1. I am 37 years old female. Could you please be so kind and provide me with the information if I paid national insurance contributions in the UK for 6 years, will I qualify for minimum state pension from the UK if I currently work in the United States for non-British employer for 4 years?
Will the years from both countries be combined together to qualify for pension when I reach the qualifying age?
2. I have heard I need to work 10 years to qualify for SS benefits. If I worked only for 9 years what would happen with my FICA money? Thank you for your time.

Hi,

I can't fully answer your first question because my expertise is limited to U.S. Social Security benefits. The U.S. Social Security program does have a totalization agreement with the U.K., though, so if you had work credits in both countries you might have enough total credits to receive a totalization benefit from one or both countries.

If you have between 4 and 9 years of U.S. Social Security credits and 6 years of work credits under the U.K. program, you'll likely at least qualify for a totalization benefit from the U.S. However, you must be at least age 62 to be able to qualify for a U.S. totalization benefit. However, if you didn't have enough credits to meet the minimum requirements, you wouldn't be able to get a refund of the FICA taxes you've paid. Those taxes would simply remain in the Social Security trust fund, which is used to pay benefits to people who qualify.

I'm not familiar with the U.K program or how much work you need to be able to qualify for benefits from that country. However, Social Security does offer the following publication with information about the U.S. agreement with the U.K.: https://www.ssa.gov/international/Agreement_Texts/uk.html.

Best, Jerry