Q&A: Pensioners leaving Canada

Zoomer | September 29th, 2008

Question: How long can a person 65+ be out of the country before it affects their pension? Can the Canadian government cut off a pension? How long does one have to re-enter the country in order not to lose their Canadian old age pension? – D.C.

Gordon Pape answers: You don’t make it clear whether you are
referring to Canada Pension Plan or Old Age Security. In the case of the CPP,
once you have qualified for a retirement benefit you never lose it, no matter
where you live in the world. In fact, CPP will even arrange for direct deposit
of your monthly payments to a foreign bank. You’ll find the details for arranging
this at http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/en/isp/pub/factsheets/retire.shtml


As for Old Age Security, the government will also send payments to you outside
Canada if you lived in Canada for at least 20 years after reaching age 18 or
if you lived or worked in a country that has a social security agreement with
Canada and are considered to meet the 20-year residence requirement. Otherwise,
payments will only be sent abroad for six months. More details at http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/en/isp/pub/oas/oas.shtml#4

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