Retirement file papers and common reasons for delay
The papers a State employee retirement file rests on, and why some files are delayed: age mismatches, unrecorded service, unpaid contributions.
Read →Area 02 · Matters at the front of the office’s work
Retirement transactions
In briefA State employee's retirement in Iraq is governed by the Unified Retirement Law No. 9 of 2014 and its First Amendment, Law No. 26 of 2019, and is processed by the National Pension Authority. The office in Baghdad follows questions of referral, service calculation, survivors' rights and objections to the Authority's decisions.
The office of lawyer Ali Barakat in Baghdad follows retirement matters for State employees: referral to retirement, the counting of pensionable service, the pension or gratuity that follows, survivors' rights after a death, and objections to decisions of the National Pension Authority (Hay’at al-Taqa‘ud al-Wataniyya). The short answer to "which law governs my file?" is the Unified Retirement Law No. 9 of 2014 together with its 2019 amendment (Law No. 26 of 2019) — unless your service was in the private sector, which has a separate law.
This page gives the overall picture in one place and then points to a dedicated page for each question: early retirement on request, retirement on health grounds, service calculation, the survivors' pension, the retirement gratuity, objections, and how a State employee's pension differs from a private-sector worker's.
Which law governs a State employee's retirement in Iraq?
The Unified Retirement Law No. 9 of 2014 appeared in issue 4314 of al-Waqa'i al-Iraqiya, Iraq's official gazette, on 10 March 2014, and its final article made it effective from 1 January 2014. Law No. 26 of 2019, the First Amendment, was published in issue 4566 on 9 December 2019 and took effect on 31 December 2019. The amendment changed key provisions: the statutory retirement age, the minimum age for payment of a pension, the end-of-service award, and new rules for politically dismissed persons who were not reinstated and for contract staff covered by Council of Ministers Decision No. 315 of 2019.
Article 3 sets the law's reach: staff of ministries, State bodies and public companies; temporary employees; people entrusted with a public duty; mixed-sector staff who were State employees appointed before 9/4/2003; and those already retired. Article 1 defines an employee as a person entrusted with a civil or military post, or a post in the security forces, or entrusted with a public duty, who receives a salary, wage or remuneration from the State from which retirement contributions are deducted. In practice, the test for coverage is the pension deduction, not the name of the department.
Read the law from the consolidated text in the Iraqi Legislation Database. Many copies circulating online still show pre-2019 figures, which leads readers to the wrong retirement age or payment condition.
Who processes the file? The Authority and the State Employees' Pension Fund
Article 4 establishes the National Pension Authority as a body with legal personality, linked to the Ministry of Finance, headquartered in Baghdad. Under Article 5 its tasks include recording the service of State personnel and calculating and paying retirement entitlements. The State Employees' Pension Fund, part of the Authority, calculates and collects contributions and pays entitlements, and the Authority has retirement directorates in governorates that do not belong to a region.
On the practical side, the Authority has announced an electronic system in which the file starts at the employee's own department and ends with the issue of the pensioner's ID card, and it has sent teams to departments to complete files on site. The retirement or human resources unit in your department is therefore the first stop; the Authority is the body that calculates and decides.
When is an employee retired?
After the amendment, Article 10 requires retirement in two cases: when the employee completes sixty years of age — the statutory age — regardless of length of service, or when an official medical committee decides the employee is unfit for service. The amendment repealed Article 11, which had allowed service to be extended.
The amending law set a higher age of sixty-three for specific groups, including holders of the titles of professor and assistant professor under the University Service Law, forensic doctors, anaesthetists and psychiatrists, and civil pilots actively flying under a valid licence. It set a ceiling of sixty-five for other groups, among them persons covered by the political dismissal law and first- and second-degree relatives of martyrs covered by the laws named in the text.
Besides mandatory retirement, Article 12 allows an employee to request retirement; the conditions are on the page Retirement at the employee's request. The medical committee route is on Retirement on health grounds.
How are service and the pension calculated?
Article 1 defines pensionable service as time that the law counts towards retirement and that was covered by contributions. Article 17 sets contributions at 25% of the basic salary: 10% paid by the employee and 15% by the public treasury.
Article 18 lists what counts as pensionable service, such as actual service with contributions paid, a period of political dismissal counted by law, military service, periods of practising law or journalism under their own laws, and contract service of a temporary employee after 9/4/2003. Article 20 excludes other periods, such as absences and unpaid leave, while suspension from duty and half-pay leave count as half. Details are on Calculating pensionable service.
The pension formula is in Article 21: the average basic salary over the last thirty-six months, multiplied by the years of pensionable service, multiplied by an accrual rate of 2.5%. A pension is due to anyone with at least fifteen years of pensionable service, and it is not paid before age forty-five except in cases the text exempts, such as death, martyrdom and retirement on health grounds. The pension may not exceed the last basic salary unless a provision says otherwise, and the law sets a minimum pension whose amount is stated in paragraph IV of the same article.
