For all employees, the Universal Account Number (UAN) has become almost a quintessential number all throughout the working life and even thereafter. After all, for transferring provident fund (PF) on shifting jobs, for withdrawing PF or even for knowing the status of it, making use of UAN has make the job easier, faster and is hassle-free for the employees.

UAN is a 12-digit number, is unique to each individual employee and it remains the same all through one’s career. Initially, it gets generated by the EPFO through the employer and, thereafter, the employee needs to share it with the new employer every time he or she changes job. On shifting jobs, the provident fund (PF) number or the Member ID is created afresh by each employer, but the UAN remains the same. The idea is to link all Member IDs to the same unique UAN for better management of the PF of the employee.

If you do not know your UAN, ask your employer or in some cases, the salary slips also carry the same. To carry out PF transfer or PF withdrawals using UAN, you need to have an active UAN. Unless the UAN is activated, the PF transfer and withdrawal process cannot be initiated.

But, before we look at the UAN activation process, here are a few important things to keep handy:

UAN provided by your employer – If you do not have it, ask your employer for it.

Member ID – Your provident fund number is your Member ID. If you don’t have it, ask your employer else it is also there on your salary slip. You will need the Member ID while activating UAN.

How to enter Member ID – Once you have accessed the website using the link below, you will have to enter the details. To enter Member ID, you will have to ‘Select State’ where your PF office is located. As each state may have more than one office, select the one applicable to you. Then enter region, office, establishment id, establishment extension, Member ID.

The Member ID is an alphanumeric number representing the state, regional office, establishment, and the PF member code, specifc to each employee.

Sample PF number: MH NAG 0062439 000 0000738

* MH represents the state, i.e., Maharashtra
* NAG represents the regional office, i.e., Nagpur
* The next 7 numbers, i.e., 0062439 represents the establishment ID
* The next 3 numbers are establishment extension ID. It can be 000 if no extension is provided.
* The last 7 numbers, i.e., 0000738 represents the member (employee) ID.

UAN activation process step-wise

Here is the UAN activation process. The UAN activation procedure is shown step-wise below:

Step 1: Visit the Member Interface of the Unified Portal of EPFO by accessing the following link: https://unifiedportal-mem.epfindia.gov.in/memberinterface/

Step 2: On the page, click on ‘Activate UAN’ ( Right side bottom under Important Links)

Step 3: On the page that opens, one has to enter certain details as it is there in the EPFO records. To ensure check these in your salary slip.

Step 4: Enter your Member ID

Step 5: Entering email id, Aadhaar and PAN are not mandatory for activating UAN, however, you may submit them if you wish to. Enter your date of birth and mobile number carefully.

Step 6: After submitting, once you receive the OTP, click on validate OTP and the process gets completed. A password to access UAN member portal is sent to your mobile, using which you may log on and change the password for the UAN account.