Voluntary NI contributions for non-UK citizen

sghughes42

I've checked on the .gov.uk website and can't find answer so I'm hoping someone on here will know - can a non-UK citizen who hasn't lived in the UK for part of the time make voluntary NI contributions?

My wife is Taiwanese, she studied in the UK from 2007 - 2011, working part-time for some of this time, then returned to Taiwan for 18 months, moving back to the UK in 2013 when we got married.

She has had seasonal work since she got her spouse visa, working for first the National Trust and more recently Chatsworth House Trust.

I'm assuming that will cover her contributions for 2014-15 as even though she will only have worked 10 months overall it should average out to over the £111 threshold per week. (I'm assuming averaging is allowed? Or will she need to top up for weeks were she didn't earn enough?)

However, before then she won't have averaged enough to meet the threshold.

As she is now 42 at best she will end up with around 25 years of contributions so would need to top up at least another 5 years worth to make the minimum 30 to qualify for the full pension. (Assuming her state pension age doesn't change from the current 67)

Does her immigration status allow her to make these contributions?

atush

If she is a legal resident, yes she can pay voluntary Nics. I can and I like her, am not a UK cit.

but she will need 35 years not 30 if she will retire later than april 5 2016. It will be cheaper to get Nics if she is self employed in some way, no matter how small her income. Otherwise have her raise her hours to be paid to the threshold (which is around 5770 a year I think). There is an amt of income aroudn that, that even if you dont pay nics you can get credited with them as a low earner. Hopefully someone will be along with the exact figures.

Do you have children together? Did she get CB and therefore nics?

greenglide

I'm assuming that will cover her contributions for 2014-15 as even though she will only have worked 10 months overall it should average out to over the £111 threshold per week. (I'm assuming averaging is allowed? Or will she need to top up for weeks were she didn't earn enough?)

If she has earned £5770 in a tax year she qualified, it doesnt need to be £111 in each and every week.

gadgetmind

And if wanting to do more research, this sum is called the Lower Earnings Limit, or LEL. It's usually given as a weekly sum but it's the annual amount you need to hit per tax year.

As atush says, you can earn years cheaply as you go along using Class 2 NI at roughly £130 a year.

sghughes42

atush wrote: »

If she is a legal resident, yes she can pay voluntary Nics. I can and I like her, am not a UK cit.

but she will need 35 years not 30 if she will retire later than april 5 2016. It will be cheaper to get Nics if she is self employed in some way, no matter how small her income. Otherwise have her raise her hours to be paid to the threshold (which is around 5770 a year I think). There is an amt of income aroudn that, that even if you dont pay nics you can get credited with them as a low earner. Hopefully someone will be along with the exact figures.

Do you have children together? Did she get CB and therefore nics?

Thanks for the reply. I must have mis-read the qualifying years criteria as I thought it was being standardised to 30 years for both men and women from now on. Just makes it more expensive!

Does she need to have been a resident for the full tax year, or do part years count? She will be able to add 3 years if part-years do count.

No self employment I'm afraid! Maybe worth considering for future years, depends how many hours she gets offered. I believe we can request a statement of NI contributions, but how up to date is that? Or does she need to just collect up all her pay slips and spend a few hours with the calculator?

We don't have kids yet, considering it but need to get our skates on!

Not sure what CB is, or NICS... Sorry!

atush

CB = child benefit, NICS = national insurance contributions

How old is she? When did she come here? for her part years did she earn 5770 or above ie the LEL? How much did she earn last year?

Yes she can get a statement of contributions. And like me depending on when she moved here, she might get 3 years -ostensibly for ages 16-18 but even though I didn't live here then I got those 3 years. This has been stopped recently though?>

If she is young enough to have children, then she will eventually get 12 years nics for having 'home responsibilities protection' up to age twelve- could be more years if you have more than one.

So get her statement and get her earning over 5770. even 5771 per year will do

greenglide

So get her statement and get her earning over 5770. even 5771 per year will do

And it has to be from the same employment.

Two separate employments earning £5,000 in each doesn't qualify!

sghughes42

greenglide wrote: »

And it has to be from the same employment.

Two separate employments earning £5,000 in each doesn't qualify!

Ah, now that is a problem... In total she is probably over the LEL, however that was for two employers, individually she won't be. If the NT paid decent wages possibly, but on minimum wage part time seasonal no chance...

greenglide

That is where it does get less than fair.

sghughes42

atush wrote: »

CB = child benefit, NICS = national insurance contributions

How old is she? When did she come here? for her part years did she earn 5770 or above ie the LEL? How much did she earn last year?

Yes she can get a statement of contributions. And like me depending on when she moved here, she might get 3 years -ostensibly for ages 16-18 but even though I didn't live here then I got those 3 years. This has been stopped recently though?>

If she is young enough to have children, then she will eventually get 12 years nics for having 'home responsibilities protection' up to age twelve- could be more years if you have more than one.

So get her statement and get her earning over 5770. even 5771 per year will do

She is 42 and from Taiwan. She first came here in 2007 to do her PhD, was here for 5 years (not tax years).

She won't have earned the LEL for any year, especially if Greenglide is correct and they have to be from separate employments! When she was a student she had part-time work but that won't have reached the LEL. She came back here in August 2013 but didn't start working until about February 2014. The only hope for a complete year was 2014-15 but she is now out of work as her jobs have been seasonal. She only had about 8 months with the NT and 4 months with Chatsworth so is very unlikely to have reached the LEL with the NT.

Not a great situation it seems! The guidelines I read mentioned she may be able to use some of my NI contributions - how does that work? I've got 17 full years so far and another 30 if I work constantly to my projected retirement age of 68 so should have some 'spare'...

atush

No, when the new pension regine starts in 2016, woment can no longer claim off their husbands contributions. and she will need a min of 10 years to get any.

wont be hard to get 10+ if kids are on the cards though. but the CB has to be in her name.

Is any of her employment classed as self employment? If not, get her self employed somehow and pay 130 quid a year? Or get her to increase her hours with one employer to get to 5770?