National Identifiers for Canada

The following validation is delivered for the Canadian Social Insurance Number (SIN):

• The format is NNN NNN NNN (blanks included).

• It must be nine of digits.

• The first eight numbers are assigned digits and the last is a check digit. The check digit is determined using a specific algorithm and is used to validate the SIN.

SIN numbers starting with 9 are issued to people who are neither Canadian citizens nor permanent residents and require a SIN for employment purposes. These numbers are issued with an expiry date and the SIN isn't valid after this date.

The Expiration Date field tracks the expiry date of the SIN number.

Temporary numbers are also validated using a check digit, because these are valid numbers assigned by the government. The application allows entries of numbers starting with 9, however they must still pass the check digit validation, as well as contain an expiration date. If you would like to bypass validation of the SIN, use all zeros, instead of all nines.