Leaving the Netherlands for good raises the question of what becomes of everything paid in, and the state pension and workplace pensions answer it differently. Cashing out is far more restricted than most people expect, with a small-pot exception that carries its own tax consequence for anyone departing within ten years.
Your AOW state pension, yes: once you reach AOW age it gets paid to you anywhere in the world, with only the size of deductions (tax, insurance premiums) varying by country under whatever treaty applies — the accrued amount itself isn't reduced just because you've moved abroad. Workplace pensions (the ones built with an employer, sometimes called the second pillar) work differently and generally can't be cashed out early just because you're emigrating; the money stays invested with the pension fund and gets paid out starting at your plan's designated retirement age, wherever you happen to be living by then. The one exception is genuinely small pots — for 2026, anything below €632.63 a year gross can be commuted into a one-time lump sum (afkoop) if the pension provider agrees, though cashing out within ten years of leaving can trigger a Dutch conservatory tax assessment that claws some of the benefit back, so it's not automatically the free money it looks like. For anything above that threshold, patience is the only option — mijnpensioenoverzicht.nl will show you exactly what you're waiting on and when. ---