Pension time

@Emipanteva

It's possible, but I don't know the rules for Bulgarian pensions. I'd have expected you to know far better than me! I suppose it depends how long you worked in Bulgaria before moving to UK... and how many years of contributions are required to get anything (I think it's a lot).

If you mean can you get a UK pension if you return to Bulgaria, the answer is fairly straightforward. If you've made your contributions and you're entitled to a pension, the UK will pay it to you wherever you choose to retire to.

In any case, I'd expect your UK pension be more valuable. You can look at your NI contributions record online, and see what your pension forecast is based on that. I recommend you do this ASAP, so you can see what you're entitled to. The good news is that the UK only requires 10 years to qualify for a partial pension and you're way over this. I think it's 35 years for a full pension, and pro rata based on your years. So 22/35 is about 60%.

The UK allows voluntary contributions (NICs), so perhaps you can contribute extra for some past years. You should keep contributing until you return to Bulgaria, and even after you could put in another couple of years until your official UK retirement age (67?). So that might be another 6 or 7 years, bringing you to 28/35 or about 80%.

https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-national-i … tributions

In the above, I'm assuming that when you say you've been "in the UK", you meant that you were a legal UK resident, and you were working and making the appropriate income tax and NI payments.

https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension

@gwynj

Thanks for your reply.

I am a British citizen who have been paying NI at all times. My question is if I am entitled to receive my pension at 64 ( because Bulgarian women retired at 64 years) instead of 67???

Also, I didn't know that I can pay additionally  for my pension contributions, thank you for this information. Do you know someone who is willing to help me with this? And, why did you say that I need to find how much I did pay NI asap?? I never ever thought about it.

Thank you very much for your help in advance.

Emi

PS. I worked 14 years in Bulgaria.

Thanks

@Emipanteva In Bulgaria, the bare minimum you need to get a pension, and that at 67, is 15 years. For retiring at 64 you need a lot more years. So whatever UK state pension you have earned is likely to be it, and at the then state pension age (probably, 67). Try to beef your UK state pension up, but "filling in the gaps" (if any) via voluntary contributions.

@Emipanteva

As @Sogy says there is a reduced pension in Bulgaria at 67, with at least 15 years of contributions. The info is below. I doubt it's very big, but every little helps. :-) As you've done 14 years, I think it's worth you finding out if you can make further Bulgarian contributions (either voluntarily, or by working a year when you move back here).

https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1103&langId=en&intPageId=4437

On the UK side, it seems you have a potentially quite useful pension of around £180 per week (if you top up another 6 years or so, as you should be able to do). You'll get this at the standard UK retirement age (now the same for men and women, and I think it will be 67).

You can review your NI record (including checking gaps) online. And you can get a pension forecast. The easiest way is to create your Government Gateway login credentials. It's better to check in now so that (a) you know what you're entitled to, and (b) you have time to top it up.

https://www.gov.uk/log-in-register-hmrc-online-services

Check your NI

https://www.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record

Get a pension forecast

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

@sogy

Thank you very much for your reply.

In Bulgaria you can buy up to 5 years for your pension. And I will do this very soon. But what I am trying to understand is, can I retire in Bulgaria in 2027 and start receiving my pension?!? By 2027 I will have 15 years in Bulgaria, and 25 in the UK.

Kind regards,

Emipanteva

@Emipanteva If you buy an extra 5 years, your total will be 19, so a pension at 67. The UK pension can't be taken before the full state pension age, again 67 for you.

Check if you can combine both country pensions, I think you can.

@sogy

Thank you very much!

Really appreciate your help.

Emipanteva

@SimCityAT

Yes, this is what I want to know.

I am going to find out how it works. I am pretty sure that I can combine the years, fingers crossed.

Thanks

Emipanteva

    @SimCityAT
Yes, this is what I want to know.

I am going to find out how it works. I am pretty sure that I can combine the years, fingers crossed.

Thanks

Emipanteva
   

    -@Emipanteva

I will check in the afternoon.

@Emipanteva

I don't think it's really a combination. The EU has freedom of movement of people, goods and money... and this includes "portability" of pension and healthcare contributions. And it's important because many countries do have minimum periods to qualify for a pension, and someone would be reluctant to go work in France for a couple of years if they were wasting their big healthcare and pension payments (because they wouldn't reach the French minimum).

You're in a completely different situation. You're not a mobile worker, you're a nearly-retired worker...  and you have (or soon will have, once you pay an extra year in Bulgaria) a pension entitlement in two countries (each starting at 67) by virtue of reaching the respective minimums.

That's great!

It won't get better if you persuade Bulgaria to credit your 20-plus years in UK to your Bulgarian pension. Bulgarian pensions are low, so not even worth asking. :-)

On the other hand, if you could convince the UK to give you another 14 years credit for your years in Bulgaria BEFORE arriving in UK... that would obviously be great. But why would they say yes to that? This might have been an option when you first arrived (but I doubt it as back then UK was in the EU, but Bulgaria wasn't), but I very much doubt they would do it now. Doesn't hurt to ask, though. :-)

Today, you don't actually have a Bulgaria pension entitlement, as you have too few years. If you have the money, it's definitely worth topping up 1 year as it turns a zero pension into something. It might be worth topping up more than that (to whatever maximum is possible for you), but you'd need a bit more research.

You have a UK pension entitlement already based on 22 years. If you have the money, it's typically (it varies, it depends on your exact situation) a very good investment to top up (or continue contributions) for as many years as possible (up to the full maximum of 35, or your personal maximum, which is likely a bit less).

I don't think you can merge any state pensions, as has been said above, you can get a UK state pension either paid into an overseas or UK bank when you reach UK state retirement age.  You can have your state pensions paid to you when you live overseas; I had my pension paid to my Dutch bank account when I lived in the Netherlands.

You can merge private pension pots provided they are a 'qualifying recognised overseas pension scheme (QROPS)'.  Details are on the UK Gov website (link).  There are 3 Bulgarian QROPS recognised schemes, details are on the UK Gov website (link), it's a PDF download you can either search for the keyword or just scroll down the link to page 46, I don't think any of the 3 are the Bulgarian state pension scheme, but it's always worth asking them, or checking that others have been added in the meantime.

There are some exceptions to the qualification element of the UK pension scheme, for example my wife was credited with 15 years worth of NI credits because of my service overseas with HM Forces.  Because these things are not generally known about, I would recommend you speak to a pension advisor to make sure that you are aware of all the entitlements that may be available to you.

All uk  dealings are on  gov.uk. Were  you  open a   GATEWAY account,  then  you   can   see ALL your   projections@Emipanteva         

@Cynic

I will definitely speak with a pension advisor!

Thanks