reference letter for self employed after ITA

[saana221]

Hi Asivad ,

I have received ITA on 27 jan 2016.
I have to fill eapr , I am primary applicant and software engineer yprimar.

Issue: -
1) my spouse is not primary applicant. He is self employed
2) Currently he own software firm and work ahs soft developer.
3) which all document we have to show to support this ? I means
reference letter on his company letter head will do.
4) partnership deed ?
5) balance sheet ?
6) Also he do not has canadian work exp , thus it will not be fetching me any point .

Please let me know ??

Thanks
Saana

 

[saana221]

Hi Asivad ,

I have received ITA on 27 jan 2016.
I have to fill eapr , I am primary applicant and software engineer yprimar.

Issue: -
1) my spouse is not primary applicant. He is self employed
2) Currently he own software firm and work ahs soft developer.
3) which all document we have to show to support this ? I means
reference letter on his company letter head will do.
4) partnership deed ?
5) balance sheet ?
6) Also he do not has canadian work exp , thus it will not be fetching me any point .

Please let me know ??

Thanks
Saana

 

[Simpson85]

Sorry for bringing up such an old topic, but I'm interested in the same thing.

I have been self-employed for last two years (and I still am), so I'll obviously have to provide a reference letter for myself.

Is there anything I should be particularly careful about?

Besides reference letter, I will provide a registration certificate of my business and tax reports for 2015 and 2016 (where are my income and paid taxes shown per quarter and in total for the whole year).

Thanks in advance!

 

[xpressentry]

If the self employed person is the main application, then you need to get reference letters. Ask your clients to give you something. If the self employed person is accompanying the main applicant, put the accompanying spouse's self employment in personal history. My wife is self employed and that is what I plan to do. It's not misrepresentation. She is not going to get any points for her employment or self-employment.

 

[Simpson85]

If the self employed person is the main application, then you need to get reference letters. Ask your clients to give you something. If the self employed person is accompanying the main applicant, put the accompanying spouse's self employment in personal history. My wife is self employed and that is what I plan to do. It's not misrepresentation. She is not going to get any points for her employment or self-employment.

Thank you for your reply! Yes, I am the main applicant, so I definitely need a reference letter. And I agree with the situation you described for your wife. I have also moved my wife's work history to personal history, since she's also not claiming any points for that.

However, are you sure about "clients giving me something"? I mean, the form of the reference letter has its requirements, so I'm not sure what should I get from my clients. They cannot confirm when I started my self-employment nor how much I earned/worked per week/my duties etc.

Therefore I'm pretty sure I need to write a letter myself and support the letter with evidence, like we all do for any kind of employment (employment contract, paystubs, etc.) - so if you meant to put something from clients as a part of evidence, it definitely does make sense.

 

[xpressentry]

I don't know how it works in the country you come from. When my wife decided to start self employment, she registered with the HM Revenue and Customs in the UK so she has that registration letter. She does regular work for some clients and invoices them. She has work contracts which mention the duration of the contract, hours of work, duties and remuneration. The invoices confirm the payment receive. I'm not sure if CIC would accept this format. I don't have an idea about self employment.

 

[Simpson85]

I don't know how it works in the country you come from. When my wife decided to start self employment, she registered with the HM Revenue and Customs in the UK so she has that registration letter. She does regular work for some clients and invoices them. She has work contracts which mention the duration of the contract, hours of work, duties and remuneration. The invoices confirm the payment receive. I'm not sure if CIC would accept this format. I don't have an idea about self employment.

Thanks xpressentry!

It works similarly here in Croatia, except I did most of my work freelancing on Upwork (oDesk/Elance), so I don't have any contracts in such form.

Nevertheless, thank you once again for your efforts explaining this.

We'll see if someone else joins the topic with some ideas. Otherwise, I'll definitely write the reference letter myself (sign it and stamp it with my official seal) and provide as much supporting evidence as possible. There's always LoE to explain the situation - although I don't see any potential problems with this approach, but just asking to be sure if someone has had a similar experience.

 

[AM85]

CIC website says proof of ownership, letters of reference from clients and proof of payments received are the required documents. CIC also says self declared documents will not hold as proof. There is a page on CIC website regarding this, though the foum won't let me post the link to it.
I do get the ambiguity here since I'm in the same boat but no one seems to have a clear answer.

