Dear Claudienne,

I am a Jamaican-Canadian registered general nurse. I am a citizen of Canada and my SIN # is xxxxxxxxx.

I migrated to Canada on 24-05-1991 and spent 11 years and three months in Ontario, Canada. My date of birth is 11-12-1956 and I applied for state pension at age 65 years. I worked as a registered general nurse in Canada with: Para Med Aberfoyle Cres. Special Care People – Turned over to 3) Care Givers Derval Ave.

I was told by Service Canada in a letter that I was not qualified for old age security pension.

Service Canada sent me a letter that stated that they had sent my application to their international operations office. The Service Canada International Operations office sent me a letter that stated the following:

“We have received your application dated 2021-07-19, for the Old Age Security pension.

To qualify for this pension, the following requirement must be met:

You must have resided in Canada for at least 20 years after your 18th birthday.

The information in your file shows that you have lived in Canada for only 10 years since your 18th birthday. Therefore, you do not meet the residence requirements for this benefit.

Contributions or residence in another country

Please note that the Government of Canada has signed a social security agreement with Jamaica. It is possible that under this agreement you would meet the residence conditions required to receive the benefit. For this reason, we have sent your application to our International Operations Office for further review. If you have any questions you can write to us….. or you can also call us free of charge from Canada and the United States. Our telephone numbers are……… : . When you contact us, please give us the following Client Identification Number: xxxxxxxxx”

I have tried to call Service Canada several times but have not been able to speak to anyone.

Could you please help me?

AP

Dear AP,

Tell Claudienne has been in communication with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade in regard to your pension issues with Service Canada.

The Consular Division of the Ministry has informed the column that when the Jamaican High Commission made contact with Service Canada, they were not able to provide specific information concerning your case due to Canadian privacy laws.

Tell Claudienne has also informed the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security of your difficulties with Service Canada.

The column notes that the Director, International Social Security (acting) National Insurance Scheme (NIS) has communicated with Service Canada. He has sent the agency a list of your NIS contributions and has also assisted you to resolve your issues with the Canadian Government agency.

We wish you all the best.

Have a problem with a store, utility, a company? Telephone 876- 936-9436 or CELL/whatsapp # 876-484-1349 or write to: Tell Claudienne c/o Sunday Finance, Jamaica Observer, 40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5; or e-mail: edwardsc@jamaicaobserver.com. Please include a contact phone number.