SSS for OFWs: membership, contributions and benefits in plain English

If you are an OFW and not over 60, SSS membership is compulsory. Land-based OFWs are treated like self-employed members, so you pay the whole contribution yourself; sea-based OFWs are covered through their manning agency (RA 11199 Sec. 9-B). In return, SSS pays a monthly pension from 60 or 65 once you have 120 monthly contributions, and cash benefits while you work: sickness, maternity, unemployment, disability, death and funeral.

Which member type you are

• Land-based OFW. Working abroad on your own contract. You pay all of your contribution, with a higher minimum salary credit than other members. See how land-based OFWs pay SSS.
• Sea-based OFW. RA 11199 treats your manning agency as your employer, so it deducts your share from your pay and remits it with its own.
• Voluntary member. For OFWs whose overseas job has ended, and Filipinos who have settled abroad as immigrants or citizens of another country. See voluntary SSS contributions.
• Self-employed. If you come home and run a business or work for yourself. See SSS for the self-employed.
• Non-working spouse. A husband or wife who manages the home full time, married to a working SSS member. See SSS for a non-working spouse.

What you pay from abroad

For land-based OFWs, the schedule in force is SSS Circular 2024-010, in effect from January 2025. On the checked date, SSS had not issued a newer one.

Rate

15% of your salary credit

Monthly salary credit (MSC)

PHP 8,000 to 35,000

Lowest monthly contribution

PHP 1,200.00

Highest monthly contribution

PHP 5,250.00

Of that, the part on salary credit up to PHP 20,000 is your regular SSS contribution. The part above it goes to the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF), your own savings account inside SSS. Your monthly salary credit follows the earnings you declare, and you can change it.

Amounts are in Philippine pesos. If you pay from a bank or remittance app abroad, it converts at its own rate on the day.

The full table is in the SSS contribution table for voluntary members and OFWs, and the SSS contribution calculator works out your own amount.

When and how to pay

Land-based OFWs pay contributions for January to September by 31 December of the same year, and for October to December by 31 January of the following year. If the deadline falls on a weekend or a Philippine holiday, you can pay the next working day.

Each payment needs a payment reference number (PRN). You generate it in your My.SSS account under the PRN tab, then pay online or at an SSS collecting partner, including partners abroad. Step by step, with the channels and due dates, is in how to pay SSS contributions and SSS payment deadlines.

To check that a payment arrived, see checking your posted contributions.

Your SSS pension

You get a monthly pension for life if you have at least 120 monthly contributions before the semester you retire, and you are 60 and no longer working or self-employed, or 65 (RA 11199 Sec. 12-B). The pension is the highest of three amounts based on your average salary credit and credited years, plus a PHP 1,000 additional benefit each month. With fewer than 120 contributions, you get a lump sum instead, or you can keep paying until you reach 120.

Read the SSS pension guide or estimate yours with the SSS pension calculator. To check you qualify, see how many contributions you need.

Benefits while you work

Every SSS benefit applies to covered OFWs, subject to each benefit’s own conditions:

• Sickness benefit: a daily allowance when illness or injury keeps you from working for 4 days or more.
• Maternity benefit: a daily allowance for childbirth, miscarriage or emergency termination of pregnancy.
• Unemployment benefit: cash for up to 2 months if you lose your job involuntarily, including OFWs certified by DMW.
• Disability benefit: a pension or lump sum if illness or injury leaves you permanently disabled.
• Death benefit: a pension or lump sum for your family if you die.
• Funeral benefit: a cash grant to whoever paid for the funeral of a member or pensioner.

Loans

SSS loans open to OFW members include these three, each with its own conditions. Rates, amounts and terms are on each guide.

• SSS loans for OFWs: the salary loan, for short-term cash needs.
• Calamity loan: for members who live or work in an area declared under a state of calamity.
• Pension loan: for retirement and surviving spouse pensioners.

Saving more through SSS

Two accounts sit beside the regular pension, both run as the MySSS Pension Booster:

• The mandatory part (MPF). If your salary credit is above PHP 20,000, the contribution on the part above goes to your own account. It does not raise your regular pension. See the SSS MPF guide.
• The voluntary part. You can add more on top of your regular contribution, from PHP 500 a payment. It is your own account, paid out as a pension, a lump sum or both. See the SSS Pension Booster guide.

Neither has a fixed or promised return.

Accounts and IDs

• My.SSS online registration: the online account you need to pay, check records and file claims from abroad.
• Getting an SS number: done online. Never apply for a second number if you already have one.
• UMID and the MySSS Card: your SSS ID.
• Checking your posted contributions.

Coming home

When your last overseas contract ends, you can keep paying as a voluntary member so your contributions keep counting (RA 11199 Sec. 9-B(f)). If you start a business or work for yourself, you pay as a self-employed member instead. A spouse who stays home to run the household can join as a non-working spouse. The working abroad hub covers the rest of the move.

Planning your retirement looks at SSS next to your other savings.

More SSS guides

• SSS pension increase 2026
• SSS 13th month pension
• SSS retirement requirements and filing
• SSS ACOP for pensioners abroad
• Lump sum or monthly pension