Hi,
I landed in Vancouver yesterday. There has been some hiccups, however, which seriously made me wish I had landed in Toronto instead.
But in this post, I will just talk and ask about the issuance of Social Insurance Number.
According to the Welcome to Canada – What you should know booklet, we should apply for the SIN number "as soon as possible after arriving in Canada" (page14). At the airport's welcome newcomers' counter, I asked if I could get my SIN at the airport (since I had read about people getting their SIN at the airport). I was told that this is only possible in Toronto, and that I have to go to a Service Canada Centre in Vancouver. Fine. So I went to a Service Canad Centre this morning. I had read on the CIC website that SIN is generated on the spot.
To my greatest surprise (and great annoyance), the Service Canada officer told me that my profile at CIC is being 'flagged' and that a SIN cannot be issued to me on the spot. Instead, what he did was to ask me to complete a paper application for SIN, and he would forward it to SIR (social insurance registry) who in turn will ask CIC to give them the green light to the issuance of my SIN. At that point, my SIN will be mailed to me. This of course will cause me a lot of problems since I am doing just a short landing, and all I could give them was my hotel address! The Service Canada officer asked me to update my Canadian mailing address as soon as is possible.
Upon reaching my hotel, I called CIC immediately. The agent, before I gave her my CIC application details, told me that generally newcomers have to wait around 3 business days before their profile is finalized and complete, and then SIN can be generated for them. She said she was surprised that the Service Canada officer did not explain this to me. My question is: Is this true for other new immigrants who landed in Vancouver?? I had not read about this anywhere in CIC's website (that you have to wait a certain amount of time before applying for SIN).
The agent then checked my CIC application and put me on hold, at one point asking if I now have 2 or 1 copies of COPR (I responded with "1"). In the end, she said she did not know what might be the issue, but that it takes time to finalize the information. She asked me to check back in about 6 business days.
I landed in Vancouver yesterday. There has been some hiccups, however, which seriously made me wish I had landed in Toronto instead.
But in this post, I will just talk and ask about the issuance of Social Insurance Number.
According to the Welcome to Canada – What you should know booklet, we should apply for the SIN number "as soon as possible after arriving in Canada" (page14). At the airport's welcome newcomers' counter, I asked if I could get my SIN at the airport (since I had read about people getting their SIN at the airport). I was told that this is only possible in Toronto, and that I have to go to a Service Canada Centre in Vancouver. Fine. So I went to a Service Canad Centre this morning. I had read on the CIC website that SIN is generated on the spot.
To my greatest surprise (and great annoyance), the Service Canada officer told me that my profile at CIC is being 'flagged' and that a SIN cannot be issued to me on the spot. Instead, what he did was to ask me to complete a paper application for SIN, and he would forward it to SIR (social insurance registry) who in turn will ask CIC to give them the green light to the issuance of my SIN. At that point, my SIN will be mailed to me. This of course will cause me a lot of problems since I am doing just a short landing, and all I could give them was my hotel address! The Service Canada officer asked me to update my Canadian mailing address as soon as is possible.
Upon reaching my hotel, I called CIC immediately. The agent, before I gave her my CIC application details, told me that generally newcomers have to wait around 3 business days before their profile is finalized and complete, and then SIN can be generated for them. She said she was surprised that the Service Canada officer did not explain this to me. My question is: Is this true for other new immigrants who landed in Vancouver?? I had not read about this anywhere in CIC's website (that you have to wait a certain amount of time before applying for SIN).
The agent then checked my CIC application and put me on hold, at one point asking if I now have 2 or 1 copies of COPR (I responded with "1"). In the end, she said she did not know what might be the issue, but that it takes time to finalize the information. She asked me to check back in about 6 business days.
