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neuroCanadian

Star Member
Aug 31, 2020
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Ontario
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We just sent the sponsorship application but my partner would like to open a bank account and needs a SIN for this. I noticed on the govt website that you can use just a Visitor Record to apply for a SIN. Is this correct? is it okay to do this now? or is it somehow 'bad' to obtain a SIN before receiving the OWP?

https://sin-nas.canada.ca/en/Sin/

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We just sent the sponsorship application but my partner would like to open a bank account and needs a SIN for this. I noticed on the govt website that you can use just a Visitor Record to apply for a SIN. Is this correct? is it okay to do this now? or is it somehow 'bad' to obtain a SIN before receiving the OWP?

https://sin-nas.canada.ca/en/Sin/

image.png

As far as I know, I may be wrong on this, you will need an OWP first in order to get a temporary SIN which starts with number 9. Some banks do not require a SIN number in order to open a bank account. My sister-in-law was able to open a bank account at TD bank without a SIN number. She had a visitor status. You may need to check out different banks and see which ones allow you to open an account without a SIN. TD bank is one of them.
 
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As far as I know, I may be wrong on this, you will need an OWP first in order to get a temporary SIN which starts with number 9. Some banks do not require a SIN number in order to open a bank account. My sister-in-law was able to open a bank account at TD bank without a SIN number. She had a visitor status. You may need to check out different banks and see which ones allow you to open an account without a SIN. TD bank is one of them.

RBC worked for us getting my wife an account before getting PR status.
 
TD, RBC, and CIBC all helped us get an account while on visitor status- no sin required. Have you gone in and talked to someone?
 
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We just sent the sponsorship application but my partner would like to open a bank account and needs a SIN for this. I noticed on the govt website that you can use just a Visitor Record to apply for a SIN. Is this correct? is it okay to do this now? or is it somehow 'bad' to obtain a SIN before receiving the OWP?

https://sin-nas.canada.ca/en/Sin/

image.png

What I would suggest to you is open a new account at either one of the 3 banks. Once you get a SIN, you can then decide to open an account at your preferred bank since you have a SIN to open an account. You then can close the original bank account. In my case, my sister-in-law switched to her preferred bank after she gotten her SIN. (This bank requires SIN).

There is another way. Some banks while requiring a SIN to open an account, you can set up a joint account using the sponsor's SIN. This is what I did to get around the SIN requirement for my spouse when I was sponsoring her.
 
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