Polish citizen worked in the UK for 1 year - eligible for an UK pension?

We meet many migrants from all over the world, a recent question put to us was this-
Can a Polish citizen having worked in the UK for 1year apply for an UK pension ?

Can't he claim his Polish Pension in the UK ?

After all, British expats can claim various benefits while living in Poland.

It depends on your National Insurance credits.


I assume you won't be entitled to much after 1 year.
Most of us pay NI for 40 to 50 years.

if that was the case i would gladly pay for a one way ticket for the poles to go back. cheeky bastards, have they not got enough?

and who do you think you are to be saying these things? if we work here even for one year, we should be getting something in return, don`t you think? you`d be expecting the same if you were in our situation. i`d like people like yourself to stop thinking that we are here only to contribute to your contry without asking for what we should get in return. we are not as dumb as you might think.

Not really.

What do you want in return that is the question. I live in Poland and get absolutely nothing with out paying through the nose for it. Poles come to England and in most cases are earning 3 - 6 times what they could in Poland and your saying you would like to reclaim 1 years worth of NI - lmao.

lol, come on the British people don't even get a decent pension, you expect the UK to pay a non British national a pension when we don't get a decent one ourselves!!

ON a serious note, i would expect that you could claim your pension from the Polish government even though you are in the UK as you've not been away from your country for a sustained period of time

ok then, at least they can claim their tax back after a year.

personally, i` ve never worked in poland and don`t think i ever will so probably i wouldn`t be entitled to both pensions.

nobody should be getting two pensions, i think its simple, you claim your pension from your country of birth, whats wrong with that??

what if you never worked in your country of birth? i don`t want to claim two pensions but which one am i intitled to if i only ever worked in the uk?

well if that were the case then you surely would have moved to the uk when you were younger therefore have been resident for more than five years which would entitle you to British citizenship, therfore you would be eligable for a UK pension

i`ve been here for 4 years, since i was 20. so next year i could apply for british citizenship, is that correct?

i assume so yes, i may not be correct exactly on the number of years but i'm sure its five. Maybe somebody will correct me but i'm sure you can find out for sure on the net

you had you baby here didn't you so I am assuming you got hospital treatment, you say you had to have time off sick so I am assuming you got sick pay, you get child benefit....Ive paid into the system for 20 years so by my reckoning you have had more than I have!


Im sure that most Polish people do claim a certain amount back.

that`s becuz if they work here, they have to pay taxes here but also in poland. so pay twice as much tax. it`s going to get abolished soon, the polish government says. so probably won`t be able to claim tax back in the uk.


i got my hospital treatment and i got maternity allowance, have been getting child benefit and child tax credit. mind you my partner is british, so is my baby.

as of my time off sick, i didn`t want it but was physically unable to work. i suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum, only 1% of pregnant women suffer from it and i would not wish that to my worst enemy as it is unexplainable how terribly sick i felt throughout my pregnancy. since you are a woman, it might happen to you or maybe you already have children but luckily never went throught that but it`s worth reading about on the internet and the awareness of it has to be raised.


i`ll do some research on the net mate, thanx :)

Im sorry you had such a bad time, but you have already stated on a thread that you diagnosed yourself..I have a condition which is very similar to a couple of other conditions but the treatment is quite different...things are not always as they seem...I would speak to a specialist next time you are pregnant to have this confirmed by a professional. It's like finding a lump in your breast and automatically assuming you have cancer when in fact it's just a cyst...the net is good for general information and not there to diagnose health problems.

the pathetic amount of tax you pay in one your does not cover the public services you consume, the nhs resources you consume, the child benefit you leach, your childs education (which costs £5000 p.a), the housing benefit you take, etc.

NO YOU ARE NOT ENTITLED TO RECIEVE ANY OF THESE AFTER PAYING ONLY 1 YEAR OF TAX FROM YOUR CLEANING LOWLY JOB

Exactly! There are plenty of British people who cannot claim a pension because they dont have enough credits, usually because they have had some period out of work or only worked part time. If you settle here, work full-time legally, pay tax and NI all your working life and stay til you retire then you would qualify, but if you come over for a few years and go back, then why should you?.. you would get your pension in Poland.

Foxy there are misconceptions though, I had a friend, she was here for a year and she was convinced she was going to get a pension..people automatically believe that because they paid in they are entiled to a full pension...I wonder if they would be so excited if they realised that will equate to the price of a loaf of bread!

lol, didn`t get laid last night, did you?


one of the GPs i was seeing when i was pregnant wrote on the sick note that the reason for me not being able to return to work is `hyperemesis gravidarum` but back then i didn`t know what it was and none of my doctors was able to tell me, help and understand me. the only help i got was from my mother who had to come over to cook for me cuz i wasn`t even able to do that. i was throwing up average 5 times a day and was on the way to dehydration and if that happened i`d have had to be treated in hospital so more of your bloody tax money would go towards me! i know what i went through and just becuz the doctors didn`t tell me that doesn`t mean i didn`t go through it but means they need to educate themselves a bit more so that next time they see a pregnant woman who suffers from it, gets proper treatment and advice.

No. you need to have a number of 'qualifying years' of NI payments before you can claim a full state pension. If you have more than 5 (I think but please correct me) years where you have paid insufficient NI contributions, you don't qualify. If you sit on your arse on the dole though, the government / taxpayer pays your contributions for you for that time.

To recap - If you work for most of your working life but leave the country and miss a handful of years, you lose the pension. If you sit around for 45 years doing nothing but signing on, you get a pension.

I can appreciate where you are coming from I was misdiagnosed and on the wrong medication for 3 years...but it the oposite way round my GP got it wrong, the doctors got it right, somethings are not that clear cut to diagnose, but I would never go off what the net does...anyway I hope your next pregnancy goes a little bit smoother health wise :)

sorry to hear that. if i`m ever pregnant it is almost 100% that i`ll go through the sam if not worse :) hyperemesis has a tendency of repeating itself.