Getting your Social Insurance Number (SIN) + renewing your SIN number

There are a number of documents you have to keep on top of as an international student; your study permit, your passport, your student visa, and add to that list - your Social Insurance Number, or SIN number.

Have you ever registered for a SIN number? No idea what a SIN number is? Or is your current SIN number expiring and you need to renew it?

In this post we'll be talking about:

↠↠ General information about the SIN number for international students & temporary residents

↠↠ Applying for a SIN number: Mandatory documents

↠↠ Applying for a SIN number: Filling out the online application

↠↠ Extending your SIN number

↠↠ Additional Information

Continue reading to find out more!

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Long story short - in order to legally work in Canada, whether on-campus or off campus, and to receive benefits and services from government programs, you NEED to have a SIN number.

A SIN number is a 9-digit number, which allows your employer to process payroll, and inform the Canadian Revenue Agency of your earnings, which comes back later when you have to file your taxes and possibly get money back.

As an international student, you are considered a temporary resident, as you are legally in Canada on a study permit. In order to obtain a SIN number, your study permit must note the following conditions; that you “may accept employment” or “may work” in Canada.

Specifically, the conditions may read as the following:

• “May accept employment on or off campus if meeting eligibility criteria, per paragraph R186(f), (v) or (w) and must cease working if no longer meeting these criteria.”

• “May work 20 hours per week off campus or full-time during regular breaks if meeting criteria outlined in paragraph 186(v) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations.”

If your study permit does not include any of the conditions required, or flat out does not state whether you can work, you may have to apply to change the conditions of your permit. Tap here for more information on the process if this applies to you.

*Note: As a full-time international student, you're legally allowed to work off-campus without a work permit, (if your study permit indicates you're eligible to work off-campus) but only for up to 20 hours a week during the academic year, while classes are in session.

However, you can work more than 20 hours during the scheduled breaks. These are over the summer if you're not enrolled in Summer semester courses, and over the winter break before classes resume.

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General information about SIN numbers for international students & temporary residents

↠↠ Applying for a SIN number is free.

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↠↠ All SIN numbers for international students and foreign workers will start with the number 9, which indicates to your employer that you are a temporary resident as well.

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↠↠ Your SIN number expiry date will be the same as your study permit, or work permit expiry date, so any time you apply for a new immigration document (eg. a study permit extension, or a work permit) you will have to apply to extend your SIN number to maintain it's validity.

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↠↠ Your SIN number remains the same no matter now many times you extend it as a temporary resident. The only thing that will change regarding your SIN number as a temporary resident, is the expiry date.

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↠↠ Your SIN number is a part of your identity in Canada. The number is unique to you and you alone, and you shouldn't share it with just anyone to avoid identity theft. It is considered to be sensitive information, so avoid any requests for this information from anyone or anything you may be suspicious of, and only share it with trusted individuals (such as your employer.) For more information on how to protect your SIN number, tap here.

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↠↠ As a student, since your study permit is one of the required documents to apply for a SIN number, you can only apply for one after you have landed in Canada and received your study permit at the border.

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Applying for a SIN number: Mandatory documents

Applying for a SIN number is a relatively easy process that can be done both in-person, or online (though online is recommended due to the ongoing pandemic, plus your application is processed faster if it's done online.)

In addition to submitting an application, you will also need to provide a number of mandatory documents if you are applying for yourself (which must be in either English or French, or translated.)

These documents include:

1. A primary identity document:

↠↠ As an international student, your primary identity document will more than likely be your study permit issued by Immigration Canada (IRCC) that has to include the conditions I noted above, that you "may accept employment" or "may work" in Canada.

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2. A secondary document:

↠↠ According to the Government of Canada website, this must be a document that contains your legal family name and given name, and your date of birth.

↠↠ As an international student, your secondary document would ideally be your passport, as the website notes the other accepted secondary documents are: a Canadian provincial or territorial ID card or driver's license, or any other Canadian government-issued ID, which you likely may not have.

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3. Proof of address

↠↠ You have to provide a document that matches the address you note in the online SIN application. This will also be the address that your SIN number document will be mailed to once your application is received and successfully processed.

↠↠ Your proof of address must be issued by one of the following according to the Government of Canada website: A government, a company, an institution, an organization, a landlord, or an employer - and the proof of address must also be either a document, or a letter of attestation signed by the issuer.

↠↠ Lastly, your proof of address must contain your given name and surnames that are also found on the required primary and secondary documents (aka, your study permit, and your passport.)

When I applied for my SIN number for the first time, I used my residence acceptance letter as my proof of address, and when I applied to have my SIN number extended, I used my latest utility bill.

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*4. Supporting documents

↠↠ In the case where the name noted on any of your documents is different from the name you noted on the online SIN application, you'll have to provide a legal document stating the name you currently use. The Government of Canada states some of these accepted documents include: A certificate of marriage or a legal change of name certificate. *This may not apply to everyone.

