I lived and worked in Germany for an year, and then left permanently. I have now lived in North America for more than 2 years.
While I worked in Germany, a monthly rentenversicherung amount was deducted from my paycheck automatically. I'd like to get my contributions back. So I went to Deutsche Versicherung website, and it says:
Compulsory and voluntary contributions will be repaid to half of the original amount, top-up insurance contributions will be repaid in full.
The website I went to is:
http://www.deutsche-rentenversicherung.de/Allgemein/en/Navigation/03_leistungen/03_beitragserstattung/beitragserstattung_node.html
So looks like I am eligible;e to apply for a refund. But I was surprised by the statement above. Does this mean that I'll only be refunded half of what I paid in total in that year? If so, what's the reason behind not returning the full amount? And will I still get a pension later corresponding to that half amount that the government keeps?
Thanks for the help
