OAS / CPP for US Resident - Another Question

Hello David,

I've been a telephone client of yours in the past. Today, in a message to the list, you said:

>>If you you have not lived in Canada for 20 years after turning 18, you can NOT collect your OAS out of the country
You WILL get a small CPP pension based upon your 13 years in Canada no matter where you live.<<


I wonder if there is a way that my wife can become eligible for CPP and/or OAS when it is time to retire.
- She is now 43yrs old. She was a Canadian resident from 1982 - 2001.
- As a Canadian resident, she contributed to CPP for 19 years until we moved to the USA in 2001.
- From 2001 to the present she has been contributing to US Social Security.

We plan on staying in the US for the foreseeable future. However, we are not opposed to the idea of moving back to Canada, or becoming residents for tax purposes, if it would be beneficial to her.

I should also mention that we have Green Cards. She cannot become a US citizen because she already has dual citizenship in Canada and England and the US would require her to relinquish one of those passports in order to become a US citizen.

Thanks David

david ingram replies:

I have a dozen clients with US / Canadian and British Citizenships at the same time. There is nothing I know of that stops you from becoming US citizen unless they have changed the law. That has been true in Canada since 1977 and the US since 1980. One of my own associates for three years was a BRITISH, US and Canadian citizen but he did it in that order and that might be the secret.

Your wife and you will get your CPP benefits anywhere you live in the world based upon her contribution time in Canada.

In addition because of the US / Canada Totalization agreement, she and presumably you will be able to collect her OAS out of the country because she has paid into US social security. Please note that the 20 year rule is overruled for the US because of the treaty. In most countries, you and your wife "would" have to live in Canada for 20 years AFTER turning 18 to qualify to collect OAS out of the country. In the case of the US, you can use years in the US when you contribute to Social Security to make up the 20 years.

I sent a copy of that agreement to everyone two or three emails back.
<http://SSA.gov/International/Agreement_Pamphlets /Canada.html>

If you have something in writing that says she can not have the three citizenships, please send it to me. It is how I learn this stuff.

For the next five months it will be very unusual for me to answer any questions for anyone other than paying clients, I am just too busy. However, as you have seen, since I then strip out the identifying markings, and send the answer to everyone, anyone who asks a question will eventually get an answer just as someone else's answer has prompted you to follow up with this one.