Around 165 citizens who receive basic old-age pensions are still required to report to state authorities every six months to prove they are alive as a condition for their pension to be continued.
A month ago, the Supreme Court repealed parts of an administrative instruction that violated the Law on State-Funded Pension Schemes, following an appeal by E.Sh.
With the Supreme Court's decision, some categories are now exempt from filing, while two others are still required to file, as stipulated in Article 24 of the law. These are pensioners who receive basic old-age pensions and those who receive early pensions.
What does Article 24 of the law say?
Paragraph 2:
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Pensioners no longer need to prove they are alive
Beneficiaries of the basic old-age pension and beneficiaries of early pensions must appear at the offices designated by the Ministry once every six months with the relevant identification documents.
Meanwhile, pensioners who pay contributions of age, those with permanent disabilities, those who receive disability pensions and family pensions are exempt from the obligation to appear every six months.
What does the Supreme Court decision say?
Article 4, paragraph 2, of Administrative Instruction No. 05/2015 (MLSW) on the Procedures for Reporting, Suspension from Payment and Return of Funds in Cases of Pension Abuse has been declared illegal and repealed. Article 5, paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 4 of this Instruction have been declared illegal and repealed.
The repealed paragraphs, in addition to removing the obligation to appear for these categories, also remove the sanctioning measures in case of failure to appear.
What is written in these paragraphs of the Administrative Instruction in question:
1. If the pensioner does not report as specified in Article 4, paragraph 2 of this instruction, he/she shall be temporarily suspended from further pension payment.
2. A pensioner who has been suspended pursuant to paragraph 1 of this article shall have his/her pension payment continued if the pensioner reports to the relevant pension office within three (3) months from the date of suspension.
3. If the pensioner reports within three (3) months from the date of suspension, counting the month of notification, the Pensions Department, respectively the pension office, is obliged to pay the unpaid pensions for a maximum of three (3) months.
4. If the pensioner does not report within three (3) months or ninety (90) days from the date of suspension, his request is considered a re-application and payment will be made from the day (month) of submission of the request.
What happened after the decision?
On January 16, KOHA reported that despite the Supreme Court's decision, all pensioners were forced to prove they were alive.
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And on January 19, the Ministry of Finance, Labor and Transfers issued an announcement that some categories are no longer required to appear.
Notice:
The Ministry of Finance, Labor and Transfers informs pensioners that some categories of pensioners no longer need to regularly appear before pension offices. These categories are the pension beneficiaries:
• contributory,
• partial contributory, and
• family.
❗️Pensioners of other categories continue to have an obligation to report according to the legislation in force.
MFPT has taken ongoing steps to facilitate services for retirees, including:
• Mobile teams providing home services to those who cannot physically appear, in all seven regions of Kosovo;
• Simplifying procedures for paraplegic, tetraplegic and blind people, eliminating unnecessary and tedious reassessment processes.
MFPT remains committed to providing simpler and faster services to pensioners while maintaining the integrity and sustainability of pension schemes.
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The Ministry of Finance says that not all categories of pensioners are exempt from filing
The basic pension in Kosovo is 150 euros. According to social welfare statistics for October 2025, published by the Kosovo Agency of Statistics, 164 thousand citizens receive a basic pension at the national level.
While the categories that are exempted, according to this data, include about 70 thousand.
