If you leave Switzerland for an EU country (plus Iceland and Norway), you won’t be able to withdraw all of your vested termination benefits if the country you’re going to has a mandatory occupational pension system (such as France’s social security system). You will be able to withdraw only the supplementary portion of your benefits, that’s to say, the amount your employer contributed above the legal minimum. The amount that corresponds to the legal minimum under the LPP will have to be transferred to a vested benefits account or policy. That doesn’t mean you lose that money. As early as five years before the legal retirement age, you can ask the vested benefits foundation where your retirement savings are held to pay you the entirety of your savings.

If you leave Switzerland for a country outside the EU, you can withdraw all of your vested termination benefits.