Activate my Sin with expired PR in Ontario
- Thread starter terryvico
- Start date
Do you already have a SIN or are you getting a SIN for the first time? Can you clarify?
Just go to service Canada with photo Id and landing papers. They will ask you to fill a questionnaire and reactivate it. They dont have authority by law to issue you deportation order nor do they have any reason to contact IRCC. If cbsa has let you in without any issue, I don’t think you will have any problems at Service Canada reactivating it.
If you never used your SIN, you’ll have no access to online accounts such as My Account with the CRA. You have to file at least two recent returns to gain access . This year & the previous year. Your master file doesn’t have enough information on it to complete anything online
*** Agents on the phones CANNOT activate it
Your SIN file will be classified as dormant . You’ll need to reactivate it since no activity as been associated with it .
Your master file will be dead. Everyone has a master file .
Don’t know why people rush to sign up for a SIN if they have no reason too. But it is , what it is .
“ The dormant flag identifies SINs that have not been active for a period of five consecutive years or more—meaning that there was no income-related activity, such as filing taxes, or interaction with government programs during this period. Since then, someone with a dormant flag on their SIN file must provide original proof of identity to have their SIN reactivated, an original birth certificate if born in Canada, or Citizenship and Immigration Canada documents if born outside of the country.
This reactivation is done either in person at a Service Canada centre if they reside in Canada, or by mail if they reside outside of Canada. In addition, to better assist agents in detecting potential identity fraud and theft, the SIN proof-of-identity internal Intranet reference website was developed in 2003. Through this website, agents responsible for the issuance of SINs have access to detailed information on what to look for in identity documents to ensure their authenticity.”
https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/41-2/ETHI/meeting-16/evidence#:~:text=The dormant flag identifies SINs,government programs during this period.
“Quote
Dormant SIN reversals
Each year, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) provides ESDC with a list of SINs that are associated with [protected information] protected information. ESDC then matches those SINs to records in the SIR and places a "dormant" flag onto that file. Until it is removed, the dormant flag may prevent the SIN holder from receiving benefits from some SIN authorized programs. To remove the flag, the client must visit a SCC where a CSO will ask the client to fill out a questionnaire which will be sent to NIDS for processing. An officer in NIDS will then evaluate whether it is a simple request or a suspicious request using a risk chart, and suspicious requests will be subsequently addressed by the contact centre. In 2014–15 there were 75,556 new dormant flags and 10,889 dormant flagreversals. To streamline the processing of these transactions, CSOs could process non suspicious dormant flag removal requests after validating the identity of the individual. Not only would this be more efficient but it would provide better service for clients requesting routine dormant reversals.”
https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/corporate/reports/audits/2015-social-insurance-number.html
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Note, though: the purpose of putting the dormant flag seems to be primarily (or entirely) about restricting / reducing the likelihood of identity theft and fraudulent access to benefits.
There's nothing (that I can find) that says the 'dormant' status can or should be used to prevent a lawful resident of Canada from working. And PR card is not PR status, i.e. someone in Canada whose only issue is non-compliance with residency obligation IS a legal resident, period.
BUT: the wrinkle as covered here in numerous threads is that a) EDSP might contact an employer to confirm that you-are-you and have a legal right to be here (or send a letter saying something like that); b) that might either say directly or imply to the employer that you do not have a right to work in Canada (not true, but employers generally won't want to be caught between the two issues); c) not clear what the SIN holder can do until they have eg new PR card to re-activate the SIN card.
SO: it seems unambiguously true that the lawful resident-without-PR-card-and-dormant-SIN has a legal right to work. (I haven't even heard anyone here suggest differently).
It's potentially ripe for a legal challenge. But that doesnt' make it very easy for someone in this position. I'd suggest seeing a lawyer, ideally one with labour/employment law experience (and immigration exp if possible). Or an immigrant rights group.
But to repeat for clarity: there is NO legal issue with using that SIN to apply for and start working.
There's nothing (that I can find) that says the 'dormant' status can or should be used to prevent a lawful resident of Canada from working. And PR card is not PR status, i.e. someone in Canada whose only issue is non-compliance with residency obligation IS a legal resident, period.
BUT: the wrinkle as covered here in numerous threads is that a) EDSP might contact an employer to confirm that you-are-you and have a legal right to be here (or send a letter saying something like that); b) that might either say directly or imply to the employer that you do not have a right to work in Canada (not true, but employers generally won't want to be caught between the two issues); c) not clear what the SIN holder can do until they have eg new PR card to re-activate the SIN card.
SO: it seems unambiguously true that the lawful resident-without-PR-card-and-dormant-SIN has a legal right to work. (I haven't even heard anyone here suggest differently).
It's potentially ripe for a legal challenge. But that doesnt' make it very easy for someone in this position. I'd suggest seeing a lawyer, ideally one with labour/employment law experience (and immigration exp if possible). Or an immigrant rights group.
But to repeat for clarity: there is NO legal issue with using that SIN to apply for and start working.
Thanks for both these links. They both support strongly my point that the dormant flag is not intended at all to prevent anyone from accessing ability to work, but fraud prevention.
And a bit more detail that this really is a problem of "we're only authorized to approved based on certain specific documents" (eg PR card) and probably because electronic data exchange with IRCC needed to do so.
Which is NOT a reason to deny. It should be eminently challengeable - I don't see how a court could find otherwise ('sure, we have other potential ways to identify the individual - they were clearly sufficiently identified to be allowed into Canada after all, so safety and security regimes were respected - but NOT sufficiently enough to reactivate their SIN card because [awkward silence.]"
Note, NOT for the reasons the dormant status thing was brought in - someone working is PAYING taxes, not receiving benefits.
It's absolutely absurd. There's no way government could plausibly argue that ability to pay taxes by working is somehow more of a danger to society than letting PRs into Canada.
It's purely a "we've never bothered to figure out with IRCC how to get the information." Like they haven't bothered with a data protocol.