What is the purpose of international social security agreements?

Canada has international social security agreements with more than 50 countries that offer pension programs that are comparable to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP). The objectives of these agreements are to:

• eliminate cases where workers might have to contribute to the social security system of the other country for the same work and to make sure that their coverage under the CPP will not be interrupted.
• co-ordinate the pension programs of two countries where a person has lived or worked. If a person has lived or worked in another country, the person may be eligible for social security benefits, either from that country or from Canada. For more information on social security agreements and benefits paid, please contact Service Canada.

For an employee, an employer, or a self-employed worker to contribute only to the CPP and be exempt from contributing to the pension plan of the other country, they must have a certificate of coverage from the Canada Revenue Agency. A certificate of coverage is used to inform the other country that the worker is covered under the CPP.

To see the text of Canada’s social security agreements, go to Search the Treaty List (Global Affairs Canada); under Subjects select Social Security and under Parties select the country.

Countries that have an agreement with Canada

The following table shows the names of the countries that Canada has agreements with, their effective dates, the related form numbers, and the maximum periods of initial detachment.