Register for My VAC Account with GCKey or a Sign-In Partner, verify your identity, explore benefits with the Benefits Navigator, apply and track applications, upload documents, and set up direct deposit.
Applies in: CA
My VAC Account is the online account for doing business with Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC). It is available across Canada to veterans, Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members, and still-serving and retired Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) members, as well as family members receiving VAC benefits. This guide covers registering for the account and using it to explore benefits, apply, track applications, upload documents, and manage payment details. It gives no advice on whether any person qualifies for a particular benefit: the account's own tools and the application process are what settle that question.
Registration is open to veterans, CAF or RCMP members, and family members directly in receipt of benefits from VAC. Registered powers of attorney can also use the account, but only general powers of attorney and powers of attorney for property at this time. If you act under a different type of power of attorney, check the account pages before starting, because the account may not yet support your role.
Inside the account you can learn about VAC benefits and services, apply online, upload documents, view submitted forms and documents, track application status, view a summary of your benefits and your payment history, sign up for direct deposit or change banking information, message VAC staff securely, and update personal information. The account also helps with transition planning: it keeps track of what you need to do before and after release from the CAF, and it can help you find a VAC office.
Registration starts at the My VAC Account sign-in page. The first choice is the credential, and the second is proving your identity. Keep the two steps separate in your mind, because the credential alone does not finish registration.
You can create a username and password with GCKey, the Government of Canada credential used across federal services, or sign in through a Sign-In Partner using your online banking login. With a Sign-In Partner, your financial institution confirms your login and shares no personal or banking information with VAC. You must already be registered for online banking to use that route; otherwise, create a GCKey instead.
One GCKey habit is worth setting now. A GCKey expires if you do not use it at least once every two years, and an expired GCKey means registering for a new one and re-registering with any service that used it. Sign in occasionally even when you have nothing to file, so the credential stays live.
After the credential, VAC asks you to verify your identity, because the Sign-In Partner supplies no identity information and the account holds sensitive records. You have three choices: answer a series of five security questions online; verify in person or by telephone, after which VAC issues an enrolment code; or confirm your identity through CRA My Account. If you choose the enrolment code route, call the National Contact Centre Network at 1-866-522-2122 to get the code, then enter your personal information during the application process to confirm your identity. Once registration is complete, later sign-ins need only the credential.
If you are unsure which programs fit your situation, start with the Benefits Navigator. It asks a short set of mostly yes-or-no questions, then generates a list of benefits and services that may be relevant, with links to more information and to application forms. Your answers are not stored in VAC records, you can change them at any time, and a finished session saves automatically so you can view previous results from the What can I apply for section.
Treat the Navigator as a map, not a decision. VAC states plainly that the tool is for reference only: no eligibility decision is based on your answers, and eligibility is assessed only from the application form and the documents you provide, with further assessments where a program requires them. If you are unsure about an answer, try both outcomes and compare the lists, then read the program page for each result that interests you before applying.
The What can I apply for section lists VAC services and benefits with links to instructions for each one. Some applications run as guided web forms in the account: disability benefits, additional pain and suffering compensation, rehabilitation services, income replacement benefit, career transition services, education and training benefit, health-related travel claims, and the Veteran Independence Program. Guided forms ask only the questions relevant to you, include helpful information along the way, and save as you go so you can leave and return.
Not every form is available online. Forms that can be completed and submitted online sit in the account; for anything else, search the forms on the VAC website. A signed paper form can still travel through the account: download and complete it, print and sign it, scan or photograph it, sign in, select Upload files, then Upload supporting documents and other files, choose Veterans Affairs Canada or the Bureau of Pension Advocates, pick the program, choose the file, name the application or program, and select Upload. A form submitted through the account counts as signed, because signing in with your secure credential verifies your identity. A printed form that needs another person's signature, such as a spouse's, must be printed, signed by both people, and then uploaded, mailed, or dropped off.
To follow an application, select Track your applications on the home page under Applications and Forms. The page shows the general status, and the status link gives more detail. Where possible, VAC directs you to average wait-time information on its website rather than a specific turnaround time for your file. Expect a delay before a new submission appears: it may take several days, and the application shows in tracking once a VAC agent has received it. Until then, look in Submitted forms and documents on the Forms page. Saved forms stay available while the program they belong to remains in VAC systems; if a program is removed or replaced, its form goes with it.