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For a complete list of accepted supporting documents, in addition to a more detailed breakdown of the primary, secondary and proof of address documents required for your SIN number application, please tap here.

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Applying for a SIN number: Filling out the online application

To apply for a SIN number, tap here.

You'll have to scroll down to the bottom of page to fill out the mini questionnaire to find out which documents you'll need to provide based on your status/situation. If you are an international student, your responses to the questionnaire will likely be the ones below:

Once you've selected your responses, some more information will show up below listing the documents you will need to submit with your application, and then you just have to continue scrolling down the page till you see the green button that says "apply online."

Once you click on that, you'll be taken to a new page, which is page one out of two, of the SIN application.

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If this is your first time applying for a SIN number, in the drop down menu under "Application Type", you'll have to select the option "First Social Insurance Number (SIN)"

Fill out all the required personal information, and then you'll be taken to the second page of the application, which looks like the image below:

If you're filling out the form for yourself, select this under the acknowledgment. This second page of the application is where you'll upload the required documents I noted above (primary, secondary, proof of address and supporting documents if applicable.)

To upload your documents, click on the "add files" button at the bottom of the page.

Make sure to double check everything, check off the certification box, and once you're good, submit the application - That's it!

The Government of Canada website notes that if you apply online and there are no issues with your application, you'll receive your SIN confirmation letter with your SIN number by mail, within 15 business days from the date that your application was received and processed.

This is what the top half of the SIN number document looks like:

The second half of the document is just some more information on protecting your SIN number.

Note: If it has been more than 15 business days since you submitted the application, and you haven't received anything, you'll have to contact the SIN program here.

The moment you get your SIN number document, keep it in a safe space, and write down the SIN number somewhere safe as well.

You do not want to forget this number, as it is very important in terms of your employment in Canada. Not only as a student, but also as a foreign worker under your work permit/Post-graduate work permit if you go on to seek full-time employment in Canada.

As long as you are a temporary resident in Canada, you need to make sure you can find this number when you need it.

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Extending your SIN number

If you find yourself in a position where your study permit is expiring before you graduate, and you have to apply for a study permit extension - or you've already graduated and have applied for a work permit/Post-Graduate work permit; since your SIN number expiry date is the same as your primary immigration document's expiry date, you will have to apply to extend your SIN number, which means extending the expiry date to match that of your new primary immigration document.

The renewal process is also quite simple, and you would follow the same steps as you would when applying for a SIN number for the first time, with a few differences.

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The first difference, is that after you're taken to the online application form once you've filled out the mini questionnaire here - under the drop down menu at "Application type," you'll have to select "Change of the expiry date (900 series SIN)"

This is because if you recall, international students & temporary residents have SIN numbers starting with the number 9.

Another difference in the application to extend your SIN number, is that at the bottom of page one of the application, where it says "Social Insurance Number" and asks "Did the applicant ever have a SIN number?" you'll have to select "yes," and type in what your expiring/expired SIN number is.

*Note: Make sure you don't include any hyphens or spaces between the numbers when inputting your expired SIN number. On the SIN confirmation document, your SIN number is typically written like this 9xx-xxx-xxx, but on the application, write out the full number with no spaces.

After you complete page one of the application, page two is more or less the same as the application process when applying for the first time.

Upload your new primary immigration document, whether its your new extended study permit, or your new work permit, then your secondary document, your proof of address, any supporting documents if needed, and you're good to go to submit the application.

The processing time is the same,15 business days from the date that your application was received and processed, and that's about it!

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Additional information

If your study permit's expiry date is coming up, then that means the same for your SIN number (beginning with a 9).

However, if you are working, but have already applied for a study permit extension or a new document, and you end up on implied/maintained status, the Government of Canada website does state that " you have the right to continue working or studying under the same conditions. You must remain in Canada during this time. This “implied status” will remain until a decision is made by IRCC. This means you are allowed to work even though your SIN has expired."

Should you receive a new immigration document, or IRCC authorizes you to stay or continue working in Canada, you'll have to apply to extend your SIN number validity, with the new immigration document (this will be your primary document for the application) to extend and update your SIN number expiry date.

*Reminder: The moment you get your SIN confirmation document in the mail, take a picture of it. If you forget to take a picture, or forget what your SIN number is in general, the number can usually be found on your income tax return, tax slips or record of employment.

If you don't have any of those documents, or access to them, you can also get a confirmation of your SIN number by submitting an application, as you would if you were applying for the first time, or applying to extend the expiry date, but you would select "Confirmation of SIN' from the options in the drop down menu under "Application type" on page one.

For an overall breakdown from the Government of Canada's website on all things Social Insurance Number, such as a general overview, who needs a SIN number, how to apply, how to update the number and more, tap here.

Thanks for reading!