Gub'mint woes

[theducks]

So I have lots of numbers from the Canadian government. But notably these three.

• SIN - Social Insurance Number (Tax)
• UCI - Unique Client ID (Immigration)
• T-Number - Visa Document number

For shits and giggles, I have two UCIs - one from my days as an exchange student in 1998/1999, and one from my most recent visits. They should have used my original UCI from 1998 when I got my first work permit Letter of Introduction in 2009, but it hasn't really caused any problems.

I've only had one SIN - It's a temporary one (begins with "9") that we got in 2009 when we first arrived on our "temporary" work permits, which was then extended again in 2011. Now that we're PR, it changes to a permanent SIN, which issued in BC will begin with "7", theoretically.

I have had at least 5 T-Numbers on various study/work permits and one final one on my Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR) document. I discovered today however that my COPR T-Number (#5) invalidates the second-most recent work permit T-Number (#3), while my current SIN is linked to T-Number #4. Change of status from worker to PR means changing SIN, by invalidating the SIN that refers to the T-Number that the COPR invalidates. Do you see the problem?

All this means that I couldn't get a new SIN on the spot this morning and instead have to wait for a paper application for one to be processed, which hopefully should happen before the current SIN becomes invalid. I couldn't get a straight answer on what happens if it doesn't arrive by then, only that I should really call if I don't get a new card by May 7th.

Yay!