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GIS for Newcomers: Partial OAS, Sponsorship and Social Security Agreements

Updated

The Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) is only paid to people who receive OAS, so for newcomers the first question is when OAS starts. After that come two rules that matter more for immigrants than for anyone else: how the GIS treats a partial OAS pension, and the bar on the GIS while a sponsorship agreement is in effect.

Step 1: qualifying for OAS

Where you live at 65+Minimum years in Canada after 18OAS amount
In Canada101/40 of the full pension per year
Outside Canada201/40 of the full pension per year (no GIS)
Either40 or moreFull pension

You must also be a Canadian citizen or legal resident. Only years of residence after 18 count. The OAS eligibility page explains what counts as residence, and why is my OAS less than the maximum shows the partial amounts.

Step 2: a partial OAS raises the GIS

If your OAS is partial, your maximum GIS is increased by the amount your OAS falls short of the full pension (Old Age Security Act, s. 12(5)). So a low-income newcomer isn’t left with a small partial pension and nothing else.

Example. Someone arrives at 45 and turns 65 with 20 years in Canada. They are single with no other income.

Amount a month (October to December 2026)
Partial OAS (20/40)$381.25
Shortfall from the full OAS$381.25
Maximum GIS: $1,138.90 + the shortfall$1,520.15
OAS + GIS$1,901.40, the same as a full pensioner’s $1,901.40

Other income reduces this GIS the same way it reduces anyone’s. The GIS calculator assumes a full OAS, so for a partial pensioner it shows too little GIS.

Social security agreements

Canada has social security agreements with nearly 60 countries. If you lived or worked in one of them, those periods can count toward the 10-year minimum for OAS (or the 20 years needed to be paid abroad). They don’t raise the OAS amount: that is still based only on your years in Canada.

If you qualify for OAS only through an agreement, with fewer than 10 years in Canada, your GIS is also reduced: it is multiplied by your years in Canada divided by 10 (the “special qualifying factor” in s. 2 of the Old Age Security Act; see also the ESDC OAS program toolkit). With 6 years in Canada, for example, you’d receive 6/10 of the GIS you’d otherwise get.

Sponsorship: no GIS while the undertaking lasts

If you came to Canada as a sponsored immigrant, you can’t receive the GIS, the Allowance or the Allowance for the Survivor while the sponsorship undertaking is in effect. Since October 1, 2025, that applies for the whole undertaking, no matter how many years you have lived in Canada; before, the bar ended after 10 years of residence. The longer bar doesn’t apply to someone who was already qualified to receive an OAS pension or the Allowance immediately before October 1, 2025, whether or not they had applied (section 11(8) of the Old Age Security Act). You can still receive OAS once you meet the residence rules.

For parents and grandparents, the undertaking lasts 20 years from the day they became permanent residents (10 years if the sponsor lives in Quebec). Source: IRCC, what it means to be a sponsor.

You can get the GIS during the undertaking if your sponsor:

  • has died,
  • is imprisoned for more than 6 months,
  • has been convicted of an offence against you, or
  • has declared personal bankruptcy.

Source: Service Canada, GIS eligibility; Canada Gazette, order fixing October 1, 2025.

Foreign pensions and income

A pension from another country counts as income for the GIS in the same way it counts on your Canadian tax return, and a large one can reduce or end the GIS. As a Canadian resident you report your worldwide income, and filing every year is also how the GIS is renewed; see GIS renewal.

CPP is separate

CPP depends on what you contributed while working in Canada, not on residence. A newcomer with a short Canadian work history usually has a small CPP, which leaves more room for the GIS. Social security agreements can also help you qualify for CPP, but the amount is based on your Canadian contributions.

Planning points

  1. Apply for OAS at 65 if you have 10 years, even for a small partial pension: it is what makes you eligible for the GIS, and the GIS makes up the shortfall.
  2. Check your sponsorship dates. Know when the undertaking ends and whether an exception applies.
  3. Check for an agreement with each country you lived or worked in.
  4. Save in a TFSA. TFSA withdrawals don’t reduce the GIS.
  5. File taxes every year, including foreign income.

Sources

The figures and rules on this page come from these sources, last checked against them on September 29, 2026. How we check facts.