Does anyone know if an appointment is required to apply for a SIN in person at Service Canada? I needed to book an appointment when I applied for OHIP at Service Ontario but the canada.ca website is a little unclear. It does have an appointment request form but I'm not sure if that's just for those who need special assistance etc.
Application for a SIN in person - appointment required?
- Thread starter Bloodrose
- Start date
I didn't have an appointment when I applied for my SIN. The lines were really long, waited for about 4 hours. People who had appointments were allowed to cut the line. So it's not mandatory, but much better if you have one.
Thanks, I'll try to book an appointment then because I was hoping to do it during a lunch break. Where was this and when if you don't mind me asking?
Joseph Sheppard building, 4900 yonge street. I went there on August 30, 2021.
I don't know specifics of your case, but applying online is not difficult and service canada sent our sin numbers after a week or two - quite fast at any rate. From what I recall, there were relatively few cases where they required physical presence at a service canada location.
I've heard nothing but horror stories regarding the online application process. Cases of people waiting for weeks only for their application to be refused for entirely arbitrary reasons. I don't think I trust any Canadian government employee enough to do a proper job of it at this point really.
Can only go by personal experience - online was entirely painless and quick for three out of four, the fourth case had a complication (a real one, not an arbitrary one) and was resolved in about four more weeks with phone call to clarify and correspondence by post. Never set foot in a service canada office.
Your own choice of course but would guess that few stories about interactions that say "all went fine" get much traction.
At any rate, good luck.
I got my sin in person and despite being dubious about the requesting an appointment online, it actually worked. Someone called me within 48 h to set up the appointment which was about 3 days later. So, original poster, doing it in person is definitely feasible and not complicated