Swiss Abroad face possible exclusion from 13th pension payment

A proposed residence rule could strip Swiss pensioners abroad of the 13th AHV payment before the benefit has even settled into the system. On August 28, 2026, Swiss People’s Party parliamentarian Didier Calame called for the additional payment to go only to beneficiaries resident in Switzerland. His motion comes one year before the federal elections, while Parliament is still searching for a durable way to finance the new benefit.

The proposal targets a group that receives Swiss old age and survivors’ insurance, known in German as AHV and in French and Italian as AVS, outside the country. Calame argues that people who move to Portugal, Thailand, the Dominican Republic and other lower cost destinations can make their pensions stretch further. He says the money should be concentrated on retirees facing Switzerland’s prices.

That reasoning has triggered anger among the Swiss Abroad. Many expatriate pensioners spent their working lives paying into AHV and view the payment as part of the same insurance system, wherever they choose to retire. The Organisation of the Swiss Abroad has rejected any reduction. The dispute now reaches beyond one benefit. It tests whether residence can determine access to a payment built on a nationwide social insurance scheme.

The 13th AHV payment is projected to cost CHF 4.2 billion in 2026 and around CHF 5 billion each year after that. Parliament has not secured a complete, permanent financing package. Temporary and partial arrangements have left the benefit’s long term funding unresolved, giving the People’s Party a direct opening to argue for narrower eligibility.

Calame developed his motion during the financing debate. His stated aim is to direct scarce AHV resources towards pensioners who live in Switzerland and face domestic prices. The argument links the payment to the cost of living rather than solely to a person’s contribution record or nationality.

That distinction matters because the current pension system pays AHV benefits abroad without separating recipients by nationality. A residence restriction for the 13th payment would create a new category inside the existing system. Parliament would need to define residence, handle people who move during a payment year, and determine how the rule applies to recipients in countries with social security agreements with Switzerland.

The financing gap remains the larger political issue. Cutting payments abroad could reduce expenditure, but the source material does not provide an estimate of the savings. Any claim about the fiscal effect would require official calculations showing how many recipients abroad qualify and how much each would receive.

Two thirds of AHV pensions paid abroad go to former foreign workers who returned home after retirement. That figure complicates the People’s Party’s focus on Swiss citizens living overseas. A residence based exclusion would affect Swiss nationals and foreign nationals alike unless Parliament created a separate nationality test.

Calame has said nationality is not the point. In his view, anyone receiving a pension outside Switzerland is an emigrant, and the additional payment was designed to respond to rising living costs in Switzerland. The proposal therefore targets the place where a person lives, rather than the passport they hold or the years they contributed.

The existing flow of payments reflects the international nature of the Swiss labour market. Workers from abroad helped finance AHV during their careers in Switzerland, then returned to their countries of origin after retirement. Swiss citizens also move abroad for family, health, housing, or personal reasons. The source article says the numbers of Swiss Abroad and foreign nationals receiving pensions abroad have risen, without growing disproportionately faster than the domestic population.

That mix makes the political message more complicated than a debate about expatriate Swiss voters. The policy could remove a payment from many former workers who have no role in the Swiss diaspora and who built pension rights through employment in Switzerland.

A residence restriction would raise legal questions that the motion itself does not resolve. AHV benefits already cross borders, and Swiss social security arrangements govern how pensions are paid to people living in other countries. Switzerland also operates bilateral and multilateral agreements that coordinate pension rights, contributions, and payments with partner states.

Those arrangements do not automatically decide whether a new supplementary payment must be exported. The decisive question would be the legal character of the 13th payment and the wording of the relevant legislation and agreements. Parliament and the Federal Council would need to examine whether the payment forms part of the AHV pension entitlement, whether a residence condition is permitted, and whether different rules would create unequal treatment among contributors.

Administration would bring further complications. Authorities would need reliable information on residence, temporary stays, moves during the year, and recipients whose countries have social security agreements with Switzerland. A rule based on residence could also produce cases involving pensioners who spend part of the year in Switzerland or who relocate after receiving the payment.

The political case rests on domestic purchasing power. The legal assessment would turn on the structure of AHV rights and Switzerland’s international commitments. Until the text of a bill and an official legal opinion emerge, compatibility with existing arrangements cannot be confirmed or ruled out.

The Organisation of the Swiss Abroad has rejected the proposal, while Calame acknowledges it could affect the diaspora vote ahead of 2027. Josef Schnyder, who represents Swiss Abroad in Thailand, said the motion sends a clear message that expatriates should pay into AHV without receiving equal treatment in retirement. Matthias Anderegg, also living in Thailand, said anyone who contributed throughout working life should be free to retire wherever they choose without being disadvantaged.

Calame said he did not draft the motion with the 2027 election in mind, although he accepted that it could have a slight impact among Swiss voters abroad. The exchange puts the issue into an electoral context. Swiss citizens living outside the country can vote in federal elections and referendums, and the proposal has already drawn attention in expatriate communities in Portugal, Thailand, and the Dominican Republic.

The next stages will determine whether the motion becomes legislation, a negotiating demand, or a campaign marker. Parliament must still settle the financing of the 13th AHV payment and clarify its legal design. It will also have to weigh savings against administrative costs, treaty obligations, and the principle that pension rights follow contributions.

For Swiss pensioners abroad, the immediate result is uncertainty. The new payment remains part of a national political fight over money, residence, and the reach of Swiss social insurance beyond the country’s borders.