UK and USA pension

T

Tony59329

New Member
I am getting close to retirement and have lived and worked in both the UK ( 13 years worked ) and the USA ( 30 years ) Does anyone know if I can claim a pension from both countries?
I am going to try...Has anyone done it?
 
Last edited:
I am assuming you are British. Up until a couple of years ago you needed 44 years worth of contributions for a UK State pension. Two years ago this was reduced to 30 years to qualify for the full state pension (PS 107.50 per week from April 2012). Assuming you paid contributions towards your UK State pension while you worked in the UK you may be eleigible for say 13/30 of this sum. There were options to buy back up to another 12 years worth of contributions a little while ago. If this is still an option you could get up to 25/30 ths, nearly the full pension. Check out their website. As for the US of A - no idea!
 
I would say that if you paid into US Soc Security, then you have the right to receive it back. Pretty easy to find out online, and you should have been receiving annual reports from SS on your earnings. This info also should be obtainable online.

I'm no expert, but I'd sure be finding out if they owed me anything!

Good luck.
 
Nomads info on the UK pension is correct. You need only a minimum of 1 NI contribution in order to receive a pension, albeit a fraction of 30.


It is still possible to buy extra contributions, backdated between 10/12 years. But they are expensive, and will require several years to recoup in higher pension payments.
 
What do you mean by "pension" in the U.S.? Do you mean Social Security, do you mean a pension fund through your employer or your Union? If you payed into S.S. you are entilted to start collecting from that. Depending on how old you are you will be given a choice as to an amount and when that amount will be the highest. If you were in a Union or covered by a pension plan put in place at your work then you would have to have been vested, worked a cetain amount of years, to receive any benefits. In my own case, I was covered under a Union pension plan for a long time and also under an employer plan. Also I started collecting my Social Security when I turned 65. Go to www.socialsecurity.gov/estimator to see how much you will get.
 
My son has lived in the LOS for nearly 30 years - recently he enquired at the Dept of Pensions as what UK pension he was entitled to - he paid contibutions for about 15 years - and was informed that if he paid up his contibutions , he would be entitled to a full pension on reaching 65 . The amount was just over £4000 and that need not be paid until he was reaching retirement age .
 
billp said:
My son has lived in the LOS for nearly 30 years - recently he enquired at the Dept of Pensions as what UK pension he was entitled to - he paid contibutions for about 15 years - and was informed that if he paid up his contibutions , he would be entitled to a full pension on reaching 65 . The amount was just over £4000 and that need not be paid until he was reaching retirement age .
Click to expand...

Bill, it might be worth checking his retirement age cos its increasing gradually to 68 depending on the draw-down date.
 
A further point on this matter was my own case - When I lived in the UK , my state pension was made up of 75% UK and 25% Australian - on moving here I lost the Australian section

ShitHappens1
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top