Immigrant retirees

[Philip80]

I am wondering how self sufficient retirees (or persons of independent means) living on a private income are dealt with in other the UK. I am looking to establish whether a person in this category in the UK would be eligible for a medical card or for the non-contributory Old Age Pension?
This would be for an EU citizen (or if you know for a non-EU citizen as well to satisfy my curiosity).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Amber]

For a state pension it would depend if the EEA national had paid NI in another EEA Country or if non-EEA then if a reciprocal agreement was in place in the other Country.

For pension credit (non-contributory based) it is means tested, so would depend on the applicants circumstances, I.e. disability, income, capital etc...

[Philip80]

Many thanks for your help, very useful.

[Brigid from Ireland]

If it is possible for the EU citizen to travel to live in the UK about two or more years before UK state retirement age and work even on a part time or self employed basis and pay NI contributions for about two years then they should have no problem staying in the UK during retirement years, with full NHS rights and possibly also rights to some UK non contributory pension, if they pass the usual requirements such as a means test.

This is because working in the Uk for a short period of time immediately before retirement age confers migrant worker rights which are not lost upon retirement/illness. If you wish to do this it is best to allow for the gaining of at least one year of NI contributions to gain full rights, perhaps two years are even better. Two years work most likely grant full and certain rights, one year probably ok, less than one year of work may mean fewer rights.

Migrant worker rights are very strong, but you must WORK to gain these rights. The work of either spouse is sufficient.

With regard to non-EU, they are fine if they are married to EU citizen, same idea as above.

If both spouses are non-EU then right to reside in UK is a problem, so more difficult to arrange.

There is a movement beginning within the disabled community to support EU citizens with disabilites (including disabilities of old age) to move to the EU country where the best level of medical care, home support/carers and income support is available. UK is top choice for many, Ireland, France and Norway/Sweden also score highly. It can depend on the type of illness, as some countries give particular drugs for free, others give different drugs for free, so one can choose best country for care depending on nature of illness.

This is why I know about the benefits of working - disabled people can gain great access to health care and other supports if they can move to a richer EU country and work (or their spouse work) for just two years.

I'm guessing your nationality based on the use of 'medical card' and if I am correct then you may have full NHS rights if you move to live in UK even if you never work there, due to an agreement between both countries. Apply for an EU Health Insurance Card if you are going to the UK - this should cover you for full NHS care even if you do not work, so long as my guess as to where you currently work/live is correct.

If you are currently getting an Irish invalidity pension or disability benefit do NOT do even one day of work in UK - this has the potential to trigger a switch to the UK rate of weekly payment, which is far lower than the Irish rate of payment.