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Is the Experience letter is same as Reference Letter ?

patnikrishna

Hero Member
Feb 17, 2015
649
76
124
NOC Code......
2174
Hello friends,
I have experience letters from all my previous organizations which mention the start and end date , designation etc and are signed by the HR department on the company letter heads.

My question is, are these experience letters same as the reference letters that we have to provide after getting an ITA or are they
different ?

Thank you :)
 

softwaretesting

Champion Member
Apr 7, 2013
1,075
271
Category........
NOC Code......
2171
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
patnikrishna said:
Hello friends,
I have experience letters from all my previous organizations which mention the start and end date , designation etc and are signed by the HR department on the company letter heads.

My question is, are these experience letters same as the reference letters that we have to provide after getting an ITA or are they
different ?

Thank you :)
My understanding is that apart from mentioned information, Roles & Responsibilities is also required to be included. I will have to get new reference letter from all my previous companies because of that. Does anyone has any template/format available for it?
 

Stanlee

VIP Member
Jan 29, 2016
4,100
595
softwaretesting said:
My understanding is that apart from mentioned information, Roles & Responsibilities is also required to be included. I will have to get new reference letter from all my previous companies because of that. Does anyone has any template/format available for it?
You can refer to the below format. This is in line with the requirement that has been mentioned in the OINP Application Guide (http://www.ontarioimmigration.ca/en/pnp/OI_PNP_EE_CAPITAL.html). You need to get this on company letter head.

Reference Letter Format

Date: _____________

To Whom it May Concern​

This is to certify that Mr. ____________ (Name) is currently employed with __________ (Company Name) in ___________ (Location, Country).

Details of his employment are given below:
• Designation:
• Date of Joining:
• Employee ID:
• Type of Employment (Full time/permanent/part-time):
• Hours of Work/Week:
• Department:
• Reporting Manager:
• Annual Salary:

Duties and responsibilities handled by ___________ (Name) are as follows:






If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

For (Company Name)


<Signature of the Referee> <Company Seal>
<Name & Designation of the Referee>
<Contact No. and Email of the Referee>
 

sathappanm

Newbie
Jan 30, 2016
7
0
Hello,
Can you please help me out here.

I currently don't have a Job Offer from Canada and I'm terrified about the Proof of Work Experience needed after receiving the ITA. I have 6 years total work experience and the last 4 years with my current employer. Now, my current employer cannot give me the reference letter without me quitting the company. And that's huge risk to take with just the ITA in my hand and without knowing if I will be accepted for the PR. What can I do here? Like someone suggested elsewhere that if I just show my previous employer's letter, I'm left with only 2 years work experience. I do have all my payslips though. Can these be considered as an alternate?
 

Stanlee

VIP Member
Jan 29, 2016
4,100
595
sathappanm said:
Hello,
Can you please help me out here.

I currently don't have a Job Offer from Canada and I'm terrified about the Proof of Work Experience needed after receiving the ITA. I have 6 years total work experience and the last 4 years with my current employer. Now, my current employer cannot give me the reference letter without me quitting the company. And that's huge risk to take with just the ITA in my hand and without knowing if I will be accepted for the PR. What can I do here? Like someone suggested elsewhere that if I just show my previous employer's letter, I'm left with only 2 years work experience. I do have all my payslips though. Can these be considered as an alternate?
1. Previous Employer - As per the OINP Application Guide 'OINP requires that you have a minimum of one year of continuous and full-time employment (1,560 hours or more) or an equal amount in continuous part-time paid work experience in a National Occupation Classification (NOC) level 0, A, or B occupation in the past five years from the date of the PT Notification of Interest from Ontario.' So you meet this requirement. Try to get the reference letter in the format that I mentioned in the above comment in addition to employment contract/offer letter, salary slips/pay stubs, relieving letter, etc.

2. Current Employer - I understand the underlying risk that you have mentioned. There are two ways you can handle the situation.
a) Option 1 - Try explaining to your current employer that it is not that you are going to leave them immediately, it is a process that would take 6-8 months and you can give a commitment to them that you will not quit. There is nothing wrong in you trying for a better future and you are no way going to a competitor, you are planning to migrate to another country. If this works, this would make your life simple, you can get the letter from them (and if required, to make them feel that you are genuine, you can get them to add a clause in the letter saying that, 'This letter is issued for the purpose of immigration'). This approach has worked for me, but it all depends on the way you handle the situation and the counter person.
b) Option 2 - If option 1 does not work, then try to get a letter from a colleague (preferably) a senior person who can vouch for your roles and responsibilities. You can also get it notarized and also attach his/her visiting card and copy of his employee id to the letter.

Whatever works for you, submit all other documents (employment contract/offer letter, salary slips/pay stubs, relieving letter, etc) with the reference letter with a LOE (Letter of Explanation).
 

sathappanm

Newbie
Jan 30, 2016
7
0
Stanlee said:
1. Previous Employer - As per the OINP Application Guide 'OINP requires that you have a minimum of one year of continuous and full-time employment (1,560 hours or more) or an equal amount in continuous part-time paid work experience in a National Occupation Classification (NOC) level 0, A, or B occupation in the past five years from the date of the PT Notification of Interest from Ontario.' So you meet this requirement. Try to get the reference letter in the format that I mentioned in the above comment in addition to employment contract/offer letter, salary slips/pay stubs, relieving letter, etc.

2. Current Employer - I understand the underlying risk that you have mentioned. There are two ways you can handle the situation.
a) Option 1 - Try explaining to your current employer that it is not that you are going to leave them immediately, it is a process that would take 6-8 months and you can give a commitment to them that you will not quit. There is nothing wrong in you trying for a better future and you are no way going to a competitor, you are planning to migrate to another country. If this works, this would make your life simple, you can get the letter from them (and if required, to make them feel that you are genuine, you can get them to add a clause in the letter saying that, 'This letter is issued for the purpose of immigration'). This approach has worked for me, but it all depends on the way you handle the situation and the counter person.
b) Option 2 - If option 1 does not work, then try to get a letter from a colleague (preferably) a senior person who can vouch for your roles and responsibilities. You can also get it notarized and also attach his/her visiting card and copy of his employee id to the letter.

Whatever works for you, submit all other documents (employment contract/offer letter, salary slips/pay stubs, relieving letter, etc) with the reference letter with a LOE (Letter of Explanation).

Thanks for the advice, Stanlee. Much appreciated! Submitting just the previous employer letter definitely sounds appealing. But don't you think my CRS score is going to get a huge hit if I remove the last 4 years of experience from the Work experience section and when this gets tied up to the Job Bank it will try to match employers only for my 2 years of experience, correct?

And with the current employer, Option 1 is a bit difficult in my case as you rightly mentioned that it depends on the counter party as well and it will get worse in my situation. Option 2 is something to think about.

PS: I haven't started the process of creating a EE profile yet. Just wanted to get all my facts straight before getting into this.
 

Stanlee

VIP Member
Jan 29, 2016
4,100
595
sathappanm said:
Thanks for the advice, Stanlee. Much appreciated! Submitting just the previous employer letter definitely sounds appealing. But don't you think my CRS score is going to get a huge hit if I remove the last 4 years of experience from the Work experience section and when this gets tied up to the Job Bank it will try to match employers only for my 2 years of experience, correct?

Yes, it will.

And with the current employer, Option 1 is a bit difficult in my case as you rightly mentioned that it depends on the counter party as well and it will get worse in my situation. Option 2 is something to think about.

PS: I haven't started the process of creating a EE profile yet. Just wanted to get all my facts straight before getting into this.

All the best.