Pensions
On May the 10th 1984, Belgium and Canada have signed a bilateral agreement on social security. The consular service in this domain is restricted to the validation and issuing of life certificates.
For all other questions one has to contact directly the competent authorities in Belgium and Canada.
Read more:
Request a Belgian pension while living in Canada
If you live in Canada, have been working in Belgium and are approaching the Belgian legal pension age, you are liable to submit your request for a Belgian pension in Canada. You’ll find the forms through this link.
Please send the form to the nearest social security office or to:
International Operations Service Canada
P.O. Box 250
Fredericton
NB E3B 4Z6
CANADA
This Canadian institution will follow up your request directly with the authorities in Belgium. Be sure to start the procedure about 1 year before you reach the Belgian legal pension age. A request for a survivors benefit also needs to be submitted through the same institution.
A life certificate
Every year, the Federal Pensions Service (SFPD) in Belgium sends a form called “levensbewijs / certificat de vie” to each beneficiary. In some cases it may be sent on a more regular basis. As a beneficiary you have to fill in the form with your personal data and sign it. Then the form needs to be stamped by a competent authority (see below) in order to certify that you are alive. You will finally have to send the stamped form back to the Federal Pensions Service within 30 days:
Federal Pensions Service (SFPD)
Zuidertoren – Tour de Midi
Esplanade de l'Europe 1
1060 Brussels
BELGIUM
Canadian authorities entitled to stamp the form:
- Town hall or a police officer,
- Any branch of SERVICE CANADA; check their website to locate the closest office: www.servicecanada.gc.ca.
The Belgian representations in Canada also can stamp your form free of charge, but only if you possess the Belgian nationality.
You will have to present yourself in person at either the Consulate General in Montreal, a honorary consulate or the Embassy in Ottawa with the form duly completed and a Belgian ID (passport, identity card). If you are unable to attend in person (illness, advanced age, remoteness of your residence, …) you can send your completed and signed form, together with a stamped return envelope with your address, as well as:
- a medical certificate and a copy of your Belgian ID (with a recognizable picture)
OR
- a picture of yourself with a daily newspaper on which the date is visible and a copy of your Belgian ID (with a recognizable picture)
The Consulate General will also be able to certify your personal data on the form if they correspond with the data booked in its registers.
Contacts
More information can be obtained at the above mentioned address as well as at:
Tel: +11 32 78 15 1765
E-mail: info@onprvp.fgov.be
For the payment of pensions for civil servants:
Web: http://pdos.fgov.be/pdos/news/index.htm
E-mail: ccpay@pdos.fgov.be
Tel: +11 32 78 15 1765
Complaints about the services rendered by the pension offices have to be addressed to:
Pensions Ombudsman
WTC III Bd - Simon Bolivar 30, box 5
B-1000 Brussels
BELGIUM
Tel: 011-32-2-274-19-90
Fax: 011-32-2-208-31-43
www.ombudsmanpensioenen.be/en/index.htm
complaint@ombudsmanpensions.be