How to apply for e-Shram card and UAN

e-Shram is the free national database of unorganised workers run by the Ministry of Labour and Employment. You register with Aadhaar, receive a lifetime 12-digit Universal Account Number, and download the e-Shram card. Self-register at register.eshram.gov.in, or use a Common Service Centre if Aadhaar OTP will not reach you.

Read this table before you open the portal. Most failed e-Shram login attempts come from the wrong worker category, not from a broken site.

Agriculture labourers and landless farmers can register. Regular government employees and current EPFO or ESIC members cannot. The portal re-checks EPFO, ESIC, and income-tax databases. If you later move into organised work, e-Shram does not replace PF or ESIC cover.

If your Aadhaar is missing or the mobile on Aadhaar is dead, fix that first. See how to enrol or update Aadhaar.

The public face is eshram.gov.in. The live form is register.eshram.gov.in. Bookmark the register host. Lookalike domains that ask for a card fee are not the government site.

1. Open register.eshram.gov.in on your phone or a trusted computer.
2. Choose login using Aadhaar, not a random “new user” form on another site.
3. Enter Aadhaar and the captcha. Receive the OTP on the mobile seeded with UIDAI.
4. Confirm name, date of birth, gender, and photo pulled from Aadhaar. You cannot upload a new photo here.
5. Select your current occupation from the National Classification of Occupation list. Pick the work that actually pays you.
6. Add a secondary occupation only if it is a real extra income source.
7. Enter bank account and IFSC. Future scheme credits, if any, need a working account.
8. Add present address, education, and skill only if the screen asks. Save each page.
9. Submit. Note the 12-digit Universal Account Number on the acknowledgement.
10. Download the e-Shram card PDF. Print one copy. Keep the UAN with your Aadhaar.

The card does not expire. You do not renew it each year. You should still update occupation, address, and mobile when they change. The portal currently asks registrants to update profile and occupation for continued scheme linking.

1. Use “Login using UAN” on register.eshram.gov.in if you remember the number.
2. Use “Know Your UAN” if you forgot it. Aadhaar OTP reveals the UAN.
3. Use “Update profile using Aadhaar” to change the registered mobile.
4. If Aadhaar OTP still fails, stop retrying and switch to the CSC route below.

e-Shram UAN is a 12-digit Universal Account Number. It is not your EPFO UAN. Do not mix the two numbers on forms.

Once issued, the number stays with you. It does not change when you change state, occupation, or mobile. The card is only a print of the same record. Losing the paper does not cancel the UAN. Download it again after e-Shram login.

Keep a screenshot of the UAN page. Construction workers who later join a BOCW board often need this number plus board registration. See BOCW construction worker registration. Self-employed people who also run a tiny unit should not confuse e-Shram with Udyam MSME registration. Udyam is for the enterprise. e-Shram is for the worker.

The card is a worker identity in the national unorganised-worker database. Official FAQs on eshram.gov.in are clear on money: registration itself does not pay a cash benefit. Treat any agent who quotes a monthly pension or a fixed accident amount as the “e-Shram benefit” with caution. Those figures, if they exist at all, belong to separate schemes. Enrolment for those schemes is separate. Confirm whatever is listed under “My Schemes” on the live portal.

The card identifies you for future social-security delivery, stays portable if you migrate, and may be used in a national emergency to find eligible workers. It is not a job card. It is not EPFO, ESIC, Ayushman, or BOCW enrolment by itself. If a portal screen offers an extra scheme, read that scheme's own rules. Do not assume a rupee amount because a shopkeeper quoted one.

Self-registration is fastest when Aadhaar OTP works. Common Service Centres and State Seva Kendras exist for workers whose mobile is not linked to Aadhaar. They authenticate with biometrics. Find a centre at findmycsc.nic.in/csc.

If a centre asks a “laminate fee” or a “card charge”, ask for a printed receipt. Registration is free. Complain on gms.eshram.gov.in or call 14434.

Keep this short list ready. You do not upload a document bundle for basic registration.

• Aadhaar number.
• Mobile that can receive the Aadhaar OTP, or willingness to give biometrics at a CSC.
• Bank account number and IFSC, if the form asks.
• A clear idea of your main occupation, in ordinary words, so you can pick the right NCO code.

