You can apply for an early retirement pension for long-term insured persons if

• you have completed the minimum insurance period (qualifying period) of 35 years,
• and have reached the relevant age.

All compulsory and voluntary contributions that you have paid or are deemed to have paid to the agricultural pension fund are taken into account for the qualifying period of 35 years. Contributions for periods prior to 01.01.1995 are generally only taken into account if they have been paid without gaps.
If a pension equalization was carried out in your favour, the transferred entitlement will be converted into qualifying period months.

Periods from other pension schemes:

• Periods from other pension schemes, for example periods in the statutory pension insurance scheme, can also be counted towards your qualifying period.
• If the external periods overlap with those of the agricultural pension fund, the external periods cannot be credited at the same time.
  • This also applies if you were exempt from compulsory insurance with the pension fund as an entrepreneur during the same period.
  • However, an exemption from compulsory insurance as a contributing family member does not preclude the crediting of third-party periods completed during this time.

The following periods can be taken into account:

• Compulsory contribution periods to a statutory German pension insurance institution and equivalent periods of social insurance in the former GDR,
• periods of exemption from insurance in the statutory pension insurance scheme, for example as
  • civil servant
  • judge
  • professional or regular soldier and
  • other persons with similar civil servant status
• Periods of exemption from compulsory insurance in the statutory pension insurance scheme, for example
  • Employees and self-employed persons who belong to a professional pension scheme
  • Teachers and educators at private schools, if there is civil servant-like coverage
• certain foreign periods under supranational and intergovernmental law

If you have completed the long-term insurance or crediting period of 45 years, you can claim this pension without any deductions. The following periods, among others, can be taken into account when determining the 45 years:

• Periods in the old-age pension scheme for farmers
• Compulsory contribution periods as a farmer or for assisting family members
• periods of voluntary contributions in accordance with §§ 4 or 5 of the Law on Old-Age Insurance for Farmers (ALG), if compulsory contributions as a farmer or for family members working for the farmer have been paid for at least 18 years
• Periods in the statutory pension insurance scheme
• This includes, among other things
• Compulsory contribution periods of employees
• Compulsory contribution periods of self-employed persons
• Compulsory contribution periods due to raising children
• Compulsory contribution periods due to non-occupational care of relatives
• Periods of voluntary contributions to the German Pension Insurance (DRV) if there are at least 18 years of compulsory contributions from employment or self-employment
• Periods of compulsory military or civilian service
• Contributions due to subsequent insurance
• periods in the accession area and in Saarland, insofar as they are considered compulsory contribution periods
• periods which are treated as compulsory contribution periods for insured employment or activity under federal law (for example, under the Foreign Pensions Act)
• Calendar months with substitute periods (persecution, expulsion, flight)
• periods taken into account due to the upbringing of a child up to the age of 10
• Periods in which unemployment benefit, sickness benefit, transitional allowance, short-time working allowance, bad weather allowance, winter compensation or insolvency benefit were received
• Periods in other social security systems

This includes in particular periods as

• Judge for life, for a fixed term or on probation
• civil servant for life, for a fixed term, on probation or in preparatory service
• Professional soldier or temporary soldier
• Employee of a corporation, institution or foundation under public law if they are guaranteed entitlement to a pension in accordance with civil service regulations or principles or corresponding ecclesiastical regulations
• Member of a spiritual cooperative or members of similar communities if they are guaranteed entitlement to a pension in accordance with the rules of the community
• Employees and self-employed persons who are members of a statutory professional pension scheme (e.g. doctors', pharmacists', lawyers' or architects' pension scheme)
• Teachers and educators at non-public schools or institutions if they are guaranteed entitlement to a pension in accordance with civil service law principles or corresponding church law regulations

The following periods, among others, cannot be taken into account when determining the 35 or 45 years:

• Calendar months acquired through pension equalization or pension splitting
• Periods with unemployment benefit or unemployment benefit II
• periods of receipt of unemployment benefit in the last 2 years before the start of retirement
• (Exception: if these periods are the result of insolvency or complete closure of the employer)
• Voluntary contributions in the last 2 years before the start of the pension if there is also a qualifying period due to unemployment