What is a UAN?
A UAN (Universal Account Number) is a permanent 12-digit number issued by the EPFO that stays with you for your entire career. Each employer you join opens a member account for their PF contributions, and every one of those accounts links under your single UAN. That is what makes PF portable: change jobs, share your existing UAN with the new employer, and your provident fund history travels with you instead of fragmenting. Through the UAN portal you can see your passbook, check that contributions are actually landing, transfer old balances and raise withdrawal claims. You have one UAN for life, a second one is an error to get merged, not a spare.
Where to find your UAN
On your payslip (well-formed payslips print it), from your employer's HR or payroll system, or via the EPFO portal's retrieval using your Aadhaar-linked mobile. Activate it once on the member portal; after that, your passbook and claims are self-service, no employer needed as an intermediary.
What to do with it at every job change
Give the new employer your existing UAN at onboarding (the offer-stage form asks), verify their first contribution appears in your passbook within a couple of months, and initiate transfer of the old member account online. The employees who retire with clean, complete PF histories are the ones who did these three small things at every switch.
I seem to have two UANs, which is what now?
It happens when an employer generated a fresh UAN instead of linking your old one. Raise a merge request through the EPFO portal (One Member–One EPF Account) so balances consolidate under the active UAN, and going forward, always hand your UAN to new employers at joining.
Go deeper: PF calculation guide · PF & ESI registration · Onboarding
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