I intend to give my partnership documents, reference letters from 3-4 most prominent clients and balance sheets of the firm (showing incoming payments from my clients) as well as my personal balance sheets showing my salary and profits as documents. I'll also attach a letter form my partner stating the responsibilities each of us has in the firm.

 

[Simpson85]

CIC website says proof of ownership, letters of reference from clients and proof of payments received are the required documents. CIC also says self declared documents will not hold as proof. There is a page on CIC website regarding this, though the foum won't let me post the link to it.
I do get the ambiguity here since I'm in the same boat but no one seems to have a clear answer.

I intend to give my partnership documents, reference letters from 3-4 most prominent clients and balance sheets of the firm (showing incoming payments from my clients) as well as my personal balance sheets showing my salary and profits as documents. I'll also attach a letter form my partner stating the responsibilities each of us has in the firm.

Thanks AM85!

Unfortunately, that's far much more trouble than having to prove regular employment...

BTW, I found another post on forum that mentions the same requirements you listed:
http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/employment-records-selfemployed-in-canada-t322345.0.html;msg4485366#msg4485366

I'm seriously considering to remove my self-employed work experience from work history and leave it just in personal history. I have nearly 4 years of professional experience in the past 10 years even without being self-employed, so it actually didn't award me any extra points.

 

[AM85]

That is ideal. I also have employment but 2.5 years, hence I lose out 25 points if I don't put my current business in work experience..that reduces my points from 467 to 442. Moreover, my birthday comes early March, so another loss of 5 points. 437 is just not something I can claim and expect to get through unless points keep tumbling like they have been (unlikely).

All the best. Let's see what happens. I think you're in the clear if you only show your job as employment, do consult a few others beofre taking that call though

 

[Simpson85]

That is ideal. I also have employment but 2.5 years, hence I lose out 25 points if I don't put my current business in work experience..that reduces my points from 467 to 442. Moreover, my birthday comes early March, so another loss of 5 points. 437 is just not something I can claim and expect to get through unless points keep tumbling like they have been (unlikely).

All the best. Let's see what happens. I think you're in the clear if you only show your job as employment, do consult a few others beofre taking that call though

Yes, luckily it would be ideal.

But if you have 2.5 years of experience without current employment, you're not losing 25 points, but "only" 12 - so it wouldn't be 467 to 442, but 467 to 455. I've just checked it using CRS tool. 1 or 2 years of experience award 13 points, 3+ years award 25 points.

However, I agree it is smart to prove your current employment if that pushes you into 3+ years category.

Thanks once again! Sure, I will definitely consult before taking action - just that I saw this approach as a general advice on this forum: you don't have to prove anything you're not claiming points for.

 

[Mthornt]

I just started up my own company this month, and I will not be including it on my application, as I don't have any clients yet that would be able to provide me with a reference letter. However, even without this, I have 9 years of skilled work experience in the last 10 years, with 7 in the same NOC so it won't affect my point totals. I'd recommend removing anything from your work history that you are not claiming points for, and may have difficulty providing what CIC is asking for in terms of proof.

 

[Simpson85]

I just started up my own company this month, and I will not be including it on my application, as I don't have any clients yet that would be able to provide me with a reference letter. However, even without this, I have 9 years of skilled work experience in the last 10 years, with 7 in the same NOC so it won't affect my point totals. I'd recommend removing anything from your work history that you are not claiming points for, and may have difficulty providing what CIC is asking for in terms of proof.

Thank you very much Mthornt! I completely agree, since I read this same advice multiple times across the forum - but I'm always glad to hear another confirmation, since these are really serious decisions to be made.

BTW, will you mention your new company in the Letter of Explanation?

 

[Mthornt]

I haven't decided yet, since there is no prerequisite that it has to be mentioned. I'm hoping to get ITA sometime in Feb, if so I will not mention it since I may not have the required proof yet. If the question doesn't arise from CIC, I won't bring up the topic.

 

[Simpson85]

I haven't decided yet, since there is no prerequisite that it has to be mentioned. I'm hoping to get ITA sometime in Feb, if so I will not mention it since I may not have the required proof yet. If the question doesn't arise from CIC, I won't bring up the topic.

Yes, makes sense. No point is writing them "oh yeah, btw, I have this company you don't need to know about, since I have enough points without it and I actually don't have any solid proof for it yet"