Rights as a British expat

[wrighty]

A Finnish friend of mine tells me they are entitled to benefits of home, like healthcare and state pensions, even though they're living in Singapore and paying only Singapore tax. Can anyone tell me what the deal is for British expats in this respect?
Much appreciated.

[durain]

dude, you get jack for being british!

if you are in the EU such as poland, you get about £150/year child benefit from the polish goverment. BUT for a polish in UK, they can get nearly £1000/year child benefit from the british goverment!!! and the worst thing is, the child is not even in the UK!

[sundaymorningstaple]

For that matter, you get jack for being anything other than Singaporean. Somebody has apparently taken up my hobby, fishing. And you swallowed it hook line & sinker!

[ksl]

BUT for a polish in UK, they can get nearly £1000/year child benefit from the british goverment!!! and the worst thing is, the child is not even in the UK!

That's only for the first child, if you have a football team, you get as much has David Beckham

[sierra2469alpha]

Yeh - you only get representation via your Consulate/Embassy, and then only if you hold a valid passport. Check with your home government.

Looks like someone swallowed the bait, unless I'm mistaken!

For example, AUS (Australian) will help out AUS passport holders in matters of "dire emergency". If you lose your credit cards, for example, they will NOT help you. Same goes for EU passport holders, even if you are lucky and have dual-citizenship.

HTH!

[jpatokal]

A Finnish friend of mine tells me they are entitled to benefits of home, like healthcare and state pensions, even though they're living in Singapore and paying only Singapore tax.

Your Finnish friend is mostly wrong. Once you move overseas for the long term, either by your own declaration or just by staying outside Finland for over a limit (2-3 years?), you will be kicked out from the social security system and lose all access to health care etc. It's possible to get it back if you move back to Finland, but it's a time-consuming hassle.

As far as pensions, obviously Finnish citizens will get pension money for any previous employment in Finland, but no new money will accumulate while they're overseas and not paying Finnish taxes or making pension contributions.