Voluntary NICs starting at 58 years old

homeboy

Hope someone can help. I am and have been an expat for most of my working life. I'm only now trying to figure out my finances (I know) for retirement and looking at options. 
I know you have to have at least 10 years of contributions to qualify for the state pension (I have one year), meaning I've missed the boat. Is there any way to backpay to make up the total to ten years? I know there's the option to top-up going back six years but that's only for residents. I became a resident in Sept 2020. If I make NICs until retirement but still don't qualify without 10 years, is there any point?
TIA

molerat

Have you actually checked your forecast / NI record ?  What happened to the 3 free years for 16/17/18 ?

You can currently, until the end of July, pay years back to 2006-07 irrespective of any residency.  Residency is not a factor in paying NI, it is purely the class of NI payable that factors into that.

What is your UK work and residency history ?

Suhusa

Which country were you working in? You may be able to combine your overseas years with your existing UK years to get a payment equivalent to your existing UK years. You should also read leaflet NI38 to see if you can pay cheaper Class 2 contributions for past years.

pinnks

Why do you believe that you cannot pay voluntary NI for years 2006/07 onwards, either under Class 2 or Class 3.  Have a read of Social Security abroad: NI38 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) which sets out the criteria for each. To be honest, that would be better than relying on any aggregation rules if you worked in the EU, as they will only get you past the minimum 10 years. You pension would still be base on the number of UK years you then have.

homeboy

Suhusa said:

Which country were you working in? You may be able to combine your overseas years with your existing UK years to get a payment equivalent to your existing UK years. You should also read leaflet NI38 to see if you can pay cheaper Class 2 contributions for past years.

I've worked in countries with no reciprocal agreements (Asia and Middle East).

homeboy

molerat said:

Have you actually checked your forecast / NI record ?  What happened to the 3 free years for 16/17/18 ?

You can currently, until the end of July, pay years back to 2006-07 irrespective of any residency.  Residency is not a factor in paying NI, it is purely the class of NI payable that factors into that.

What is your UK work and residency history ?

I wasn't aware of these 3 free years you mention. I'll look into it. I thought the paying back years were just for incomplete years.
I'm an Irish national with no work/study history in the UK.

Suhusa

In that case you'll probably only plbe able to pay years going forwards. I moved to the UK in 2017 as a foreign national and I can't pay any contributions for before 2017.

pinnks

Also, as an Irish national, you would come within aggregation, both for any UK pension calculation and for your Irish one.