Canada’s economic immigration programs give points to candidates for their foreign and Canadian work experience. For example, if you are submitting your permanent resident application under Express Entry, you are required to provide an employment reference letter for each position that you held and listed in your Express Entry profile.
What Is Employment Reference Letter?
An employment reference letter is a letter from the applicant’s employer which contains detailed information with regards to the employment of the applicant to prove the applicant’s work experience.
What Are the Essential Information to Be Provided in the Reference Letter?
An employment reference letter should be printed on the letterhead of the employer and must have the employer’s contact information including website, address, contact number. An employment reference letter should be signed by the applicant’s immediate supervisor or human resources officer of that employer.
An employment reference letter should have the name of the applicant, name of the position, start and end date if applicable, job duties, salary information, working hours and applicable employment benefits.
It is important to identify the relevant NOC code of the position and state the NOC code of the position in the reference letter. The NOC code refers to the National Occupation Classification which is Canada’s official job classification system.
The applicant must submit an employment reference letter that contains all necessary information with their permanent resident application. Absence of satisfactory employment reference letter may result refusal of their application.
What If a Reference Letter Cannot Be Submitted?
An applicant’s employer might refuse to give a reference letter, or the company might have gone bankrupt, or ceased to exist. In such cases, applicants can write a letter of explanation. The explanation letter should include the reason why the reference letter cannot be obtained, and the efforts made to receive it.
Applicants can also present supplementary documents, such as payrolls, employment contracts, their photos at the workplace, any record of employment, letters from colleagues, or press coverage of the company mentioning their name.
