I wasn't sure if this should go in Expat Life, or Hitching Post, or here, so apologies if I'm posting in the wrong place!
Back in 2005 I was given an NI number--at the time I was a graduate student in Leeds who had won a small bursary towards my MA programme, but I had to work 10 hours a week with a few faculty members to receive it (kind of a workstudy thing). I was the first student to ever be awarded this bursary so they were kind of confused as to whether I needed an NI number or not--I didn't. In August 2006 I returned to the US.
Fast forward to July 2009, I'm now living in the UK on a spousal visa. For a few weeks in July, I worked at my husband's place of employment to cover for someone (just made minimum wage). I was then unemployed again for a few weeks, then in mid August was hired on temp contract (actually in my field, for decent money) until December, though it's looking like it will be extended until at least next summer.
ANYWAY, now you know my situation. Here are my questions!
1. I need to change my name for my NI number--it's in my maiden name and my bank account, passport, UK visa, pretty much everything else are in my married (I legally changed it before leaving the US). I've been trying to follow the instructions here:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/individuals/change-of-circs.htm Is there anything ELSE I need to do besides that since I'm not a UK national? I should also note that I am paid though the temp agency I am registered with rather than the university I work for.
2. During my brief stint in working at my husband's place of employment, they put me in an emergency tax band. I know that means I'm probably being overtaxed, so how do I inform the gov't about changing it? Does that automatically happen (I'm guessing no.). How and when do I go about getting a tax refund?
3. When I started my current employment, the woman at my husband's workplace who does accounting/finances was on annual leave for three weeks, so I couldn't get a P46 until she returned. The agency said to just submit a P45 to them and then get the P46 to them as quickly as possible. I now have the P46 in hand, so I assume that just "undoes" the P45 I submitted to the agency earlier?
4. Totally unrelated, but we just bought a car cash in hand (it's in my name) and I'm the named policyholder for the insurance. Does this mean I am finally starting to build some credit over here? Also, when we added my name to my husband's bank account, they put me in as "Homemaker" rather than "Unemployed" because apparently that hurts your credit rating less. Now that I'm in a jdecent job that actually requires the degree I have, should I notify Lloyds?
