UK National Insurance while in the US

[Brad.French 0]

Hi, Sorry if this has already been discussed before.
I'm from London and still at Texas Service centre waiting on our NOA2 for a K1 Visa.
Our plan is for me to enter the US at this rate probably next year but I'm just thinking ahead. After living with my fiancée for a year in London she had to return home to care for her mother who is disabled. We decided the best option for us would be for me to emigrate to the US so that we could still be together.

We may stay in the US indefinitely but its a possibility in the future we may have to go through the process again and move back to UK.
If this were to happen I was just thinking about my national insurance contributions and wondered if anyone here has experience of still paying them while living in the US.
If we did move back to the UK it would be nice to be able to retire at 65 (im 28 so again a long way off) with a full state pension.

Did anyone pay their National insurance on the off chance they would move back?

I will be out of work for at least 3-6 months while waiting for AOS and it was suggested to me before I leave for the US If I sign on for unemployment stating I am looking for work abroad my national insurance will be paid by the UK government at least while I was out of work waiting for my status to be adjusted.

so really just wondering if anyone has had experiences with paying NI while living in the US or is it not worth the hassle with paying US taxes anyway?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Brad

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

There have been several discussions in the past where UK people were choosing to make Class 3 voluntary contributions. I can't find those threads now. It's around £13-14 per week I think. Working in the US you will be required to make Social Security contributions. Things to consider--

You can collect a UK state pension in the US, but you can't double dip and get full Social Security benefits as well. See WEP http://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/wep.html

If in the US, the UK tax free portion of pensions does not apply. You have to follow US tax laws on taxable portion of pensions if you remain in the US.

I can't help with personal experience of continuing NI contributions because my husband is not doing it.

Do stay in the US long enough to get your US citizenship. Then you can move back and forth at will without having to do the TSC/USCIS/Visa thing all over again.

[spahawk 10]

Hello Brad

I'm kind of looking into this myself at the moment. Since circumstances can vary greatly I would urge you to look at the following site

http://www.emigrationexpert.co.uk/NationalInsuranceContributionsUKWhenEmigrating.html

It should hopefully give you a clearer understanding of the process.

Cheers

Paul