wyerd

I’m a 57 year old Green Card holder living in NY State and have worked here for the past 6 years at the local hospital. I am aiming to become a citizen later this year so I’m thinking what to do with the pensions that I have back in the UK. Is it possible to transfer them into the hospitals 403(b), or is it better to leave them in the UK and transfer the pension income once I decide to retire? I still have a UK bank account.

Thank you for any advice.

Owen778

I forget the exact details, but you should leave them in the UK. I don't think it's even possible to transfer UK pensions in to a 403b or similar vehicle. Hopefully someone who remembers more about the details of why can give you more info, but I figure a reply now is useful for you.

SanDiegogirl

This question has been asked many times, and no-one has come up with a solution.......
QROPS were mentioned several times, but again no solutions or companies who could do these.....

Glasgow Girl

There is no way to transfer a UK pension to the USA in any form at all unless you do QROPs and that would be one of the worst financial decisions you will ever make. So bad it’s not worth the time to explain why.

Leave it where it is and take the income and/or lump sum as you choose and transfer the money as required. You will pay tax on any income on the date received regardless of when you transfer it over to the US.

durham_lad

+1 on this.

I would also maintain your UK bank account, which will make things easier when you do start withdrawing from your pension funds. We kept our UK bank account for the 30 years we lived in the USA. Useful for many things and we were still living in the USA when I started receiving a UK pension from an ex-employer and it was very easy to give our UK bank details to the pension provider. I used to move the money periodically to the USA when I wanted do. Now that we are back in the UK it is our US pensions and US pension savings (IRAs) that go into our US bank account that we then move over when wanted.

Pulaski

Agreed
Also with this - a very comprehensive answer. IMO QROPs are only marginally preferred to flushing your pension funds down the toilet.

The only thing I would add is to say that I think transferring a pension would be a bad idea even if it was possible (unless it was a very small amount) - diversification has value.

wyerd

Thank you all for your responses and advice. It’s greatly appreciated. I’ll leave my pensions where they are and transfer from my UK bank account once I start drawing from them.

Thanks again,
David.