Nail the Challenge of Getting Reference Letter from Current Employer!!

[rajkamalmohanram]

You wrote "This is the first known case of a self-declaration being accepted under EE though" so I got confused

Anyways I don't think we can really look into cases before EE to assess what may happen now (heck even present cases won't necessarily dictate what happens to someone who writes self-notarized letters today)

True but the rules that the VOs follow for assessing the applications is pretty much the same. However, like you have pointed out, there is no guarantee that someone else submitting self-declared reference letter would also be given a visa. Largely depends on the VO and the individual case. Cannot generalize.

 

[Asivad Anac]

Well, I have heard of one such case with FSW 2014. I don't know the exact details of the case but the applicant was not able to get his reference letter from anybody else in the organization. He signed it himself on a stamp paper and got it notarized. His application was approved. This is the first known case of a self-declaration being accepted under EE though.

Still need those answers from OP.

 

[pssid]

Interesting. Need some more details here.

What other supporting documentation did you provide for this work experience? And did this experience count towards program eligibility? CRS points? Both? Neither?

Sorry guys for late reply.

I worked for two companies. First 1.5 years gave reference letter on compsny letter head. Second is my present company. Working for 4 years. Did not give reference letter, only got experience letter stating my time in job. I claimed points for 3 years so this reference letter was needed. I made a self declaration. I work for a top software company, very well known around world. Additional docs were my offer letter, payslips, experience letter. None of these mentioned my roles.

 

[pssid]

I had 463 crs. Without 3 year consideration it wud have gone beliw 450. My ita was on 450. So my declaration got accepted for ppr. I took a chance as no one wud risk their jobs for me. And waited to tell u guys my experience if successful

 

[rajkamalmohanram]

I had 463 crs. Without 3 year consideration it wud have gone beliw 450. My ita was on 450. So my declaration got accepted for ppr. I took a chance as no one wud risk their jobs for me. And waited to tell u guys my experience if successful

Thanks for sharing your experience and congrats .

 

[_Aspirant]

Hi Guys,

I have a question regarding referral letters. I am looking forward to submit my EE profile along with my spouse in coming months so I do want to be better prepared. We both are working professionals.

Looking on current trend of CRS cut-off (470), it looks like I have to make my spouse as PA because of the age factor I am loosing 10 points to achieve this score. I have an experience of more than 7 years and she had been working in IT for almost 5 years. I do not feel any problem in getting Reference Letters for both of us.

But, in my wife's case I am worried if we will be required to have additional documents like pay slips or account statement to prove her experience apart from Reference Letters. The reason is that her companies are not MNCs and did not provide payslips and most of her salary was either paid by cash or cheques.

I request you all to suggest how we can overcome this kind of situation. Will only reference letter suffice to prove her work experience?

PS: I do have her ITR filed for last three years. Will that be helpful?

Awaiting your comments.

Thanks

 

[Stanlee]

Hi Guys,

I have a question regarding referral letters. I am looking forward to submit my EE profile along with my spouse in coming months so I do want to be better prepared. We both are working professionals.

Looking on current trend of CRS cut-off (470), it looks like I have to make my spouse as PA because of the age factor I am loosing 10 points to achieve this score. I have an experience of more than 7 years and she had been working in IT for almost 5 years. I do not feel any problem in getting Reference Letters for both of us.

But, in my wife's case I am worried if we will be required to have additional documents like pay slips or account statement to prove her experience apart from Reference Letters. The reason is that her companies are not MNCs and did not provide payslips and most of her salary was either paid by cash or cheques.

I request you all to suggest how we can overcome this kind of situation. Will only reference letter suffice to prove her work experience?

PS: I do have her ITR filed for last three years. Will that be helpful?

Awaiting your comments.

Thanks

You are good with just reference letter if your wife's employment was outside Canada. The only mandatory document listed is a reference letter, provided it meets the following requirements.
- It should be an official document printed on company letterhead (must include the applicant’s name, the company’s contact information [address, telephone number and email address], and the name, title and signature of the immediate supervisor or personnel officer at the company).
- should indicate all positions held while employed at the company and must include the following details: job title, duties and responsibilities, job status (if current job), dates worked for the company, number of work hours per week and annual salary plus benefits.

