Ten years minimum contribution

brexpat

molerat said:

Whilst you are working you can pay class 2 at around £200 per year. Or you can pay class 2 for some of those past years.  Obviously paying that £15 and probably £158 one at class 3 is a no brainer but you don't actually need to buy any back years, you have enough years going forward to pay as you go along until you hit that 10.  But why stop at the 10, you can get a full UK pension on top of your EU one for peanuts, far less than it would cost you if you were actually working here paying NI - the remaining 32 would cost you around £6400 which you would get back in the first 6 months of retirement.

Ok now I see what you mean.

I will pay back the two cheap years at class 3 and pay class 2 going forward beyond the 10 years then to get full pension and enjoy this silver lining.

Thank you SO so much for all of your help and bringing this to my attention, really appreciate it!