NI Contributions and the UK State Pension for a Japanese National

richkingly

Hi,

My wife is a Japanese national living in the UK with permanent residency. Ever since she was a student he has always worked in the UK in some form and has always used the same NI number to pay her contributions (about 10 years worth).

As a British national I know that my NI contributions go towards my state pension so I'll get something back many years ahead when I retire. However, I'm not sure what happens to her contributions, please can someone help?

1. I assume that, as a Japanese national, when she reaches retirement age despite paying NI during her working life she won't be entitled to any form of UK state pension?

2. If so, where does the money that she is paying in NI contributions go to? Can she have it transferred to her Japanese state pension pot? Or should she/can she claim those UK state pension contributions back if, as a Japanese national, she's unable to claim a UK state pension?

Would really appreciate any help so we can plan/work out what we should be doing!

CLAPTON

she will get a uk state pension

she should ask for a pension forecast

https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-statement

atush

you assume incorrectly, which is why assuming tends to be not a good thing ;-)

Not only will she get her years contribs from paying NI, but she may get additional years due to when she arrived, such as credit for 'study' years of age 18-21, and your contributions if she does not not reach 60% on her own and you are legally married.

she will also get contributions for any years she is not working but looking after (and you are eligible for child benefit) any children up to age 12. i thought this bit was 'universal' but may not be if you lose 100% of CB if one of you earns over 60K. do check this.

Another thing to think of is, if she is legally resident she may be eiligible for tax relief for a pension even if not working (ie you can contribute 2880 into a personal pension for her, and get a tax relief boost up to 3600 total).

richkingly

Thanks for the quick replies! At the moment we're paying into the Japanese state pension too (from the UK) - just because we're not sure which side of the world we'll end up on eventually.

That's definitely a relief to know that the NI contributions aren't going to waste and she should be entitled to something someday from the UK end of things. We're going to use that link and ask for a summary/estimate of her current contributions.

Cheers!