You can check this link for more information in this regard http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/tools/perm/express/intake-complete.asp

Pay slips are additional supporting documents, if requested, you can submit copy of ITRs along with a Letter of Explanation. But, if you have the reference letter in the required format, then most probably, you will not be asked for additional supporting documents.

 

[swisswise]

Hi,

I am applying based on my wife's score as my score might be less due to the age factor.

Do I need reference letter for both of us from our employers?

Is it mandatory that the reference letters must include the same Roles and responsibilities as in the given NOC code?

Because in my case I need to get a reference letter from previous company and they have already issued me a work certificate, exp letter stating my job duties in the format I provided earlier and those align to multiple NOC codes? DO I need to ask them again to issue a new ref letter?

 

[Stanlee]

Hi,

I am applying based on my wife's score as my score might be less due to the age factor.

Do I need reference letter for both of us from our employers?

Is it mandatory that the reference letters must include the same Roles and responsibilities as in the given NOC code?

Because in my case I need to get a reference letter from previous company and they have already issued me a work certificate, exp letter stating my job duties in the format I provided earlier and those align to multiple NOC codes? DO I need to ask them again to issue a new ref letter?

If your spouse is the primary applicant, then she need to submit reference letters for all the work experience which will be used to claim points. Since you are the co-applicant, you can claim points only if you have Canadian work experience. If you are claiming points for Canadian work experience, then you will need the reference letters as well.

While selecting the NOC, the duties and responsibilities mentioned in the NOC should be a close match with the actual duties and responsibilities carried out by you at the respective job. You need not match the duties and responsibilities word by word, but the idea is to have the closest match in terms of the spirit of the duties and responsibilities. Also, NOC should be selected on the basis of the match of actual duties and responsibilities carried out by you rather than the designation match in the NOC list. If the letter that you have matches at least with 60%-70% of the duties and responsibilities mentioned in any of the relevant NOCs, then you need not get a fresh reference letter.

 

[deadbird]

Hey folks. Really naive question.

What is the process for notarization? If someone gives me an experience letter, do they have to sign it in the presence of a notary? Can a notary sign off on the doc after this person has signed it but without their presence ?

 

[Stanlee]

Hey folks. Really naive question.

What is the process for notarization? If someone gives me an experience letter, do they have to sign it in the presence of a notary? Can a notary sign off on the doc after this person has signed it but without their presence ?

Ideally yes, it should be witnessed by the notary, but it may not work out every time. Sometimes, the notary will notarize it even if it has not been signed in his presence.

 

[GrandeAmericano]

Hello experts,

I sincerely need your help with experienced comments/feedback. I am currently working in Canada with a post grad work permit and in a process of requesting a few reference letters from an employer. I have actually worked under 3 different positions at the same company and so I was seeking to receive 3 reference letters from each of the immediate supervisors.

However, per HR Policy, managers/supervisors are prohibited to give any reference letters to their current/ex employees and hence, all employment details including job descriptions stating my duties/responsibilities are to be provided by the HR. My questions are :

1. HR is only to provide one single letter stating all 3 positions I've worked for (which I think is ok..) but so I won't have any types of reference letters from my past/current immediate supervisors. Is this OK? Does the letter must have at least any contact information of the supervisors?

2. I did have a specific NOC code in mind, but HR told me they will NOT confirm the NOC code for me (so the reference letter will not have any NOC code on it). Is this OK?

3. What HR tends to provide are very generic Job Descriptions that all other employees or job seekers will see online. But as you already know, generic job descriptions will not be sufficient to match the NOC Code descriptions. Also, it will not cover all additional duties/responsibilities that I have covered while I was employed under 3 different positions. Should I just pursue using LOE to provide additional information in regards to my duties/responsibilities to the immigration officer?

