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Offer letter has no job duties? How to still claim foreign work experience points

Canada • Express Entry • immigration 0 views
By VisaBuddies Communityvia community — compiled from public visa forums

Documents Needed

  • Employment reference letter

    Must be dated after your last day of employment and issued by your manager or HR — an offer letter alone won't work.

  • Letter of explanation (optional)

    Add this to spell out your actual job duties if your employer's reference letter doesn't fully cover them.

Step-by-Step

If your offer letter doesn't list job duties and you need to claim points for foreign work experience matching your NOC code:

  1. Get a proper employment reference letter, not the offer letter. It needs to be dated after your last day at the job, and issued by your manager or HR — an offer letter (issued before you started) generally can't be used to prove duties actually performed.

  2. If the reference letter still doesn't cover the specifics of your duties, add a letter of explanation. Use it to lay out your day-to-day responsibilities and connect them clearly to the NOC code you're claiming.


Between a proper post-employment reference letter and a supporting letter of explanation, most applicants in this situation were able to substantiate their foreign work experience claim.

Dos, Don'ts & Tips

  • Don't: Don't rely on your offer letter to prove job duties — request an employment reference letter dated after your last day instead.
  • Tip: A letter of explanation can fill in duty details your employer's reference letter leaves out.

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