Proof of Worx Experience Dilemma

[AmSeghir]

Hi all,

I'm facing a dilemma regarding my proof of work experience.

I have been an English language teacher for eight years in Morocco. But I work for the government, not for a private institution that may issue a reference letter in the format required by IRCC.

Being a government employee, I have the right to receive some papers that prove my work experience such as a work certificate, a salary certificate and an administrative situation certificate. These documents are provided in French and while they all have headers with the name and title of the ministry of education, they may not have footers that include the email or phone number of where I work. I asked about this at my work place, and was told that these are official papers that the ministry issues and no other alternative format can be provided!

Moreover, while these papers include important information such as my job title, slary scale and date of recruitment, they don’t mention how many hours I work per week, nor do they mention my job duties. In other words, apart from “secondary teacher,” my work certificate, for instance, doesn’t include other information about my duties such as lesson planning, delivering lessons, preparing, administring and grading tests, etc. All of this is not included

Can my application be denied because of this? Will the IRCC officer understand if I included a letter of explanation explaining these shortcomings?

PS: I had already contacted the embassy of Canada in Morocco about this, and they told me that in my specific case, these papers can prove work experience, but I’m still worried.

Your opinions and experiences will be much appreciated.

Thank you all!

 

[Peacekeeper87]

Hi all,

I'm facing a dilemma regarding my proof of work experience.

I have been an English language teacher for eight years in Morocco. But I work for the government, not for a private institution that may issue a reference letter in the format required by IRCC.

Being a government employee, I have the right to receive some papers that prove my work experience such as a work certificate, a salary certificate and an administrative situation certificate. These documents are provided in French and while they all have headers with the name and title of the ministry of education, they may not have footers that include the email or phone number of where I work. I asked about this at my work place, and was told that these are official papers that the ministry issues and no other alternative format can be provided!

Moreover, while these papers include important information such as my job title, slary scale and date of recruitment, they don’t mention how many hours I work per week, nor do they mention my job duties. In other words, apart from “secondary teacher,” my work certificate, for instance, doesn’t include other information about my duties such as lesson planning, delivering lessons, preparing, administring and grading tests, etc. All of this is not included

Can my application be denied because of this? Will the IRCC officer understand if I included a letter of explanation explaining these shortcomings?

PS: I had already contacted the embassy of Canada in Morocco about this, and they told me that in my specific case, these papers can prove work experience, but I’m still worried.

Your opinions and experiences will be much appreciated.

Thank you all!

Your issue, fortunately, is not specific to your position as a government employee.
Many applicants were not able to get reference letters per IRCC standards, and some weren't even able to get it on company letterhead, as they don't work there anymore. It is indeed a challenge for many applicants, and they know that.

What you can do is provide a detailed letter of explanation as to why you cannot get a letterhead with footer and duties, and provide your employer/manager/supervisor/office contact information and duties in the letter of explanation. Also, because it's a government entity, just mention official working hours, as that information can be easily verified.

Ideally, to make your case stronger, and if you're in good terms with the said employer, try getting him to write a letter with his/her contact information and your duties and sign it. If you can, also add pay slips and/or contract if available, and anything that shows you did the work that you claim for your specific NOC.

Your application will probably be recommended for further review as there would be no duties on the reference letter, but if you provide enough evidence in supporting documents (LOE, Payslips, Contract...etc), it should be fine. Most rejections that happen --as far as absence of duties is concerned--, are due to the fact that there is no possible way to identify the work the applicant claims experience points for. They just provide a basic work letter, with no explanation whatsoever.

 

[AmSeghir]

Your issue, fortunately, is not specific to your position as a government employee.
Many applicants were not able to get reference letters per IRCC standards, and some weren't even able to get it on company letterhead, as they don't work there anymore. It is indeed a challenge for many applicants, and they know that.

What you can do is provide a detailed letter of explanation as to why you cannot get a letterhead with footer and duties, and provide your employer/manager/supervisor/office contact information and duties in the letter of explanation. Also, because it's a government entity, just mention official working hours, as that information can be easily verified.

Ideally, to make your case stronger, and if you're in good terms with the said employer, try getting him to write a letter with his/her contact information and your duties and sign it. If you can, also add pay slips and/or contract if available.

