How the Employer Letter can make or break your application to immigrate to Canada

If you are applying to immigrate to Canada as a worker on either a temporary or permanent basis then it is essential to appreciate how important a role the employment letter plays.

Regardless of which worker program you are applying under, immigration authorities will look at your work experience and evaluate whether that experience matches up against the required criteria. If it doesn’t match then you will likely have your application rejected.

The main way in which the officer looking at your application assesses your experience is by looking at your employer letters and CV. Since the employer letter is the gatekeeper for the experience criteria, it is advantageous to invest time and effort into perfecting the employer letter and your CV.

Many applicants get their employers to write up a letter in support of their application without in any way guiding the employers as to how the letter should be structured. Without such guidance on structure, it is almost inevitable that the letter will be less beneficial to your application than it could be. 

The process to prepare a useful letter starts with establishing which NOC your experience falls into. The Canadian Government uses NOC codes to categorize professions. There are many codes and sub categories. Your work history and experience may legitimately allow you to fall within more than one NOC. Using tools such as the job chances report (http://www.jobsaloon.com/report.php) figure out which professions have the best chances of getting a job in Canada.

Then choose the NOC with the highest chances of success and which legitimately coincides with your work experience. Next take the exact NOC descriptions for your profession and have the employer drafting your employment letter use language and descriptions which are very similar to that used in the Government of Canada’s NOC descriptions.

It is also useful to go through the same process for the preparation of your CV. Sometimes it is tempting to include various aspects of your experience in your employment letter and CV because you think those aspects sound impressive. However, do not include these aspects if they deviate from the descriptions and language used in the NOC that you have decided to apply under. It is critical to establish the lead by choosing the NOC and then including only or, at least mostly, items in your employment letter and CV which serve to support that lead.

It is especially important to reference NOC descriptions if your experience was acquired outside Canada because the terminology used in your country may be very different than that used in Canada. By following this procedure you are setting yourself up for a much greater likelihood to succeed with your application.