When changing cities for work: Transfer your pension and basic medical insurance accounts to the new locality so contribution years accumulate continuously, and do not surrender coverage

When relocating between cities for employment, both your pension and employee medical insurance accounts can follow you, allowing cumulative contribution years to stack without restarting. Before reaching statutory retirement age, you cannot cancel your pension insurance to cash out funds. If medical insurance contributions lapse for more than 3 months, you may face a waiting period of up to 6 months before medical expenses can be reimbursed in the new location, so avoid extended gaps between jobs.

Zero monetary cost. After enrolling and contributing in the new location, submit a transfer application through your new employer or independently, either online or at a public administrative service desk. Pension transfers take several dozen working days end-to-end, while medical insurance transfers require approximately 15 working days.

The Social Insurance Law stipulates that when workers relocate across pooling regions for employment, their basic pension insurance accounts follow them, and contribution years accumulate cumulatively. The same rule applies to employee basic medical insurance: coverage accounts transfer and contribution durations accumulate continuously. At retirement, pensions are calculated segmented by jurisdiction and disbursed through a unified payout channel. Interprovincial pension transfers follow State Council interim procedures: prior to reaching statutory pension entitlement age, pension relations cannot be terminated or refunded, and personal accounts cannot be withdrawn early. The entire principal and accrued interest of the employee's personal account are transferred. For the employer pooling portion, funds equal to 12% of the employee's actual wage base for each year after 1998 are transferred to the incoming jurisdiction. Pension disbursements are calculated based on historical wage bases, cumulative contribution years, and local average wages at the final disbursement jurisdiction. Procedurally, once enrolled and contributing in the new city, submit an application to the receiving social insurance agency. The receiving office audits within 15 working days; upon receipt of the acceptance notice, the transferring office executes the transfer within 15 working days; and the receiving office finalizes enrollment within 15 working days of fund arrival. Under State Council "Inter-Provincial Government Services" guidelines, interprovincial transfers are processed entirely through the receiving city's portal without requiring in-person visits to your former city. For employee medical insurance, former coverage must be paused before the new account is activated to initiate transfer. Applications can be submitted online via the National Healthcare Security Administration service platform (fuwu.nhsa.gov.cn) or at local service windows. Outgoing transfer completes within 10 working days, incoming enrollment within 5 working days, and personal account balances transfer in full. If the contribution gap before transfer is within 3 months, retroactive payment waives any waiting period, allowing immediate reimbursement in the month of contribution as well as retroactive reimbursement for the gap period. If the contribution gap exceeds 3 months, local waiting periods apply, capped in principle at 6 months (nationwide).

If moving across provincial borders to a non-registered household (hukou) province when a male worker reaches age 50 or a female worker reaches age 40, original pension relations remain anchored at the previous location; the new locality opens a temporary contribution account recording all unit and personal payments. The statutory priority rule determining final retirement payout location is as follows: if anchored in the household registration province, benefits are drawn at the household locality; if residing elsewhere and cumulative contributions at the active account exceed 10 years, benefits are drawn locally; if under 10 years, relations roll back to the most recent jurisdiction where contributions exceeded 10 years; if no locality reaches 10 years, all funds aggregate to the household registration province. Pension benefit formulas use the local average wage of the final payout jurisdiction. Intraprovincial intercity transfer guidelines are established by individual provincial governments. Individuals already receiving monthly pensions cannot transfer accounts. For calculating contribution gaps and eligibility prerequisites, see Chapter 7, Rule 18 (lapsed social security). For flexible employment self-contributions, see Chapter 31, Rule 11.

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