have lived in Canada for 40 years or longer after reaching the age 18. A person who cannot meet
the requirements for the full OAS pension may qualify for a partial pension. A partial pension is
earned at the rate of 1/40th of the full monthly pension for each year an individual has lived in
Canada after reaching 18.5
GIS is another non-contributory pension and is available to residents of Canada who receive a
full or partial OAS pension. GIS benefits may begin in the same month as OAS benefits. To
qualify for GIS a person must be in receipt of an OAS pension and have an annual income not
exceeding a specified amount. Sponsored immigrants from countries with which Canada has
agreements are not eligible for GIS during their sponsorship period (up to a maximum of 10
years) unless they have resided in Canada for an aggregate of ten years after reaching 18 years of
age.6 OAS and GIS are activated upon approval of an individual’s application, with GIS
requiring individuals to reapply on an annual basis.
The Allowance is a non-contributory pension available to the spouse, common-law partner, or
survivor of a pensioner receiving OAS and/or GIS. Canadian citizens or permanent residents
between the ages of 60 and 64 who have lived in Canada for at least 10 years are eligible to
receive the Allowance. To qualify, the combined annual income of the couple, or the annual
income of the survivor must not exceed the specified limits. Allowance stops when the recipient
reaches age 65 and becomes eligible for OAS. Sponsored immigrants wishing to apply for the
Allowance face the same eligibility requirements as those applying for GIS.7
The population investigated in this paper is taken from the IMDB. The IMDB combines
administrative records on immigration with taxation information to form a comprehensive source
of data on the labour market experiences of the landed immigrant population. Currently, the
IMDB currently covers the period 1980-2000, providing data on approximately 2.5 million
immigrants in Canada. To be captured in this sample an individual must have filed a tax return at
least once during the period 1980-2000. As noted earlier, for this paper, the elderly population is
defined as immigrant taxfilers aged 60 years or older in a given tax year. As mentioned earlier,
the elderly population is divided into three groups: long-term elders who landed in Canada aged
40-49 years, short-term elders who landed aged 50-59 years, and immediate elders who landed
aged 60 years or older. Figure 1 illustrates the size of the elderly immigrant population in tax
year 2000 disaggregated by the three elderly groups.8