Applicant applying to a Canadian permanent residence program through the Express Entry immigration system (FSW, CEC, or FST programs), the Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program, or one of the Provincial Nominee Programs, are required to provide employment letters to prove the previous and/or current work experience.

Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) requires specific information on these letters which must be on the company Letterhead. This what is called an Employment Reference Letter?

What to include in the Employment Reference Letter?

IRCC requires that the Employment Reference Letter has:

• (i) to be printed on the letterhead of the company, and including the company’s ​contact information (e-mail, phone number, and address),
• (ii) to include the name, title and signature of your superior or the company’s Human Resources (HR) officer, and
• (iii) to incorporate your name, the title of all occupations held at the company with the subsequent details for each one: list of duties, beginning and ending date of employment (if applicable), number of work hours/week, and salary and benefits per year.

According to IRCC’s guidelines, there is no need to have the company stamp on the letter.

The most important part to keep in mind is to have the duties and responsibilities list included in the Reference Letter.

How to get the Employment Reference Letter from my employer?

If you are unable to provide these specifics from an employer, current or previous, IRCC is open to an explanation. As long as you provide other supporting documents, and a Letter of Explanation (LoE) detailing why you could not provide the document per IRCC requirements, your application could be accepted.

What to include in the Duties and Responsibilities section of the Letter?

You need to first find your NOC (National Occupational Classification) code. Indeed, each NOC code has a list of duties and responsibilities and you must find the one NOC code that corresponds the most to your job. You must perform approximately 80% of the duties set out in the NOC code page.

Do not copy the duties in the NOC code page and put them in the Reference Letter. IRCC will know that and will doubt that the letter is genuine, which will most probably result in further investigations that might extend processing times and/or end in a refusal.

It is advisable to write your own duties (if you do not have an official company job description), and take inspiration from those on the NOC code page. Do not use the same order as the one on the NOC code page, and do not use the same number of duties. add two or three duties (or more) that are not on the NOC code page.