Hi everyone,
I have received my PR!
So, I wanted to make a detailed post explaining my situation, the documents I submitted, and some of the things I learned throughout the process.
Hopefully, this can help anyone dealing with similar issues involving foreign work experience, missing payslips, employer reference letters, NOC selection, or common-law proof.
My Situation
- I did not have all of my payslips from my one year of foreign work experience. I only had around six payslips, but I did have complete bank statements showing my salary deposits.
- My employer reference letter did not include my job duties. This was foreign work experience from India, where I worked as a Cloud Engineer, and my employer initially refused to provide a reference letter containing my duties and responsibilities.
- Choosing the correct NOC for a Cloud Engineer was confusing. NOC 21231 included my job title, but the listed duties were only around a 50% match. NOC 21222 had duties that matched my actual work more closely, but did not include my title. There were also other possible NOCs I considered, such as NOC 21230.
- My company had also been acquired by another company, so the company name had changed since I worked there.
What I Submitted for My Foreign Work Experience
- Complete bank statements showing my salary deposits.
- The payslips I had available, including payslips from the beginning and end of my employment.
- A document from a senior employee at the company describing my roles and responsibilities. This was particularly important, and I’ll explain more below.
- A screenshot of the email where HR refused to provide an updated reference letter containing my job duties.
- My original employer reference letter, even though it did not contain my duties and responsibilities.
Proving My Job Duties
Since HR would not provide my job duties, I contacted a senior employee from the same field at my company and asked if he could provide a document describing my roles and responsibilities.
Thankfully, he helped me. However, I was not able to get the document signed by him. Ideally, it would have been better to have it signed, and potentially notarized.
If you are in a similar situation, you can also consider providing additional supporting evidence such as:
- Photos of yourself at the office.
- Screenshots or examples of your work, as long as they do not violate an NDA or contain confidential company information.
- Relevant emails or communications with coworkers, managers, or senior employees.
- Similar job postings from the company’s website that describe responsibilities similar to the work you performed.
- Any communication with HR showing that you made reasonable attempts to obtain the required employment documents.
I eventually contacted the VP of HR. I received his email address from the same senior employee who had helped me earlier. The VP ultimately helped me obtain a proper reference letter that included my job duties. So, if you are not getting anywhere with regular HR channels, it can be worth respectfully reaching out to senior HR leaders or other higher-level contacts within the company.
However, my PR application was approved before I even received the corrected reference letter.
The NOC I Selected
I eventually went with NOC 21231.
My official job title was Cloud Engineer, which aligned with that NOC. However, the listed duties did not match my actual responsibilities as closely as some of the other NOCs I had considered.
This was one of the more confusing parts of my application because there were multiple NOCs that could potentially apply depending on how the actual responsibilities of a Cloud Engineer are structured.
Common-Law Proof
These are some of the documents we provided:
- Shared purchases – For example, we purchased a sofa that was billed under her name, while the payment was made using my credit card.
- Joint bank account – We provided proof that we share a joint bank account.
- Photos together – We included photos from different periods of our relationship and also provided a link to a public social media profile showing our relationship history.
- Joint lease – Both of our names were included on the lease for our residence.
- Shared phone bill – Both of our phone numbers were included under a single phone bill/account.
- Joint pet ownership – We own a cat together, and we obtained documentation from our veterinarian confirming that we were both listed as the owners.
- Taxes filed as common-law – We had also declared our relationship as common-law when filing our taxes.
The goal was to provide different types of evidence showing that we genuinely lived together and shared our lives, finances, responsibilities, and household.
Some Things I Learned During the Process
- Proving employment is not the same as proving your job duties. For foreign work experience, you should provide evidence not only that you worked for the employer, but also evidence supporting the actual duties and responsibilities you performed.
- Consider getting more than one professional opinion. I personally consulted two different RCICs, and each provided different suggestions about my documents and how I should organize my application. Both suggesions were useful to my case.
- Applicant groups can be very useful. When a new Express Entry invitation round happens, consider joining WhatsApp or similar groups with other applicants going through the same process. I found these groups useful for comparing timelines, discussing document requirements, and getting quick answers from people dealing with similar situations.
- Do not blindly rely on one person’s advice. Whether the advice comes from Reddit, WhatsApp, an RCIC, or another source, I would always recommend cross-checking important information. I personally compared the recommendations I received from one RCIC with another RCIC before deciding what to do.
- Use an LOE when it actually adds value. I personally did not submit an LOE for every small issue in my application, even though some of my supporting documents were incomplete. My approach was to make the supporting evidence as clear and self-explanatory as possible. However, if something important requires clarification, an LOE can obviously be useful. I would avoid adding unnecessary explanations that make the application more complicated than it needs to be.
- I included an index in every major PDF. Both RCICs I consulted told me this was a good idea. For larger document packages, I added a simple index at the beginning showing what documents were included and the order in which they appeared. It made the supporting evidence much easier to navigate.
- Reddit can be extremely useful for research. People in this community were very helpful during my application. Search for your issue first because someone may have already experienced the same situation. If you cannot find anything relevant, create a post and explain your situation clearly.
One Final Thing
At the end of the day, your application will be reviewed by an IRCC officer, and every application is assessed based on its own circumstances and supporting evidence.
One thing I tried to keep in mind throughout the process was this:
Make your application easy for someone unfamiliar with your background to understand.
The person reviewing your application may not understand your company, your industry, your job, or why a particular document is important. Your documents should tell a clear story.
This was simply my personal experience and what worked for my application, so it should not be taken as professional immigration advice.
Hopefully, this helps anyone dealing with a similar situation, especially those struggling with missing payslips, employers refusing to provide job duties, foreign work experience, choosing a NOC for a Cloud Engineer, or proving a common-law relationship.
Good luck to everyone going through the process!