Reference Letter

[David1905]

Hi everyone!
I have a question and really do need your helps. I actually posted this question long ago but did not get any answers yet. I started working in the Restaurant in January 2014 as Customer Service. 8 months later i got promoted to be an Assistant Manager with an increased wage. Since that time, I always thought that I' have been eligible to gain Canadian experience since August, 2014. At the end of 2015, I applied for Ohip extension, my boss gave me my pay stub which is stated that my position is Customer Service. I asked her and she said that her accountant probably forgot to change it for me, and she will tell her accountant to change it later. I'm so worried that I won't get 2 years of experiences in this coming August as my original position started in August of 2014. I told this to my boss and she said it's ok she will tell accountant to change to that time for me. I'm wondering if this will affect to my application later somehow. As I know accountant has to file the business tax every year which already stated that i've been working as customer service since 2014 til 2016(when it got changed). This might put a question to CIC and if I do not make it clear, it can be a reason for me to get a refusal. The only way they can find out is that my salary base increased in August, 2014 and what my boss explain to them. Will this be a big problem for me?
I greatly appreciate your advices
Have a great day!

 

[jes_ON]

CIC does not typically look at your employer's tax documents, no worries there. But you have good reason to be concerned and for making sure that your records are corrected. I'm not saying to panic -- no need for that - but do what you can to get it fixed and to document the error.

In some cases, CIC needs paystubs to verify work experience (esp. if you earn an hourly wage instead of a salary). And it sounds like many of yours have the wrong job title.

You would want to make sure to have other documents (email, anything in writing) to prove the date of your promotion (contract? Offer letter?), and possibly that your employer recognizes that an error has been made and is trying to fix it. Even though your employer could try to explain the error, unless CIC has strong reasons to believe him, if the VO has doubts, they will refuse.

 

[David1905]

CIC does not typically look at your employer's tax documents, no worries there. But you have good reason to be concerned and for making sure that your records are corrected. I'm not saying to panic -- no need for that - but do what you can to get it fixed and to document the error.

In some cases, CIC needs paystubs to verify work experience (esp. if you earn an hourly wage instead of a salary). And it sounds like many of yours have the wrong job title.

You would want to make sure to have other documents (email, anything in writing) to prove the date of your promotion (contract? Offer letter?), and possibly that your employer recognizes that an error has been made and is trying to fix it. Even though your employer could try to explain the error, unless CIC has strong reasons to believe him, if the VO has doubts, they will refuse.

Thank so much for your reply Jes.
I'm earning an hourly wage but my hours have never changed, so basically its not different to salary base. Do you think it would be better informing to CIC that employer has been paying me based on salary, so they would not check the paystubs. The only thing i worry about is that CIC will check the employer's tax documents and find out that my promoted date is not match to what the accountant has filed before. I agree with you that i'm better to prepare some other documents to explain clearly my situation. Everything else will be depending on my boss I guess

 

[jes_ON]

I'm earning an hourly wage but my hours have never changed, so basically its not different to salary base. Do you think it would be better informing to CIC that employer has been paying me based on salary, so they would not check the paystubs.

Well, no, I would not advise you to lie in the letter about having a "salary", and I hope that your boss would insist on making a truthful statement. If you are paid hourly, then that is what it is. But it is a good thing that you are on a fixed hourly schedule - if you always work the same # hours per week (or are paid as if you did), that's a good thing. The letter can state that you work a regular XX hours per week every week, and earn an hourly wage of $$ per hour. As long as that is reasonably close to what your T4 says, CIC is unlikely to request paystubs (and there is no need to volunteer them if you have required documents, like the the Letter of reference, the T4, etc.).

 

[David1905]

Well, no, I would not advise you to lie in the letter about having a "salary", and I hope that your boss would insist on making a truthful statement. If you are paid hourly, then that is what it is. But it is a good thing that you are on a fixed hourly schedule - if you always work the same # hours per week (or are paid as if you did), that's a good thing. The letter can state that you work a regular XX hours per week every week, and earn an hourly wage of $$ per hour. As long as that is reasonably close to what your T4 says, CIC is unlikely to request paystubs (and there is no need to volunteer them if you have required documents, like the the Letter of reference, the T4, etc.).

That sounds awesome to me
Thank you again Jes!