Examples of unilateral social security agreements

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 Countries of employment can provide equality of treatment between nationals and non-nationals regarding social protection as well as extension of benefits abroad protecting family members left behind in the country of origin and ensure the export of benefits when the workers return home. Also, labour-sending countries can assume responsibility for providing basic levels of protection. A few examples from Jordan, the Philippines and Pakistan demonstrate good practices in protecting nationals working abroad through voluntary insurance;

• The Jordanian national security system provides old-age, disability, and death benefits to its nationals working abroad. These benefits are administered by the Social Security Corporation which has liaison offices in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates due to the large presence of Jordanian workers.
• Overseas Filipino workers are protected by voluntary insurance by the Social Security System (SSS), the supplementary pension savings fund (SSS Flexi-Fund), and the Overseas Workers program of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth). PhilHealth and SSS overseas branch offices are present in 13 countries.
• Pakistan provides their migrant workers with a group insurance programme concluded between the Bureau of Emigration of Overseas Employment and the State Life Insurance Corporation. Applicants finance the insurance by a premium paid upon registration with the Bureau. The insurance covers the participants in the event of disability or death.

Unilateral agreements are advantageous for States which have large groups of their nationals working abroad, sometimes in countries with little or no social protection provisions. The administrative burden of these types of agreements are lower than for bilateral or multilateral agreements, since there is no need to coordinate with other countries, although overseas offices are required. Yet, unilateral agreements scope is limited to only a few types of benefits and to schemes that rely on contributions.