trottytrue

I think if you miss your family now wait till you are older or more important your family in the UK are older and you cannot be with them, or wait till you are missing all those things they do together and you are not included. Not knowing you its hard to say how you would feel. I know my children missed having relatives to visit at special times of the year. Everyone else had family to be with we didnt and if you think it gets easier as your children get older it doesnt. Your daughter will not want to move back to the UK when she gets older. She is still young so you do have a few years. But remember you cannot come and go when she gets older she will have friends and school will be very different in either country. You need to make your mind up and stick to it for her sake.

I think given your profession you would be better off in the UK things are not looking go in the US for Doctors. I would really think about it carefully. But when you said you dont miss anything about the UK then I wonder why you would want to go back. Surely their are excellent Schools in the area you live.

But if sun, running and friends are important to you then you should stay in the US its as easy as that, all I can say on that subject is friends come and go and you can run anywhere. If going home means family making new friends getting a job you want and seeing your parents grow old beside you and enjoy your childs company then go home. Its all a matter of whats important to you.

If someone had asked me to go home after I had been in the US 5 years I would have jumped at the chance thats how simple it would have been for me. But I did not have that luxury.

J.JsOH

+1, yes, it always bears repeating to help those considering long stay overseas.

nun

I third the Class 2 NI suggestion.

To the OP you have fallen for the siren song of the US. Once you decide to stay and your child starts school it will become increasingly difficult to return to the UK. Might as well face it, you're an American now.

ldollard

What are the benefits of paying this?

Is this even for correct.

"You pay Class 2 National Insurance contributions at a flat rate of £2.70 a week." That's a scant $135 a year.

nun

You get a year of NI contributions that count towards your state pension, widow's benefit etc. And yes, it is amazingly good value for money.

dunroving

More like $220 a year, but still money for old rope.

Richard8655

In noticing your residence as just outside Chicago, we're also just outside the city (western suburbia). I'd add that if it wasn't for the cosmopolitan, multi-ethnic nature of Chicago, my wife and I would have moved back to the UK or Europe long ago.

We lived in the south (Richmond, Virginia) for a while, and found that region of the country intolerable. So, in adjusting to life here (should you decide to stay a bit longer), I think you couldn't have chosen a better U.S. metropolis.

Cape Blue

Possibly - but between some form of WEP on the corresponding US SS pension and the likelihood that the UK state pension will be means-tested in 40 years time (OP said she was circa 30) and anyone who has saved a private pension will likely lose their state pension, I am not sure paying NI now will actually give people any return.

windsong

So if I paid in the last six years ($1320) I could receive 1/5 (30 years for me) of a pension in the UK?

Can I pay it once I arrive in the UK or do I have to do it while living in the USA?

When living in the UK, I still have five years before I am 65, so do I have to work those five years to pay in the remaining five years or can I pay a lump sum there, too? If I pay in the five years, it would give me a total of 11 years paid in - so just over 1/3 of a pension?

Hotscot

Don't know if she mentioned England....the UK is composed of more than England of course

J.JsOH

Hi,
this website gives clear info about National Insurance https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance/overview

When you are back in UK, working and under retirement age you will be expected to pay NI contributions.

dunroving

Depending on your age, you may need more than 30 years for a "full" pension (changes have not been implemented in law, yet, AFAIK).

You can do it while in the US or in the UK - but you can only pay up the previous 6 years, so if you wait a year, the year that was six years ago now, will be beyond this range (hope that makes sense). So, even if you just pay that one year now, at least it will be "secured".

You only have to pay NI if you work (in most jobs this will come automatically out of your pay packet). If you are unemployed, you can get NI "credit", provided you sign on (even if you don't get unemployment benefits, claiming and signing on will make you eligible to get NI credit - simply "not working" won't get you NI credit).

windsong

Thanks so much for the link!

windsong

Yes, I understand.

Good to know about the NI credits, too. I know I will work for at least a year to give me time to establish my own business. Whether I continue to work outside the home as well as in my own business after that, I don't know yet. Working for myself will give me lots of flexibility. I am assuming that if I work for myself, I can elect to pay in to the NI.

dunroving

Yes, in fact if you are self-employed I think you are required to pay NI - Class III, maybe?