Secure messaging is the account's way to reach VAC staff directly, and the Profile section is where address, phone, and banking details are updated. One profile habit saves rework: to change the address or phone number shown at the top of a form, close the form without saving, update the information in Profile, then reopen the form. Other pre-filled information can only be changed by contacting VAC.
Direct deposit is set up in the account, and the steps are exact. Sign in, select Profile, select Edit direct deposit, enter your branch, institution, and account numbers, click Continue, and click the I authorize button. If you receive Veterans Independence Program or Treatment Benefits payments, check the box to have those paid by direct deposit as well; a separate box covers Rehabilitation Services and Vocational Assistance Program payments. The account also shows your payment history and a summary of your benefits, so you can confirm what was paid and when.
Timing needs care when you change accounts. If you change direct deposit information, the next payment may still be issued to the account you previously had registered, and if that account is closed VAC will mail a cheque to the mailing address on file. Leave the old account open for 30 days so the next payment lands in the new account. You can set up or edit direct deposit in the account, but you cannot stop it there; stopping direct deposit is a phone request to VAC.
A temporary address is worth adding if you will be away from home for 3 months or longer. It tells VAC where you are, but it does not change your home or mailing address, and mail is not re-routed to it unless you contact VAC. If your postal code produces an error when you update an address, Canada Post may not yet carry it in its database; contact VAC and staff can update the address manually.
Free help with VAC applications is available from several directions. VAC staff can guide you through an application by phone at 1-866-522-2122, Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. local time, by secure message, or by in-person appointment booked online or by phone; service locations offer in-person services by appointment only. CAF Transition Centres support members, veterans, and families through the move to civilian life, including guidance on VAC applications. Service Canada officers can receive, review, and assist with Disability benefits and Veterans Independence Program forms and documents, and Royal Canadian Legion command service officers can help prepare and submit Disability benefits applications and support you through the process, including a request for reconsideration. Start with the account's own FAQ pages if the problem is technical, such as a GCKey two-factor authentication issue, and call the GCKey service desk numbers listed there rather than guessing at recovery steps.
Some figures and details are deliberately not stated in this guide, because they could not be verified on a current official VAC page. No processing or wait-time figure for any benefit is stated, because the FAQ pages point to average wait-time information on the VAC website rather than publishing a turnaround time for individual applications. No benefit amount and no eligibility rule for any specific program is stated, because the Navigator makes no eligibility decision and each program's own page governs its rules. The full list of Sign-In Partner financial institutions is not reproduced, because partner lists change; the FAQ page names the participating institutions as of its last update. No GCKey two-factor setup detail beyond the credential choice is stated, because the recovery and authenticator steps belong to the GCKey service pages, not the VAC account pages. If any of these details is needed, verify it on the current VAC or GCKey page before relying on it.
Veterans, Canadian Armed Forces and Royal Canadian Mounted Police members, family members directly receiving benefits from Veterans Affairs Canada, and registered powers of attorney can register. Only general powers of attorney and powers of attorney for property can use the account at this time, so joint powers of attorney and other types are not yet covered.
Either one works, and Veterans Affairs Canada states there is no difference in the level of security. GCKey is a username and password you create for Government of Canada services, while a Sign-In Partner lets you sign in with your online banking login. Your bank shares no personal or banking information with the account, and it does not even share which financial institution you used.
The credential only proves you control the login, so Veterans Affairs Canada adds a separate identity check because the account holds sensitive information. You can answer five security questions online, verify in person or by telephone and receive an enrolment code, or confirm your identity through CRA My Account. Once registered, later sign-ins need only the credential.
No, and that distinction matters. The Navigator is a short questionnaire that lists programs and services that may be relevant to you, with links to more information and application forms. Eligibility is considered only when you actually apply, using the application form and the documents you provide, and some programs need further assessments.
Sign in and select Track your applications on the home page, under Applications and Forms, where you can view the general status and select the status link for more detail. A newly submitted application may take several days to appear there, and it shows once a Veterans Affairs Canada agent has received it, so check the Submitted forms and documents section in the meantime.
Sign in, select Profile, then Edit direct deposit, enter your branch, institution, and account numbers, click Continue, and click the I authorize button. If you change the account, the next payment may still go to the old account, so Veterans Affairs Canada suggests leaving the old account open for 30 days. You cannot stop direct deposit in the account; stopping it is a phone request.