Thank you Peacekeeper87.

Here are the documents I can provide:
1) work Certificate: It's an official document that includes the ministry's letterhead (logo and name). It states my name, obviously, my position (Secondary School Teacher), and the date of recruitment (2011).
2) Salary certificate: An official document that comes with the ministry's logo and name. It shows my salary as well as the money that is deducted from my salary like taxes and even bank loans.
3) Administrative situation: This official document states my job title date of recruitment and pay scale.
4) I can also manage to get a few promotion letters that show when I have advanced in my salary scale.
5) I can manage to get my appointment letter which specifies the date I moved from being a trainee teacher to an official teacher.
6) An explanation letter explaining the shortcomings of my papers.

I can't depend on my superiors to sign anything for me. Canadian immigration, especially the EE program, is not that popular among Moroccan teachers, so my superiors will be reluctant to sign and officially stamp papers that they had never seen before. Morocco is a pretty bureaucratic country, so that doesn't help, either.

What do you think? Will these do the trick?

Thanks a million, again.

 

[Peacekeeper87]

Thank you Peacekeeper87.

Here are the documents I can provide:
1) work Certificate: It's an official document that includes the ministry's letterhead (logo and name). It states my name, obviously, my position (Secondary School Teacher), and the date of recruitment (2011).
2) Salary certificate: An official document that comes with the ministry's logo and name. It shows my salary as well as the money that is deducted from my salary like taxes and even bank loans.
3) Administrative situation: This official document states my job title date of recruitment and pay scale.
4) I can also manage to get a few promotion letters that show when I have advanced in my salary scale.
5) I can manage to get my appointment letter which specifies the date I moved from being a trainee teacher to an official teacher.
6) An explanation letter explaining the shortcomings of my papers.

I can't depend on my superiors to sign anything for me. Canadian immigration, especially the EE program, is not that popular among Moroccan teachers, so my superiors will be reluctant to sign and officially stamp papers that they had never seen before. Morocco is a pretty bureaucratic country, so that doesn't help, either.

What do you think? Will these do the trick?

Thanks a million, again.

Yeah I know... They'll be worried about possible repercussions, not even mentioning that you'll give them leverage over you, because they'll then know you need something from them.

In my opinion it should be fine, but in complete honesty, it's really up to them.
But I have come across many applicants in far worse situation than yours, not even able to get a decent work letter at all, but still got PR.
I believe you're giving it your best shot with the aforementioned documents.

My last advice would be to write a LOE for work experience seperately. What you can do is explain why you can't get this-and-that work document, save it as pdf, and make it the first page of your whole PDF document regrouping all your work documents (Only 1 PDF is allowed per section). That way, it's the first page they see when they open your work experience document section. It makes you avoid having these important details drowned among others if included in the "general" LOE, with its own separate upload field.

 

[AmSeghir]

Yeah I know... They'll be worried about possible repercussions, not even mentioning that you'll give them leverage over you, because they'll then know you need something from them.

In my opinion it should be fine, but in complete honesty, it's really up to them.
But I have come across many applicants in far worse situation than yours, not even able to get a decent work letter at all, but still got PR.
I believe you're giving it your best shot with the aforementioned documents.

My last advice would be to write a LOE for work experience seperately. What you can do is explain why you can't get this-and-that work document, save it as pdf, and make it the first page of your whole PDF document regrouping all your work documents (Only 1 PDF is allowed per section). That way, it's the first page they see when they open your work experience document section. It makes you avoid having these important details drowned among others if included in the "general" LOE, with its own separate upload field.

1. Exactly! I don't even want them I'm planning to leave the job and the country.
2. Yes, I am really doing my best.
3. That is an excellent tip. I'll definitely go for it.

Thank you very much, Peacekeeper87. I appreciate the time and effort you put into answering my queries.

 

[Peacekeeper87]

1. Exactly! I don't even want them I'm planning to leave the job and the country.
2. Yes, I am really doing my best.
3. That is an excellent tip. I'll definitely go for it.

Thank you very much, Peacekeeper87. I appreciate the time and effort you put into answering my queries.

No problem man, my pleasure.
Good luck!