You do not currently submit income proof or date-of-birth proof. Name, photo, and date of birth come from Aadhaar. If those are wrong, update Aadhaar first. Then complete Aadhaar re-eKYC on e-Shram so the photo and name refresh.

• Typing a lookalike URL and paying for a “plastic e-Shram card”. Use eshram.gov.in and register.eshram.gov.in only.
• Using a relative's mobile that is not on Aadhaar. Self-registration will fail OTP.
• Selecting a random occupation because the list is long. Wrong NCO data follows you into scheme checks.
• Trying to register while you still contribute to EPFO or ESIC. The match will block or later flag the record.
• Mixing e-Shram UAN with EPFO UAN on bank or welfare forms.
• Never updating mobile after a SIM change. You then cannot complete e-Shram login.
• Expecting a cash credit the week after the card downloads. The official FAQ says registration is being done now. Benefits, if notified later, run on other scheme rules.

First use the official help channels. Helpline 14434 and 18008896811 run 9.00 AM to 6.00 PM daily, including Sundays. If 14434 is busy, file on gms.eshram.gov.in. Quote your Aadhaar (masked), UAN if issued, and the exact error text.

If the grievance sits without a speaking answer, file RTI under RTI Act 2005 s.6(1). Address it to the CPIO in the Ministry of Labour and Employment for portal-wide failures. Address it to the State Labour Department PIO when a state seva kendra or local facilitation camp created the record. Ask for records, not opinions.

To,
The Central Public Information Officer,
Ministry of Labour and Employment,
Shram Shakti Bhawan, Rafi Marg, New Delhi 110001
(or State Labour Department PIO, if the record was created at a state centre)

Subject: Information under RTI Act 2005 s.6(1) on e-Shram registration / UAN

1. Current status of e-Shram registration against Aadhaar ending ____ / UAN ________ as on date.
2. Copy of any EPFO, ESIC, or income-tax match that blocked or flagged the registration.
3. Date-wise log of Aadhaar eKYC attempts and the error code returned, if any.
4. Status of grievance number ________ on gms.eshram.gov.in, with the name and designation of the officer who last acted.
5. If a UAN was generated, the date of generation and whether the e-Shram card is available for download.

I apply under s.6(1). Please reply within 30 days under s.7(1).

Draft the same questions in AI RTI Drafter. If the PIO is silent after 30 days, file first appeal under s.19(1) with First Appeal Builder. State portal and fee notes: state RTI portals and RTI fees by state.

Illustrative scenario: a street vendor loses the OTP phone a week after self-registration. She does not pay a cafe to “reissue” the card. She updates the mobile through CSC biometrics, then downloads the same UAN PDF.

Open register.eshram.gov.in, complete Aadhaar OTP e-Shram login, fill occupation and bank, and submit. The UAN and card PDF follow in the same flow when eKYC succeeds.

It is the 12-digit Universal Account Number printed on the e-Shram card. Use Know Your UAN on register.eshram.gov.in with Aadhaar OTP if you lost the paper.

The mobile on Aadhaar is wrong, biometrics are locked, or you are on a lookalike site. Update the mobile at UIDAI, or register with biometrics at a CSC.

14434 is the national e-Shram helpdesk, also listed as 18008896811, 9.00 AM to 6.00 PM every day. Use gms.eshram.gov.in when the call does not connect.

Yes. The ministry says workers should not pay any registering entity. If a centre charges, complain on the grievance portal and keep the receipt.

e-Shram is for workers who are not members of EPFO or ESIC. If the portal blocks you, the match is the reason. RTI can ask for that match record. Do not hide an active PF account.

No. Official FAQs say registration is what the portal is doing. Separate schemes may be listed later. Confirm on eshram.gov.in. Do not trust a rupee figure quoted by an agent.

You do not apply again. Complete e-Shram login with UAN or Aadhaar and download the same card. The number does not change.

• AI RTI Drafter
• The RTI Playbook
• Apply for Udyam MSME
• Apply for Aadhaar
• BOCW construction worker registration
• All how-to-apply guides
• RTI Act, 2005
• Citizen crisis response network

• e-Shram home, Ministry of Labour and Employment
• e-Shram self-registration and UAN login
• Official e-Shram FAQs
• e-Shram grievance portal
• CSC locator
• Ministry of Labour and Employment

Reviewed for RTI Wiki by Dr. Shrawan Kumar Pathak.