A Foreign Passport Is Named in the Statute, and a Suspicion Undoes It
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Saint Kitts and Nevis on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
107 exceptions recorded across 42 countries · none match Saint Kitts and Nevis to Canada · Opening a bank account
Canada puts the right to open a bank account in the Bank Act rather than in a bank's policy. A member bank must open a retail deposit account for a natural person who asks in person and produces two documents from a reliable source, and the statute's own list of examples includes foreign passports. Nothing in the section asks about immigration status. One paragraph later the picture narrows: if the bank has reasonable grounds to suspect the person is misrepresenting their identity, it may require one piece of Canadian federal or provincial photo identification bearing a signature - which a new arrival, by definition, does not have.
At a glance
- Immigration status
- Not a condition anywhere in the section that creates the right
Section 627.17 of the Bank Act.
- Foreign passport
- Named in the statute as an acceptable document
- If the bank suspects misrepresentation
- One piece of Canadian or provincial photo identification with a signature
- What the anti-laundering rules accept
- Photo identification issued by a foreign government that is not a municipal government
- Where the old list lived
- The Access to Basic Banking Services Regulations, repealed on 29 June 2022
The page now carries nothing but its own repeal note.
Requirements
- A request made in person at a branch or point of service
- Two documents from a reliable source, one with name and address, one with name and date of birth
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«627.17 (1) Subject to subsection (2), a member bank shall, at any point of service or any branch in Canada at which it opens retail deposit accounts through natural persons, open a retail deposit account on the request, made there in person, of a natural person who - (a) presents to the member bank - (i) two documents from a reliable source — one of which indicates the person’s name and address and the other the person’s name and date of birth — including - (A) identification issued by the Government of Canada or the government of a province, - (B) recent notices of tax assessments issued by the Government of Canada or the government of a province or municipality, - (C) recent statements of benefits from the Government of Canada or the government of a province, - (D) recent Canadian public utility bills, - (E) recent bank account or credit card statements, - (F) foreign passports, and - (G) any prescribed document, or»Clause (F) is the one that matters to a new arrival: foreign passports, named by the statute itself rather than left to a bank.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Canada's consolidated federal statutes and regulations, served whole as plain HTML at a stable address built from the Act's chapter or the regulation's registration number. Each consolidation states the date it is current to and the last amendment applied.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are official under the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act, but the site itself warns that where a consolidation and the original statute differ, the original prevails. The date a page is current to is printed in a side panel our capture does not carry, so a stored reading here shows the text without the line that dates it. Immigration practice in Canada also sits largely in ministerial instructions and programme delivery guidance, which are not law and are not published here, and Quebec selects its own immigrants under an accord this site does not carry.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«(c) if the member bank — based on its verification of the circumstances set out in paragraphs 627.18(1)(a) to (d) or of the documents presented by the person or based on any information provided by the person in connection with the request — has reasonable grounds to suspect that the person is misrepresenting their identity, presents to the member bank one piece of identification issued by the Government of Canada or the government of a province that bears the person’s photograph and signature;»The condition is triggered by the bank's own suspicion and satisfied only by Canadian or provincial identification. It is the gap between the right and its exercise.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Canada's consolidated federal statutes and regulations, served whole as plain HTML at a stable address built from the Act's chapter or the regulation's registration number. Each consolidation states the date it is current to and the last amendment applied.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are official under the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act, but the site itself warns that where a consolidation and the original statute differ, the original prevails. The date a page is current to is printed in a side panel our capture does not carry, so a stored reading here shows the text without the line that dates it. Immigration practice in Canada also sits largely in ministerial instructions and programme delivery guidance, which are not law and are not published here, and Quebec selects its own immigrants under an accord this site does not carry.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«105 (1) A person or entity that is required to verify a person’s identity shall do so - (a) by referring to an identification document that contains the person’s name and photograph and that is issued by the federal government or a provincial government or by a foreign government that is not a municipal government, and by confirming that the name and photograph are those of the person;»The identity-verification rules a bank is separately obliged to follow. A foreign government's photo document is accepted on its face, with municipal governments excluded.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Canada's consolidated federal statutes and regulations, served whole as plain HTML at a stable address built from the Act's chapter or the regulation's registration number. Each consolidation states the date it is current to and the last amendment applied.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are official under the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act, but the site itself warns that where a consolidation and the original statute differ, the original prevails. The date a page is current to is printed in a side panel our capture does not carry, so a stored reading here shows the text without the line that dates it. Immigration practice in Canada also sits largely in ministerial instructions and programme delivery guidance, which are not law and are not published here, and Quebec selects its own immigrants under an accord this site does not carry.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«[Repealed, SOR/2021-181, s. 122] - 2022-06-29»The page that used to carry the list of acceptable documents now carries only its own repeal. The list moved into the Bank Act in 2022, which is why this record quotes a statute where an older account of the rule would quote a regulation.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Canada's consolidated federal statutes and regulations, served whole as plain HTML at a stable address built from the Act's chapter or the regulation's registration number. Each consolidation states the date it is current to and the last amendment applied.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are official under the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act, but the site itself warns that where a consolidation and the original statute differ, the original prevails. The date a page is current to is printed in a side panel our capture does not carry, so a stored reading here shows the text without the line that dates it. Immigration practice in Canada also sits largely in ministerial instructions and programme delivery guidance, which are not law and are not published here, and Quebec selects its own immigrants under an accord this site does not carry.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The obligation is on member banks and at points of service where accounts are opened in person through natural persons. An online application is governed by a different subsection of the same section.
Section 627.18 lists the circumstances in which a bank may refuse. They were not read for this record.
- consolidatesBank Act, section 627.17
Justice Laws Website, Department of Justice Canada
About this source
Canada's consolidated federal statutes and regulations, served whole as plain HTML at a stable address built from the Act's chapter or the regulation's registration number. Each consolidation states the date it is current to and the last amendment applied.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are official under the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act, but the site itself warns that where a consolidation and the original statute differ, the original prevails. The date a page is current to is printed in a side panel our capture does not carry, so a stored reading here shows the text without the line that dates it. Immigration practice in Canada also sits largely in ministerial instructions and programme delivery guidance, which are not law and are not published here, and Quebec selects its own immigrants under an accord this site does not carry.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- consolidatesProceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Regulations
Justice Laws Website, Department of Justice Canada
About this source
Canada's consolidated federal statutes and regulations, served whole as plain HTML at a stable address built from the Act's chapter or the regulation's registration number. Each consolidation states the date it is current to and the last amendment applied.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are official under the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act, but the site itself warns that where a consolidation and the original statute differ, the original prevails. The date a page is current to is printed in a side panel our capture does not carry, so a stored reading here shows the text without the line that dates it. Immigration practice in Canada also sits largely in ministerial instructions and programme delivery guidance, which are not law and are not published here, and Quebec selects its own immigrants under an accord this site does not carry.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source