OAS sent to US?

patcan · Post by **patcan** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 4:10 pm

I am a Canadian with GC status in the US married to a US citizen. I lived in Canada until I got married at age 27, moved to US for three years, back to Canada for 6 years and have been living in US since 1986. So I have a total of 15 years in Canada after the age of 18, short of the 20 needed to receive OAS sent to US. Can I use my 25 years of living and working in the US to somehow qualify for OAS? Here's another complicating factor- as a teacher I never contributed to SS but instead to the Maine state retirement plan. I will receive no SS and my husband who has worked for the state for the past 12 years will have his SS severely reduced by the WEP. Now that we are in our sixties, we are trying to figure out how much pension income we can expect to have in retirement.

nelsona · Post by **nelsona** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 5:57 pm

Yes. With 5 years of SS contributions (20 quarters), this will be used to qualify you for OAS sent overseas.

You will still only get 15/40ths of the normal amounts, but will get it forever.

Other nice thing, since you are living in uS, it is not taxablr in canada, it is only 85% taxable in US, and is not subject to clawback regrdless of other world income.

patcan · Post by **patcan** » Sun Sep 26, 2010 12:21 pm

As I stated in the original post, I do not have five years of contributions to SS. In our state, we contribute to the state pension plan instead of SS (we don't have a choice). I do have 25 years of contributions to the medicare system which is part of SS but not to the retirement or disability part of SS.

nelsona · Post by **nelsona** » Sun Sep 26, 2010 4:18 pm

Sorry for the confusion. I misread.

Unfortunately, from my reading of the treaty it only covers actuall SS contributions.

I'll look into this more....'

patcan · Post by **patcan** » Sun Nov 07, 2010 5:30 pm

I wrote a letter to service Canada re this issue and someone called me last week. They said I would not be eligible for OAS sent to US because I don't have enough SS quarters to combine with my 15 years residency in Canada. I'm still not sure that the person I spoke with had encountered my situation even though there are over 5 million US workers like myself who contribute to state pension plans and not SS. It doesn't seem fair because OAS is not based on work but yet that is the criteria they are using for my time in the US. I don't think I am ready to give up yet- wish I could find others in my situation.

nelsona · Post by **nelsona** » Sun Nov 07, 2010 6:41 pm

Thanks for the info. I feared that would be their response. Non-SS is just that, and unless specifically covered by treaty, doesn't count towrds totalizations.