To submit information for your EI Claim, you must call 1-800-206-7218 (TTY: 1-800-529-3742) during business hours or go to a Service Canada Center. In order to access and print your electronic ROEs, choose “Records of employment.”
Before starting your application
Make sure you have the following information to complete your Employment Insurance (EI) application:
- your social insurance number (SIN)
- if your SIN begins with a 9, you need to supply proof of your immigration status and work permit
- the last name at birth of one of your parents
- your mailing and residential addresses, including the postal codes
- your complete banking information to sign up for direct deposit, including:
- your financial institution name
- your bank branch (transit) number
- your account number
- the names, addresses, dates of employment, and reason for separation for all your employers over the last 52 weeks
- your detailed version of the facts (if you quit or were dismissed from any job in the past 52 weeks)
- the dates, Sunday to Saturday, and earnings for each of your highest paid weeks of insurable earnings in the last 52 weeks or since the start of your last EI claim, whichever is the shorter period
- this information will be used, along with your record(s) of employment (ROE), to calculate your benefit rate
If you’re reactivating an existing claim
You may also have to provide the following details if you’re reactivating an existing claim:
- the salary amount you received, before deductions, for the last week you worked (from Sunday to your last day of work), including insurable tips and commissions
- any other amount you received or will receive, such as:
- vacation pay
- severance pay
- pension payments
- pay in lieu of notice
- other money
When applying online
To find out if you’re eligible to receive EI regular benefits, you must submit an application online. The online application takes about 1 hour to complete.
If you don’t complete the application all at once, you can come back to it later using the temporary password that you receive when you start.
Your information is saved for 72 hours (3 days) from the time you start. If you don’t submit the application within this time:
- it will be deleted, and
- you’ll have to start a new application
When you apply for EI benefits, you’ll be asked for your email address. If we need more information about your claim and can’t reach you by phone, we’ll send you a toll-free number in an email, asking you to call us.
If you applied for EI benefits in the past year
If you started a new EI claim within the last 52 weeks and there are still weeks payable on that claim, we’ll automatically reactivate (renew) your existing claim when you submit your application.
In some cases, it may be to your advantage to cancel or end your old claim and start a new claim, because this may increase the amount of your benefits or the length of your benefit period.
It is important to consider:
- if your claim is reactivated and you work after the start of that claim, you may be able to establish a new claim when your existing claim runs out
- in order to establish a new claim you must have enough insurable hours and meet the qualifying conditions for a new claim
- if a new claim is established instead of reactivating your existing claim, the remaining weeks payable on the existing claim will be lost
- additionally, a 1-week unpaid waiting period must be served on a new claim before you’re entitled to receive payment
Provide supporting information
Records of employment
Employers issue ROEs to provide information about your work history. We use the information to determine:
- whether you’re eligible to receive EI benefits
- how much you’ll receive
You can visit MSCA to view ROEs that have been issued for you by past and recent employers.