CPP for non-resident Canadians

[Goldielocks]

I received a question that I am about to look up, but thought you may have the answer for me....  (please!)

A friend is an expat, now retired, 71 years old, living outside of Canada (non-resident).  He has paid approximately 8 years of CPP (at max YMPE) when he lived / worked in Canada.

I believe he can receive his partial CPP, based on earned credits, while remaining non-resident (but not OAS).  Can anyone confirm?

[RichMoose]

You can actually get CPP and OAS while a non-resident. Normally it's a minimum of 10 years of contributions for CPP and 20 years for OAS to be eligible.
However this changes based on where the individual resides. If Canada has a tax & social security agreement with that country, they can collect a reduced benefit with less contribution years.

[Goldielocks]

I am excited for my friend.   Looking into it, not only can he (and her) get some CPP non-resident, but it is a 15% tax treaty asian country, AND they lived in NZ for many years, and might even qualify for the 20 year OAS when combined with their NZ contributing years.

They had always done the "expat math" on taxes with Canada, but now, as seniors (over 70), I told them that it is more like "reverse taxes" to be Canadian. He was born in and worked in Canada for about 12 years, so paid into the taxes, and would get a proportional payout to what was contributed.

This (reverse taxes) never occurred to them, so they were committed to creating their own retirement fund and worked extra years, and the extra $$'s will be very sweet.

EXTRA BONUS -- because they never looked into this, they deferred claiming the amounts until age 70+ and will be the maximum top-up on anything they receive.