How to be eligible for oas?

• be 65 years old or older.
• be a Canadian citizen or a legal resident at the time we approve your OAS pension application.
• have resided in Canada for at least 10 years since the age of 18.

You will receive your first Old Age Security (OAS) payment either:

The Benefits payment calendar has details of the exact date Old Age Security payments are made.

You can qualify to receive Old Age Security pension payments while living outside of Canada if one if these reasons applies to you:

If you do not qualify to receive your Old Age Security pension while outside of Canada, your payments will stop if you are out of the country for more than 6 months after the month you left.

You cannot collect the Guaranteed Income Supplement if you are outside Canada for more than 6 months.

Your Old Age Security pension payments are taxable income. Taxes aren’t automatically deducted each month. You can ask that federal income tax be deducted from your monthly payment by:

If you do not ask for monthly tax deductions, you may have to pay your income tax each quarter. For more information, contact the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) Tax Services Office.

Early each year, you will receive a T4 or NR4 tax slip showing the amount you received during the previous year. You must include this slip when you file your annual income tax return by mail or in person.

T4 tax information slips are for residents of Canada, while NR4 tax information slips are for those living outside Canada.

You can view and print official copies of your tax information slips online with My Service Canada Account.

You can access your T4 tax information online with the Canada Revenue Agency through the following services:

If you have not signed up to view them online, we will send your tax slip by mail in February of each year.

You must contact us if:

If you have an address outside of Canada, you will only be able to view your information online. It is not yet possible to change the information for foreign addresses and direct deposit online. Contact us to update your account information.

If you have been receiving Old Age Security for less than 6 months, you can ask us to cancel or delay your first payment. Write to us within 6 months of receiving your first payment.

From the date your request is granted, you have 6 months to repay any amounts that you received and any related benefits you and/or your spouse or common-law partner received.

You can re-apply at a later date and receive an increased Old Age Security pension.

If you do not qualify for receiving Old Age Security outside Canada, your payments will stop if you are out of the country for more than 6 months after the month you left. You cannot collect the Guaranteed Income Supplement if you are outside of Canada for more than 6 months.

If you plan to be absent from Canada for more than 6 months, you must contact us to avoid an overpayment.

Service Canada compares information with the Canada Border Services Agency. If you leave Canada for more than 6 months while collecting Old Age Security, we’ll determine if you’re eligible to those payments. If not, we’ll calculate how much we have overpaid you, and you will then have to repay that amount.

You can also come forward to correct wrong or incomplete information or to give important information that you haven’t already shared with Service Canada. Learn about Penalties, Interest and Disclosure Policy.

When you return to Canada, contact us to restart your payments.

Your Old Age Security payments will stop if you are in a federal prison serving a sentence of 2 years or more. You must notify Service Canada in writing of your release and your payments will start again the month you are released.

Your employment history is not a factor in determining eligibility. You can receive the Old Age Security (OAS) pension even if you have never worked or are still working.

If you are living in Canada, you must:

If you are living outside Canada, you must:

Canadians working outside Canada for Canadian employers

Canadians working outside Canada for Canadian employers, such as the Canadian Armed Forces and banks, may have their time working abroad counted as residence in Canada.

To qualify this time working abroad as residence, you must have either:

You must provide the following 2 documents:

Under certain conditions, spouses, common-law partners, dependents, and Canadians working abroad for international organizations may also count time spent abroad as residence in Canada.

If neither of the above scenarios applies to you, you may still qualify for the Old Age Security pension, a pension from another country, or from both countries if you have: