When you work as an employee in Germany, you're automatically enrolled into Pension Insurance (Rentenversicherung). As a proof, you can request for a Pension Insurance History of contributions (Rentenversicherungsverlauf). The foreigners office (Ausländerbehörde) or citizenship office (Landesamt für Einwanderung Einbürgerung) may request it when you apply for a Permanent Residence (Niederlassungserlaubnis) or Citizenship (Einbürgerung).
There are two common ways to request this Rentenversicherungsverlauf
Send a letter (takes about 1 to 2 weeks to get it)
Request it online (immediate) using the eID (electronic ID)
In this guide, I'll show you how I apply for Rentenversicherungsverlauf online on my laptop & a phone. If you do this using only a phone, the steps are not covered here.
Requirements
An electronic Ausweis that is activated
This can be your German national ID, blue card, permanent residence card, electronic residence permit. You need to make sure this card is activated. If not, here is how you can activate eID.
When it is active, you get a 6 digit secret PIN during the time of activation at a Bürgeramt (EU citizens) and Ausländerbehörde (Non EU nationals)Download & install from the AusweisApp website on your laptop and your mobile (which supports NFC / USB reader)
Link your Ausweis app on your laptop & mobile
Here is a good video with English captions on how to do this
Steps to get Rentenversicherungsverlauf online
Go to the Deutsche Rentenversicherung website's login page
At the time of testing in June 2024, Safari was not working for me. I used Chrome & Firefox to check and they work.Choose an option to authenticate based on your eID. I chose "Personalausweis, Aufenthaltstitel oder Unionsbürgerkarte (eID)" as I have a permanent residence card.
Choose "Computer und Mobilgerät" as the way to authenticate.
Open the Ausweis app on your laptop
Click on "Anmelden" (if you have an account already) or "Registerien" (if you don't have an account)
If you now see a message saying your app is not connected, make sure you have opened it already. You might see this: "Ups...die AusweisApp wurde noch nicht gestartet"
If everything goes smoothly, you should see something like this on the Ausweis app on your laptop.
Ausweis app for Rentenversicherung during registration
Click on "Proceed to Entry" on laptop
Open your Ausweis app on the phone, click on "allow connection" and place your eID on the NFC reader. It will ask you for a PIN and enter it. Then hold the card until it is done (takes about 5 to 10 seconds).
You should be authenticated now to the customer portal.
Rentenversicherung customer portal
Click on "Versicherungsdaten und Rente", then "Versicherungsverlauf einsehen" and then download it. You should now have the Rentenversicherung instead of waiting for weeks.
Notes
Yes, if your eID is not already activated, you do need to wait for an appointment at the Bürgeramt or Ausländerbehörde. This can take a lot longer than requesting the letter by post. So do that instead.
Yes, the process to link your Ausweisapp on desktop & mobile is confusing at first.
Yes, it does get much easier and I use it a lot for different service providers. Here is an official list of providers.
When you change your ID (a new PR, Blue Card or German citizenship), you have to sign up for the service again. Use register instead of login and then everything works as it did before.
