Anyone know how the Japan-Canada pension agreement works?

4 comments

1. I’ve heard that if you’re denied PR, you likely won’t get it later. You’ve already been deemed unworthy for whatever reasons, so there’s no reason to give it to you later.

   Whoever told you this is an idiot. Thats not how it works at all. 

   It depends on how you are applying for PR. If its the 10 year route, youve been here too long to get a lumpsum pension withdrawal.

   Pension payments will be made to you whether you live in Japan or not, so no need to worry about that you just need to be eligible for it and like I said above, if youve passed over the limit for lump sum withdrawal, you are legally eligible for pension payments regardless of it you live in Japan or not once you become of age. 

2. The pension agreement with Canada only adds to eligible years. I believe in Japan it’s currently a minimum of 10 years paying into the pension system in order to get a payout when you retire.

   Let’s say you paid into the Japanese system for only 9 years, and were from a country with no pension treaty. You would essentially get nothing from Japan when you retire, as you didn’t meet the 10 year threshold to claim a pension.

   Whereas with the treaty, you can count years paid into either country’s pension system for eligibility. So in the previous example, if you had paid into the Canadian pension system for more than one year, and the Japanese system for 9 years, you could total those number of years to pass the 10 year threshold, and claim a pension from both countries. Both countries will pay out their respective pensions, albeit with a reduced amount from each, due to the fewer number of contributions. There’s no need to reside in Japan to be able to collect the pension. You can even have them deposit it in a foreign bank account.

   Hope that makes things clear.

3. Recommend that you read the Pensions section in the /r/JapanFinance/wiki, and the excellent resources linked from it. Everyone should. Then ask any questions that remain in /r/JapanFinance.

4. > If I applied for a pension refund (which would only be for a limited amount of what I’ve paid in over the years), would that ruin what kind of pension I would get in Canada, if I moved back to Canada?

   Only if you don’t have enough years of pension payments in Canada to qualify without your years in Japan.

   > Should I just leave the money in Japan and the Canadian government somehow finds out from Japan how much I’ve paid into the Japanese scheme to figure out how much they would give me in Canada?

   You probably have to do some process where you submit evidence of years of contribution to Canada. (It works the same way in reverse too – if you’ve contributed in Japan for less than 10 years you can submit evidence of contributions in Canada to allow you to claim a pension)

   > I’ve heard that if you’re denied PR, you likely won’t get it later. You’ve already been deemed unworthy for whatever reasons, so there’s no reason to give it to you later.

   That’s not generally true but you do need to figure out why you were declined and fix it. Reapplying while your situation is the same will likely get the same result.

   > Also, let’s say I’m denied, but decide to keep on living and working in Japan. When I’m old can I still get the pension? What if I become unhireable because I’m too old, so Immigration stops giving me a visa, and therefore I can’t stay in Japan to collect the pension that I’ve paid into?

   Yes, you can still get it. They’ll pay out to any bank that can receive SWIFT transfers.