Thank you in advance for your help. Much appreciated.

 

[kirtivsingh]

I would like to share my story of reference letter.
As most I also faced this issue as I had left that company in 2012. I used to work for DELL computers and working for a multi national corporation comes with its disadvantages. They do not change their templates or format for anyone.

So when I requested the HR for the Experience letter they asked me to check my Relieving letter and they confirmed they cannot write anything else.

So with a huge dilemma I attached the following documents in 1 PDF:

1. MY original Offer Letter.
2. original Probation completion letter.
3. Reliving letter with name date of joining, last working day and position held.
4. I requested my Manager who was working in Dell at the moment to send me an email with my roles and responsibilities using his dell (official) email address to my gmail.
I printed that email and attached it.

Good news - I have got my R10 cleared and CIO also approved the experience and forwarded my file to CPC (Thru GCMS Notes)

I am not sure if their is another round of eligibility check at CPC but till now it has worked not sure what will happen next untill I get the decision made on my file.

 

[Stanlee]

Hello experts,

I sincerely need your help with experienced comments/feedback. I am currently working in Canada with a post grad work permit and in a process of requesting a few reference letters from an employer. I have actually worked under 3 different positions at the same company and so I was seeking to receive 3 reference letters from each of the immediate supervisors.

However, per HR Policy, managers/supervisors are prohibited to give any reference letters to their current/ex employees and hence, all employment details including job descriptions stating my duties/responsibilities are to be provided by the HR. My questions are :

1. HR is only to provide one single letter stating all 3 positions I've worked for (which I think is ok..) but so I won't have any types of reference letters from my past/current immediate supervisors. Is this OK? Does the letter must have at least any contact information of the supervisors? - Letter from HR is OK. One letter for all the positions held with the company is fine. Are all the positions in the same NOC, not in terms of the designation/title but more in terms of duties and responsibilities? It would be better to specify the duties and responsibilities of each position along with duration, location and other details.

2. I did have a specific NOC code in mind, but HR told me they will NOT confirm the NOC code for me (so the reference letter will not have any NOC code on it). Is this OK? - Yes, this is OK. NOC need not necessarily be mentioned on the letter. Most of the employers will not agree to mention the NOC.

3. What HR tends to provide are very generic Job Descriptions that all other employees or job seekers will see online. But as you already know, generic job descriptions will not be sufficient to match the NOC Code descriptions. Also, it will not cover all additional duties/responsibilities that I have covered while I was employed under 3 different positions. Should I just pursue using LOE to provide additional information in regards to my duties/responsibilities to the immigration officer? - Find out your NOC and try to draft duties and responsibilities which agrees with your NOC as well as matches with the one which your company is planning to provide you. Check if they would be willing to give you this (your draft) on the letterhead instead of the generic one (may be they would modify some information). Let them know that, sometimes generic duties and responsibilities may not be accepted, and request them to provide you a letter on lines of what you have drafted. If this does not work, then you can look for alternatives.

Thank you in advance for your help. Much appreciated.

 

[Stanlee]

I would like to share my story of reference letter.
As most I also faced this issue as I had left that company in 2012. I used to work for DELL computers and working for a multi national corporation comes with its disadvantages. They do not change their templates or format for anyone.

So when I requested the HR for the Experience letter they asked me to check my Relieving letter and they confirmed they cannot write anything else.

So with a huge dilemma I attached the following documents in 1 PDF:

1. MY original Offer Letter.
2. original Probation completion letter.
3. Reliving letter with name date of joining, last working day and position held.
4. I requested my Manager who was working in Dell at the moment to send me an email with my roles and responsibilities using his dell (official) email address to my gmail.
I printed that email and attached it.

Good news - I have got my R10 cleared and CIO also approved the experience and forwarded my file to CPC (Thru GCMS Notes)

I am not sure if their is another round of eligibility check at CPC but till now it has worked not sure what will happen next untill I get the decision made on my file.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I am sure this input will help many people who may face a similar situation. +1.