Obtaining a National Insurance Number.

Hey Folks,

I tried searching for this topic, but came up empty handed.

How does the process work for obtaining a NI number? Is it a hassle, or is the process quick and painless? I hope for the latter. I already have the link to the government's website regarding NIN's, but I would like to hear some personal stories.

Thanks in advance,

-Jarrett.

Hello and welcome to the site.

The government link is http://www.dwp.gov.uk/lifeevent/benefits/ni_number.asp for anyone else who is looking.

My employer set up a temp number for me and I didn't get around to getting a permanant number for almost 2 years. Meaning I overpaid taxes for 2 years and got a whopping £3500 refund.

Once I got around to getting the permanent number, it was jsut a matter of calling and making an appointment for the interview and to show them my documents- took all of 20 minutes.

Half of my office is *foreign* and I have not heard of anyone having a problem. THe only issue is a rather long wait for the interview.

Good luck.

Similar to my experience. Although I was given an 'what to do when you land' letter that was included with my UK Visa in my passport, I didn't get around to making an apointment with the DWP (Department Of Work & Pensions - they look after interviewing & issuing the card/number). in the meantime I had started work with a company using a temporary number (cant remember, think I had to call someone in the govt to get it but not sure as that was 3 years ago! *lol*) and basically my first 2 months (paid monthly) pay slips was taking me at the 'emergency' rate which is basically the highest type of income tax rate you can have in the UK. Once I got my number and my employer finally sorted it out with the tax office, (took about a month for my employer to get it done but it was a small company I was working for) the next pay cheque had a nice little bonus of the 'refund' from being over taxed the previous 3 months.

One of the benefits of working in the UK is that for most typical jobs (ie, not contracted, self employed or earning over £60,000+ yearly) all the employees taxes are figured out & deducted between employer & Her Royal Majestys Customs & Excises (or something to that effect, fancy name for saying Govt tax officials *lol*) I hated the yearly chore of doing my own taxes in Canada & was very happy to find out how it worked here