lansbury

I know it is on the SSA web site but I'm blowed if I can find it there now. Did find the link below which covers it.

http://www.socialsecuritylawattorney...-Benefits.html

Edit:

Found it on the SSA web site

http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/...i=&p_topview=1


and in your particular circumstances

http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/...i=&p_topview=1

Englishmum

Point 1:

I was under the impression that Incapacity Benefit is not a pension, but it's a benefit/allowance paid to someone whom has some kind of disability and is considered incapable of working.

[Nothing to do with the O/P as I don't know his circumstances, but the payment of Incapacity Benefits has been highlighted recently in the UK media in a controversy over whether or not some individuals are playing the system, eg. 'having a bad back' and can't work. Claims and payments for Incapacity benefits are apparently much higher in certain 'pockets' of the UK, in particular in some former mining and industrial towns where there is high unemployment. Incapacity benefits are higher than Income Support and one doesn't have to prove that one is actively seeking employment and can be paid indefinitely.]

TBH - I can understand that a State Retirement Pension where one has made Nat. Insurance contributions over the years can be paid overseas.....but surely Incapacity Benefit is not exportable as it's not a contribution-based benefit as far as I'm aware and indeed is called a benefit and not a pension?

Point 4:

I know of no expat insurance company which gives substantial cover to expats other than PPP and BUPA International. I'm no longer on Aetna as my spouse has transferred to the Far East and my son whilst in college and myself are covered under BUPA....it's complicated trying to make a claim in the US and we do have to pay for the first 10% of all medical bills. I have no idea of the monthly premiums but I think the company pays for them.

On the other hand, my friend who is self-employed with two children pays $1000 per month for her medical insurance with Blue Cross/Blue Shield and there are restrictions on which doctors she is allowed to see.

I should think that for anyone with an existing long-term health problem then I would think twice about moving to the US....are you able to get coverage under your 'lady friend's' health insurance? Perhaps she would consider moving to the UK instead?

Englishmum

I know that the rules changed last year in the UK in regards to the State Retirement Pension and that one only needs to pay in to the Nat Insurance for 30 years to get a full pension.

I also thought that there is a reciprocal agreement between the UK and US for contributions, so you may have enough NI stamps.....have you had a Pension Forecast from the UK? I've just topped up my voluntary NI contributions to keep them up to date.

exvj

Nice one - well saved ! Similarly my USC wife was eligible for free NHS the same day as she arrived in the UK with her residency visa to take up residence with me.

It's strange how urban myths spread like computer viruses so it's a good job we have you to spray em !

exvj

Health care is very important and short term policies are a nightmare.

I have top cover via my wife's job but if you are doing it on your own you must be exceedingly careful about all the 'get out's for the insurance company - especially 'pre-existing' conditions. The stories are just awful and you need quite an expensive policy to stand a chance. They have specialist departments to wriggle out of claims on any pretext

In the gap years between her early retirement and medicare, we are thinking of living in the UK - and mainly for the free NHS care although it would be nice to see a hedgehog again

UK government 'service' pensions are taxed differently to State Pensions and private pensions. The good news is that UK State Pensions paid to a US resident are raised each year (by the UK)- and that is far from the case for Brits living in many other countries

exvj

Also ask your advisor about US treatment of passive foreign mutual funds and he might say dump any ISA's / PEPS as the US will tax em right back to when you bought them at a rate not to exceed 100% of the earnings !!!!!!
I found out 2 weeks before I emigrated - I had unrealised gains of £120k and they could have taxed them at 100%

I was warned on a site like this by someone who had just fallen foul of that one

Dont take my advice or do anything without asking a professional - but ask the question

paddingtongreen

Look here

exvj

This is a new one on me - I have never worked in the US but my USC wife has worked here for many decades

Is this saying that I will be entitled to some sort of social security (state pension) even though I have zero entitlement on my own record ? I will have been in the US five years when I am 65, but I thought that just entitled me to buy into medicare (expensive part A) or get reduced medicare payments if my wife was at least 62 at that time...

