This leaves many Australian citizens who have made lives in France – as well as French people in Australia – faced with a choice of leaving a country they have made their home in order to claim the pension they earned over several years, if not decades.
In order to claim an Australian pension at the moment, people are faced with no choice but to head back to Australia and wait for two years before applying for the pension – at which which point they can return to France and still receive their pension.
And those who wait until after they have secured their Australian pension before moving to France are also in the clear. The lack of agreement only affects those who become eligible for their pension when they are already living in France.

In order to claim an Australian pension at the moment, people must either move back to Australia and wait for two years, or move to a country that does have an agreement.
Only people who have worked in France are eligible for a French pension, so early retirees would not be entitled to anything from the French state.
For more information on Australia's international social security agreements, click here.
Even worse for New Zealanders. You can’t even go back and do 2 years in your country. But you could go back and spend 6 months every year there and take a holiday in France. But that puts you in the second home owner category…. no way around it unless you leave France completely and stay in NZ, or Malta or 6 other very small countries where there is an agreement with NZ.