Pension Tax relief question, married foreign national

Perelandra

This might be a simple question, but I've not been able to find an answer that I can wrap my head around, so if anyone could point me in the right direction it would be appreciated!

My situation:
UK Born/Citizen, full time, earner (40%)
Married to a foreign (outside EU) national
My wife is currently not earning, whn she does earn she is likely to be a basic rate taxpayer
For now, she has no recourse to public funds (no benefits), as she currently does not have settled status (too soon)
My current pension is valued at c. 200k, with a couple of decades before I will draw it down
My wife does not have a pension
Our intent is to continue living in the UK, now and when retired

Looking towards the future, we would like to start a pension for my wife- partly for tax reasons, partly as it doesn't seem fair (on her) for all of our assets to be in my name, and partly because we would prefer to lock that money away to reduce temptation to dip into it.

Given that she's currently not working, if we paid £2,880 into a pension, would she qualify for the 20% tax relief? (to £3,600). My question mark is over the "no recourse to public funds" aspect.

Thanks for your help!

xylophone

Has she applied for a national insurance number?
When will she be "resident in the UK"?

Perelandra

Yes, she already has an NI number- she was working (legally!) in the UK for some years before we married. We are now going through the 5-year route for her to move to the UK (5 years on marriage visas, without recourse to public funds). There are still... 5 years to go! She is now living in the UK, but under my sponsorship.

We do not know when she will next be working- the visa on which we got married did not allow her to work in the UK, so she had to give up her job to get married (and is now looking for a new job).

sandsy

None of the documents I can find seem to preclude her from qualifying for tax relief. But a phone call to DWP might be needed to confirm.

xylophone

(and is now looking for a new job).

If she gets a new job, she will be regarded as resident in the UK for tax purposes,expected to pay any tax due on her earnings in the UK and be eligible for the employer's pension scheme?