What if service is under fifteen years?
An employee with less than fifteen years of service receives the retirement gratuity under Article 22, calculated as the last basic salary multiplied by two and then by the number of years of service. A person retired on reaching the statutory age with ten or more years but under fifteen has a one-time choice between the gratuity and a monthly "lump sum" (al-mablagh al-maqtu'). The "end-of-service award" is something else: it goes to those with twenty-five years of service and is worked out from the last full salary with allowances, times twelve. The differences are explained on The retirement gratuity.
Survivors' rights after the death of an employee or pensioner
If an employee dies in service from any cause, service is raised to fifteen years if it was shorter, and the added period is exempt from contributions (Article 25). Eligible survivors may request allocation of what the deceased was entitled to. Article 26 defines the survivors and each group's conditions, and Article 28 distributes the pension: 80% for one beneficiary, ninety for two, and the full pension for three or more. Details are on The survivors' pension.
Time limits that recur in retirement files
| Matter | Time limit | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Decision on a request for retirement | 45 days from registration, otherwise the employee is deemed retired | Art. 12/IV |
| Objection to a medical committee decision before the appellate committee | 30 days from notification | Art. 15/III |
| Objection to an Authority decision before the Pensioners' Cases Audit Council | 90 days from actual or constructive notification | Art. 30/I |
| Appeal against the Council's decision to the Federal Court of Cassation (Mahkamat al-Tamyiz al-Ittihadiya) | 60 days from notification | Art. 30/III |
| Notifying the Authority of a change in the pensioner's or survivor's situation | 120 days from the change | Art. 35/II |
Objecting to a decision of the National Pension Authority
If the Authority's decision does not match your service or entitlement, the law sets the route: the Pensioners' Cases Audit Council (Majlis Tadqiq Qadaya al-Mutaqa'idin) formed under Article 29, with a further appeal from the Council to the Federal Court of Cassation. A decision not appealed in time becomes final. The steps are on Objections before the Pensioners' Cases Audit Council.
Rules that protect a pension, and rules that limit it
Article 33 protects retirement entitlements in three ways: they are not time-barred while the holder is alive and still meets the conditions; they cannot be assigned to anyone; and they cannot be attached except for a maintenance (nafaqa) debt or a debt owed to the public treasury, and in no case beyond half of the entitlement.
There are also limits many people overlook. Article 21 bars receiving more than one pension under more than one law and gives a one-time choice of the higher. The amending law repealed provisions allowing two or more salaries to be combined, with exceptions for political prisoners, families of martyrs and victims of terrorism under their own laws. Article 34 makes the age recorded in the appointment document the one that counts and disregards any later correction of age. Article 31 deprives a pensioner of entitlements on a final sentence of death or imprisonment, with payment to eligible survivors as the text specifies.
What falls outside this area?
People who work for private firms, mixed companies or cooperatives retire under a different text, the Workers' Retirement and Social Security Law No. 18 of 2023. Their files go to the Department of Pension and Social Security for Workers of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, not to the National Pension Authority. Disciplinary accountability of an employee is a separate matter, covered under State employees and official discipline. A comparison of the two pension systems is on State employee pensions vs. private-sector pensions.
How the office works on a retirement file
The office starts from the papers, not from estimates: the appointment order, service letters, the retirement order, the Authority's letter or decision, and the date of notification. It then identifies the applicable law and whether the issue is an error in counting service, a dispute about coverage, or an objection deadline that is running now. The pension amount and the time the file takes are read from the service data, the article in force, and the Authority's procedures.
Legal basis and sources
- Unified Retirement Law No. 9 of 2014 (Iraqi Official Gazette, issue 4314, 10/3/2014)
- Law No. 26 of 2019, First Amendment to the Unified Retirement Law (Official Gazette, issue 4566, 9/12/2019)
- Ministry of Finance — National Pension Authority
- Workers' Retirement and Social Security Law No. 18 of 2023
Frequently asked questions
What is the statutory retirement age in Iraq now?
Sixty for a State employee under Article 10 in its 2019 wording, with groups the amendment set at sixty-three or at a ceiling of sixty-five.
How many years of service are required for a pension?
At least fifteen years of pensionable service, and the pension is not paid before age forty-five except in cases the text exempts.
Can a lawyer follow the retirement file on the employee's behalf?
The law allows the persons concerned or their legal representatives to object before the Pensioners' Cases Audit Council, with representation by a duly certified power of attorney (wakala). Department and Authority procedures follow their own instructions in force.
Is my pension right lost if I claim late?
