Collecting USA Social Security later on

QUESTION:

I am a Canadian citizen who left Canada to work in the USA for 5 years. I have since retuned to Canada where I plan to stay. I was wondering if the money I paid into Social Security while in the states is lost or is there a way to transfer the money back to Canada??
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david ingram replies:

This older Q & A might help

QUESTION:

Hi David,

I have been working in USA for last 10 years under TN visa and have been paying FICA etc in US but have not filed return to Canada until 2006.

Can I benefit from all the FICA payments later or should I find a way/if there is any way to transfer it to Canadian retirement?

Thanks

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david ingram replies:

Answered many times - just last week in fact, and reproduced here with a slight improvement suggested by Andrew Nelson
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QUESTION: My apologies if this questions have asked many times before.I could not find right and easy answer for this.

I am a Canadian citizen working in USA under TN visa for last 2 yrs. I wonder what will happen for social security tax i pay in USA.Does it goes to Canadian social security.Is it possible to get refund ?

Thanks in advance.
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david ingram replies;

The US Canada Social Security Totalization Agreement means that you will be able to collect Social Security from the US when you retire whether you have 1 year ( technically 6 quarters which can be earned from July to June which is one year but if you started working on Jan 1, you would need to work 1 year and another $2,000 or so in another year to qualify.    For 2007, you need just short of $1,000 of earnings to qualify for one qhuarter.)

The actual agreement in all its glory CAN BE FOUND AT:
 http://www.socialsecurity.gov/international/Agreement_Pamphlets/canada.html