Getting a Social Insurance Number

This is key for two reasons:

1.) It will allow you to file your taxes more easily and to qualify for benefits from the Canadian government.

2.) It will make applying for an OGS much more straight forward.

So to get a SIN you will need an employment contract printed on an official Western letterhead. Sandra will be able to print it for you as well as sign and date the form on behalf of the department. However, when I did it I provided her with the PDF. In case you all need to do that, here is a PDF of the Employment Contract. You can either have Sandra pull it up from the website or email it to her yourself.

After obtaining the employment contract on official letter head you will then need to make sure that the dates of your employment match the dates on your study permit, even if you will not be working exactly at that time. For example, my study permit became effective on August 8th of 2009. But I didn’t begin working for the university until September (and at that time you will have to sign another employment contract). This confused me, and I put the wrong dates on my first application and then had to come back to the department to correct it. So be sure that the start and end dates are exactly those on your study permit.

Then you will take your employment contract here. It called the Dominion Public Building, and it really stands out. It’s a tall grey concrete building  that in my opinion, has in interesting industrial/deco vibe (it seems like art deco architecture without any of the soft colours that are often associated with this movement). The address is 457 Richmond Street, so it’s right downtown. I recommend leaving yourself some time afterwards–if you can– to walk around a little bit and to familiarize yourself with the city.

The Dominion Public Building