If I will be entitled to some gimmer pension I will go buy some more rum

Elvira

Thanks!

lansbury

Yes read this link http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/...i=&p_topview=1

purplecub

If you're not in the UK then how would you know what goes on day to day in the NHS?

You are incorrect about this being an urban myth. I am pointing out to the OP that a Brit returning to the UK and seeking treatment on the NHS without any proof that they have re-established residency here (as required by this link http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/E...able/DH_074376 ) is likely to get asked for such proof. Great if you have a residency visa etc but that's not what we're talking about here.

If you read what I posted above I was saying that because of so many Brits now living abroad and seeking NHS treatement when they return for visits etc the NHS tend to be very wary nowadays if they suspect someone has simply returned for treatment.

This is where the 3 month period comes in. In the absence of any firm evidence that someones has re-established roots in the UK, such as residency visa etc, a period of 3 months or more is nowadays the time frame that most NHS trusts would see as indicative that someone has returned for good. So they can produce poll tax bills etc as evidence.

Sorry to get defensive about this but I am trying to help the OP and I don't like the phrases 'hearsay' and 'urban myths' associated with what I'm telling him. Many issues affecting expats are constantly changing - e.g. the time it takes for visa processing, financial requirements that Consulates like to see, etc. The issue of Brits returning to the UK and getting treatment is another very fluid issue and one that involves evolving working practices. So drop all this 'hearsay' and 'urban myth' stuff, please.

I'll repeat the point - if someone returns to the UK who has been living (resident) abroad and seeks treatment on the NHS without any other firm evidence of residency in the UK then the NHS nowadays are increasingly asking for evidence of residency. 3 months is a period many are comfortable with as it sugests the person is not simply visiting the UK to seek treatment and also gives the person time to reetablish roots, with utillities, local concils etc.

That is the reality of what goes on right now, every day in the UK in the NHS in such situations.

exvj

Well as far as establishing residency is concerned, I think a British passport trumps a spousal residency visa as the first document - someone with a residency visa can be as fleeting a bird of passage (not a real permanent resident) as anyone else, and then the additional evidence is easy enough in a genuine case. For instance, I would have a written agreement with a US realtor to sell my house in the US, and a 6 month lease on an apartment in the UK, and the log book for my new car purchased in the UK, and the account opening details for my UK stockbroker, and the utility agreements for the flat, and correspondence with the IRS and HMRC saying that my new address is the UK etc etc etc - all that in week 1

I think 3 months is some arbitrary figure which wouldn't stand up in court or anywhere else

I reckon the Doc will see me about my sore throat if I plonk that lot on the reception desk along with my passport and driver's licence

There is this clanishness sometimes that people who leave the UK are not 'one of us' anymore and 'you made your choice', but the reality is that I paid more tax and NI than the average Brit will pay in their entire working lives, and so long as my moves are genuine, there is no pretext under which the UK could (or would want to) cut me adrift, and I am entitled under the circumstances above to immediate free NHS treatment for me and my American wife who will have her residency visa (an unconditional one as we will have been out of the UK for 4 years)

Orangepants

I returned to the UK in 2007 after 15 years overseas and attempted to register with my family's GP. I have a UK passport and NI number. They wouldn't let me register until I could prove that I was coming back to live permanently. As I believed my stay in the UK was to be temporary, (up to 1 year) I wasn't going to register for council tax etc, was staying in the family home and was therefore had no proof of taking up residence, I had to wait 3 months and go back with payslips to prove I was still around.
(Unfortunately I'm still there 2 years later!)

exvj

heck it's nice they let you register after 3 months if you said you were temporary for a year

With all thing government - if you put your head on the block they will chop it off - so it's best to play em at their own game like we do with immigration.

example - when I went for my medical in london - I didnt have 8 pints of beer the night before - I did have some after !

I know a guy who has lived in the Canary Islands for 15 years and sees the doc every time he returns - he is registered at his mother's house

meauxna

So it's law n' order all the time, unless it's more convenient to be otherwise?