Spain To Pay Out Minimum Social Security Supplements To More Than 4,800 Venezuelan Resident Pensioners

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The Spanish government announced that its social security system can now recognize and increase the minimum supplements for residency to 4,827 Spanish and Venezuelan pensioners that live in Spain, once the Bank of Spain obtains the equivalence of the Euro with the Venezuelan Bolivar, which is the new currency of Venezuela, after seeing the pension that is paid out there, which amounts to little more than 3 euros.

This affects Spaniards and Venezuelans who have worked and generated the right to a pension in both countries in proportion to the time affiliated in each country. The requirements to benefit from minimum supplements are residency in Spain, to not exceed the minimum pension with the total of the two pensions they receive added together and to not have income or assets above the amount set in the Budget each year (7,569 euros per annum in 2019).

With the introduction of the Venezuelan Bolivar last summer, the group affected requested that the Spanish social security system find a solution since they met the requirements to receive the minimum supplements through their residency.

In order to design a solution and establish the monetary reference rate, the Spanish National Social Security Institute (Spanish acronym: INSS) asked the Bank of Spain last summer to obtain and notify it of the official exchange rate in Euros of the Venezuelan Bolivar. Once this was obtained, the Venezuelan pension facilitated by the Official Journal of Venezuela, and which amounts to 1,800 Venezuelan Bolivar, barely amounts to 3 euros.

Since the start of the year, the social security system will obtain the total amount of retirement pensions through the Official Journal of Venezuela. Once the value of the Venezuelan pension is obtained in euros, and added to the amount of the Spanish pension on a pro rata basis, this group will be notified as to whether they are entitled to the minimum supplement, with effect from January 2019.

Applications to INSS as from January

Those affected can apply for the minimum pension or the revision of this at the offices of the INSS, provided that they meet the requirements (pension lower than the minimum pension, residency and limited income), to which end they will need to substantiate their residency in Spain and make a personal income return.

In turn, the social security system will consult the Official Journal of Venezuela to verify the amount of the pension from time to time and calculate its value in Euros.

The social security system estimates that the cost of recognising minimum supplements or a pension increase, as the case may be, will amount to some 20 million euros. The financing corresponds to the Ministry of the Treasury and is included in the transfers to be made by the Spanish State to the social security system.

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