My wife and I are in our early 60s and US citizens who lived and worked for fifteen years in Canada. As a result, our US Social Security benefit estimates are predicated on less than 35 years of earnings. We both have, in other words, fifteen years of zero contributions in the middle of our earnings records, even though we both were receiving full-time salaries in Canada at that time (and thus were even paying into CPP).
Both my wife and I have enough US earnings history to qualify for a Social Security retirement benefit at age 62. I have enough from Canada to qualify for a very modest benefit from CPP at age 60. We are just wondering about the best way to proceed and maximize our benefits either from the US alone, or from the US and Canada in tandem. As I understand it, our fifteen years in Canada do not qualify either one of us for OAS.

Hi. One thing I can tell you based on what you've described is that If you and/or your wife collect CPP benefits based on your work records in Canada, your U.S. Social Security retirement benefits will almost certainly be reduced due to the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). There are way too many variables involved for me to be able to give you any meaningful filing advice, however, but our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) is designed to fully analyze the options available to you and your wife so that you can determine your best strategy for maximizing your benefits. The software is fully capable of handling computations involving WEP.

Best, Jerry