Migrants sent to Britain on behalf of a country with which the UK has a bilateral social security agreement may not be required to pay social security contributions (NICs) in accordance with the terms of the agreement. We`ll explain below. You can continue to pay social insurance if you stay abroad for up to 2 years. This means that you do not have to pay social security contributions abroad. If you can, you will not have to pay social security contributions in the country where you work. Before leaving Northern Ireland, it is important to review the social security agreement with the country in which you are settling. You should also ask social security authorities abroad if you are entitled to benefits in this country. If you work in another country because of coronavirus (COVID-19), you will continue to pay social security contributions or, as usual, UK national insurance – unless you are told something else. If you have any questions, please contact HMRC or the social security service in the country in which you work. Your entitlement to benefits abroad depends on where you live.

You may continue to receive or receive a benefit if you are going to a European Economic Area (EEA) country or if you have a social security agreement with the UK. All of these agreements are based on the concept of shared responsibility. Responsibility-sharing agreements are reciprocal. Under each agreement, partner countries make concessions to their social security qualification rules so that those covered by the agreement have access to payments that they may not be eligible for. The responsibility for social security is thus distributed among the countries in which a person has lived during his or her working years and where the person is able to obtain potential rights. In general, it is possible to access a pension from one country in the second country, although the paying country retains some discretion with regard to the exchange and delivery mechanisms used. If you are seconded to the UK from an EEA country or Switzerland, please read what happens if I am a seconded worker from the EU, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Switzerland?. The answers to the following questions assume that you are from a non-EEA/Switzerland country with which the UK has a bilateral social security agreement. Find out which non-EU countries the UK has agreements on national insurance and entitlement to benefits. For migrants subject to reciprocal agreement, contributions to social security authorities in the United Kingdom and the country of origin under the agreement are counted when determining the right to benefits payable by each country.