Social insurance number collection and sharing authorised for citizenship eligibility verification

Policy effect

From June 11, 2015, the Minister could require applicants under Citizenship Act subsections 5(1) or 11(1) to provide their social insurance number, if they had one. Under an information-sharing arrangement with the Canada Revenue Agency, the Minister could disclose that number to verify compliance with the applicable residence and income-tax-filing requirements. This introduced authority to collect the number for that verification process; the underlying citizenship eligibility requirements are represented separately.

Conditions and exceptions

Validated condition or limit: the underlying citizenship eligibility requirements are represented separately.

Official source excerpt

Quoted verbatim from the official source below. Ellipses indicate omitted text.

… passports and other travel documents if the Minister has entered into an arrangement with that Department or Agency for the disclosure of the information. 26.6 (1) The Minister may require an applicant to provide their social insurance number, if any, in any application made under subsection 5(1) or 11(1) of the Act. (2) The Minister may disclose the following information to the Canada Revenue Agency if the Minister has entered into an arrangement with the Agency for the disclosure of the information: (a) the social insurance number of an applicant for the purposes of verifying whether the ap … plicant has complied with the requirements set out in paragraphs 5(1)(c) and (1.2)(b) and 11(1)(d) and (1.1)(b) of the Act; and (b) any relevant information related to any discrepancies between the information obtained from the applicant and that provided by the Agency if there are reasonable grounds to believe that the discrepancy is a result of false representation, fraud or concealment of material circumstances made in the course of an application, as well as any personal information, including the social insurance number, of an applicant that the Agency is authorized to collect for the pur … y a person who is 18 years of age or older under section 12 of the Regulations 6. Application for certificate of citizenship under section 14 of the Regulations 7. Application for search of records under section 18 of the Regulations COMING INTO FORCE 11. These Regulations come into force on the day on which subsection 4(3) of the Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act, chapter 22 of the Statutes of Canada, 2014, comes into force, but if they are registered after that day, they come into force on the day on which they are registered. REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT (This statement is not …

Review method

Two separate automated exact-claim source reviews

Other Canada changes operative in 2015

• 2015-01-01Ministerial Instructions Respecting the Express Entry System
• 2015-01-28Immigrant Investor Venture Capital economic immigration class established
• 2015-02-21Employer compliance fee and direct job-offer submission introduced for LMIA-exempt employer-specific work permits
• 2015-02-21Separate open work permit privilege fee introduced
• 2015-05-25Investor-pilot intake switched from random selection to first complete applications
• 2015-06-10Prohibition of Non-Physically Present (Proxy, Telephone, Internet) Marriages and Raising Minimum Spousal Age
• 2015-06-10Regulations Amending the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (SOR/2015-138)
• 2015-06-11Order Fixing June 11, 2015 as the Day on which Certain Provisions of the Act Come into Force
• 2015-08-01Regulations Amending the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (SOR/2015-77)
• 2015-12-01Regulations Amending the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (Administrative Monetary Penalties and Ineligibility System for Employers)
• 2015-12-19Ebola-related visa-processing ministerial instructions repealed