page_title: Social Insurance Number
hierarchical_section_title: Social Insurance Number
context_page_description: A social insurance number is a number issued in Canada to administer various government programs. The SIN was created in 1964 to serve as a client account number in the administration of the Canada Pension Plan and Canada's varied employment insurance programs. In 1967, Revenue Canada started using the SIN for tax reporting purposes. SINs are issued by Employment and Social Development Canada.
  The SIN is formatted as three groups of three digits.
  The top of the card has changed over the years as the departments that are responsible for the card have changed:
  Manpower and Immigration
  Employment and Immigration Canada
  Human Resources Development Canada
  Government of Canada
  The 2012 Canadian federal budget contained provisions to phase out the Social Insurance Number cards because they lacked modern security features and could be used for identity theft. As of 31 March 2014, Service Canada no longer issues plastic SIN cards. Instead, an individual will receive a paper "Confirmation of SIN letter".
context_section_description: A social insurance number (SIN) is a number issued in Canada to administer various government programs.  The SIN was created in 1964 to serve as a client account number in the administration of the Canada Pension Plan and Canada's varied employment insurance programs. In 1967, Revenue Canada (now the Canada Revenue Agency) started using the SIN for tax reporting purposes. SINs are issued by Employment and Social Development Canada (previously Human Resources Development Canada).
  The SIN is formatted as three groups of three digits (e.g., 123-456-789).
  The top of the card has changed over the years as the departments that are responsible for the card have changed:
  Manpower and Immigration
  Employment and Immigration Canada
  Human Resources Development Canada
  Government of Canada
  The 2012 Canadian federal budget contained provisions to phase out the Social Insurance Number cards because they lacked modern security features and could be used for identity theft. As of 31 March 2014, Service Canada no longer issues plastic SIN cards. Instead, an individual will receive a paper "Confirmation of SIN letter".
caption: A social insurance number card. Note the date of expiration; this implies that the holder is neither a permanent resident, nor a Canadian citizen.
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