EU Form E 104

Have you worked, or are you still working, in an EU country but plan to return to your home country? You will need an E 104 form when you return from abroad.

What is an E 104 form?

The E 104 form, or 'Certificate concerning the aggregation of periods of insurance, employment or residence', is a confirmation of the period of your health insurance. It is used for the payment of sickness benefits in your home country. In even simpler terms, without this form, the relevant home insurer would not pay you sickness benefits.

When you started working abroad, you registered with a foreign health insurance company, to which your employer then paid the compulsory health insurance contributions. In order to avoid losing these periods of insurance and the related healthcare in your home country, the data on the length of the foreign health insurance will be transferred to the E 104 form.

How do I get an E 104 form?

When your employment ends, you need to ask your foreign health insurer for an E 104 form. Once you have applied, the relevant insurance company will give you the completed form. When you return from abroad, you will register with your home health insurance company and provide them with the E 104 form.

If you did not apply for an E 104 form abroad and you are claiming sickness benefit in your home country, the form will be requested by the competent authority in your home country. In this case, however, you should expect the process of paying the sickness benefit to be more time-consuming.

Applying to your home health insurance company

When you return from abroad, be sure to register for compulsory health insurance with your home health insurance company within 8 days.

The choice of health insurance company is yours if you have worked abroad for more than 6 months. Otherwise, or if you have worked abroad for less than 6 months, you must register with the health insurance company that insured you before you left. You can apply for health insurance either in person at a branch or online.

Other important documents to ask for when you leave your job abroad:

• proof of termination of employment
• taxable income certificate
• PD U1 / E301 form (for unemployment benefit purposes)
• form PD U2 / E303 (for the purpose of maintaining entitlement to the unemployment benefit you started receiving abroad)
• forms for family allowances
• documents proving that you have stopped receiving social benefits
• forms for tax purposes to establish tax residency