OTTAWA — An internal government audit has found that the federal government could save $7 million a year by giving new Canadians a social insurance number when they apply for permanent residence documents.
The idea auditors pushed would take two pilot projects that help new landed immigrants apply for a social insurance numbers and expand it nationwide to more easily process hundreds of thousands of applications a year.
The process is similar to the way the government assigns newborn Canadians a social insurance number by doing so through the provinces when a birth certificate is registered, a program dubbed "SIN @ Birth."
That system in Ontario, for instance, cost $5 million to set up.
The audit, publicly posted late last month, suggests a similar system for new Canadians would cost about the same.
The department responsible, Employment and Social Development Canada, says it is studying the idea and a decision about whether to move ahead should be made by November.
