Bank SVB there. Unfortunately, they are deducting 10% from the payout for all who are no longer on the island, despite a court ruling to the contrary specifically regarding former residents of the since-dismantled Netherlands Antilles.
Another issue is that migrant workers who have no pension rights in their homeland and spent a limited period here end up staying after retirement and trying to survive on just a fraction of the already inadequately low monthly amount. There is in itself nothing wrong with that, but it does promote poverty in practice.
Some may think only people who were employed and paid the premium receive old age pension, but that’s not the case. It concerns a solidarity-based system to offer all elderly residents a modest provision.
Still, if a senior who actually performed labour for 25 years gets only half the pension while others who lived here as adult 50 years but never held a job receive the full amount, does that seem fair?
