After You Apply: Biweekly Reports and Your Access Code

The first four weeks after you submit

Submitting the application starts a review, not a payment. Service Canada aims to decide on a claim within 28 days of filing and says it meets that target in about 80% of cases. Missing Records of Employment (ROEs) or unanswered questions are the usual reasons a file takes longer. If an agent needs more from you, they contact you, so answer your phone and check your mail during this period.

Three things happen in parallel:

• Your benefit statement arrives by mail, shortly after you apply. It holds your four-digit access code.
• Your employers' ROEs reach Service Canada. Employers are expected to issue them within 5 calendar days after the final pay period. You can see which ones have arrived in My Service Canada Account.
• Your first report comes due. The benefit statement explains reporting. Each time you file, you're told when the next report is due.

Example: Daniel's last day of work is Friday, October 16, 2026, and he applies on Monday, October 19. His benefit statement comes in the mail shortly after. If he's eligible and his ROE is on file, his first payment would usually arrive around Monday, November 16, about 28 days after he applied. Normally the first week of a claim is an unpaid waiting week, but it's waived for claims starting March 30, 2025 to October 9, 2027. That waiver is temporary (Pilot Project No. 25 is the latest extension), so check the date your claim starts. Our waiting period guide has the details.

Your access code: what it is and how to protect it

The access code is a four-digit number printed at the top of your benefit statement. Together with your social insurance number, it identifies you every time you file a report. Entering your SIN and code also counts as signing the online report, which is why Service Canada tells you never to share it and to keep it somewhere safe.

Two points people miss:

• If you had an EI claim within the last month, no new code is mailed. You keep using the access code from that claim.
• The access code is not your My Service Canada Account password and not the Personal Access Code (PAC) some people use to register for that account. They're separate.

If your statement never arrives or you lose the code, don't guess at it and don't wait out the reporting window. Call the EI line at 1-800-206-7218 or go to a Service Canada Centre. Expect identity questions before anything is reissued.

How biweekly reports work

A report is how you confirm, two weeks at a time, that you're still entitled to benefits. No report, no payment: benefits are paid only after a report is processed, and they stop if you stop reporting.

You can file in two ways:

• Online through the Internet Reporting Service on canada.ca. Sign in with your SIN and access code. If you stay on one page for more than 10 minutes, you're disconnected, so have your numbers ready before you start.
• By phone through the Telephone Reporting Service at 1-800-531-7555.

If you can't do either, a paper report is possible by mail. If the system needs more information from you, it ends with a message asking you to call, or the phone service transfers you to an agent.

Timing. You can't file before the date you're given, and you have 3 weeks from that date to send it. Filing on the first day you can is the simple habit that keeps money flowing. If you miss the window, payments stop, and getting those weeks paid means asking Service Canada to accept the late report, which needs good cause for the delay (the same idea as an antedate, explained in our guide to the 4-week rule).

What the report asks, and how to answer

Each report covers two weeks, asked about one week at a time. Expect questions about:

• Work and earnings. Dates and hours worked, and your gross pay (before deductions) for the week you did the work, even if you'll be paid later. Report actual amounts, not estimates or take-home pay. Self-employment counts too.
• Your availability. Whether you were ready, willing and capable of working each day. Days you were sick, in hospital or otherwise unable to take a job need to be reported.
• Absences. Time away from your home area or outside Canada. Regular benefits usually stop for days you're abroad, with a few listed exceptions; see travelling while on EI.
• School or training, including hours and any training allowance.
• Other money you received or will receive, such as pension payments or money from a former employer, even if it hasn't been paid yet.

Answering yes doesn't automatically cut your payment. In 2026, if you work while on claim you keep 50 cents of every dollar you earn, up to 90% of the weekly insurable earnings used to set your claim; above that, earnings are deducted dollar for dollar. Our working while on EI guide and the calculator show the effect on a 55% benefit capped at $729 a week in 2026.

Made a mistake? Before you submit, you can change answers in the online or phone service. After you submit, call EI as soon as possible. Errors you leave in place usually turn into an overpayment you have to repay.

My Service Canada Account: what to use it for

My Service Canada Account (MSCA) is the government's online account for EI, CPP and OAS. You don't need it to report, but it's the easiest way to see what's happening with your claim. Once you're in, you can:

• check your claim status and messages, and read or print most letters mailed to you;
• see your latest claim: start and end dates, weekly benefit rate, weeks of entitlement and the last report processed;
• see which ROEs your employers have filed;
• find out why you aren't eligible, if that's the decision;
• update your address, phone number and direct deposit details;
• get your T4E tax slip (online from February 1; see EI and taxes);
• tell Service Canada about time outside Canada through the "Absence from Canada" form.

Signing up. You sign in with a bank through the Interac Sign-In Partner option, with a GCKey, or (in British Columbia and Alberta) with a provincial login. You then confirm your identity once, either through the Interac verification service, which is immediate, or with a Personal Access Code. A PAC requested online is mailed to the address on file within 5 to 10 business days, so if you want to see your claim in the first weeks, register early.

Every claim is decided by Service Canada, not by MyEI. MyEI is an independent information and estimate tool and is not affiliated with Service Canada or the Government of Canada. For your own file, call Service Canada at 1-800-206-7218 or start from canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei.html.