Article 33 states that retirement entitlements are not time-barred while the pensioner or beneficiary is alive and still meets the conditions, but objections to decisions have fixed time limits.
Topics in this area
- 01Early retirement in Iraq: when can a State employee request retirement?Conditions for requesting retirement before the statutory age in Iraq under Article 12 of the Unified Retirement Law: age or service, mothers, timing.
- 02Retirement on health grounds and the medical committee in IraqWhen an Iraqi State employee is retired on health grounds: the official medical committee, effects on service and pension, work injury, the 30-day appeal.
- 03What counts as pensionable service, and how is earlier service added?What counts as pensionable service under Iraq's Unified Retirement Law: contributions, military, contract and advocacy service, exclusions, transfers.
- 04A deceased employee's pension: survivors' rights after the death of an employee or pensionerWho receives a deceased employee's pension in Iraq, each survivor group's conditions, the distribution shares, and when a share stops or returns.
- 05The retirement gratuity, the monthly lump sum and the end-of-service awardThe retirement gratuity, the monthly lump sum and the end-of-service award under Iraq's Unified Retirement Law: who gets each and how it is calculated.
- 06Objecting to a National Pension Authority decision before the Pensioners' Cases Audit CouncilObjecting to a National Pension Authority decision before the Pensioners' Cases Audit Council in 90 days, then appealing to the Court of Cassation.
- 07State employee pensions vs. private-sector worker pensions: what is the difference?How a State employee pension (Law No. 9 of 2014) differs from a private-sector worker pension (Law No. 18 of 2023): body, conditions, service transfer.
- 08Calculating a pension in IraqHow a pension is calculated under the Unified Pension Law: a 36-month average, the 2.5% rate, 15 years of service, the age of payment, and the cap.
- 09Compulsory referral to retirementWhen referral to retirement is compulsory: reaching the legal age regardless of service, or unfitness decided by the official medical committee.
- 10What the 2019 amendment to the Unified Pension Law changedMain changes in Law No. 26 of 2019: a new Article 10, exceptions to the legal age, recalculation, and limits on combining two pensions.
- 11Does the Unified Pension Law apply to military personnel?The Unified Pension Law treats a military person as an employee. Law No. 3 of 2010 organises referral and remains the basis for legal age after 2019.
- 12The Internal Security Forces Service and Pension LawLaw No. 18 of 2011 organises referral and pension rights of a police officer, and is read with the Unified Pension Law after the 2019 amendment.
- 13May two pensions be combined?Article 10 of Law No. 26 of 2019 cancels texts that allow two or more pensions to be combined, with a written exception for named categories.
- 14Work after retirement and reappointment of a pensionerArticle 24 after the 2019 amendment adds later service to earlier service. The last pension must not fall below the pension at reappointment, or a peer's.
- 15When a pension is stopped or cutArticle 27 cuts a wife, daughter or sister's share on marriage or appointment. Notice is due in 120 days. Attachment under Article 33 may not exceed 50%.
- 16Paying to add pensionable service in IraqArticles 18 and 19 cover adding service and paying contributions, including private service up to half of state service, and instalments over five years.
- 17The pensioner identity cardThe National Pension Authority issues the pensioner card to prove status. The law does not fix its form. Issue or replacement follows its instructions.
- 18Steps of a retirement transactionThe file goes from referral to the Authority’s assessment, then payment. Article 12 requests are decided in 45 days. Objections follow Articles 29 and 30.
- 19The State Employees’ Pension FundThe Fund, created by Law 9 of 2014, collects contributions, pays rights and invests its funds. Repeal of an internal system is not repeal of the Fund.
- 20Pension confirmationThe Authority issues a letter confirming pension rights before official bodies. The law has no article on it. Requests follow the Authority’s instructions.
- 21University-service retirementArticle 35, Fifth, grants an 80% pension in written cases. Professors and assistant professors have a legal-age exception in Article 2 of Law 26 of 2019.
- 22The retirement referral orderA referral order is issued under Articles 12 and 14. An Article 12 request is decided in 45 days; otherwise the employee is deemed referred.
- 23Counting advocacy practice for pension purposesArticle 18 counts advocacy practice as pensionable service under Law 65 of 2007. A 10% contribution is collected on the salary at appointment or joining.
Articles in this area
Pension contributions and the deduction from a civil servant’s salary
Article 17 deducts 25% of salary (10% employee, 15% treasury) into the Fund. Self-funded bodies late over 6 months face a 3% monthly fine.
Read →Transferring a pension after death or between banks
After death, successors request allocation under Article 25. Shares follow Article 28. A bank change follows the Authority’s instructions, not a statute.
Read →Retirement procedures for public employees: which law applies, and how is the file completed?
Retirement procedures follow Unified Retirement Law No. 9 of 2014, completed by the National Pension Authority, not private-sector social security.
Read →