# VETASSES: Reference Letter Dilemma



## 1337 (Sep 2, 2017)

Dear Experts Members & Migration Agents,

I am in the process of completing formalities for VETASSES assessment for ANZSCO 222311 Financial Investment Adviser. I’d appreciate if you could advise on my query on the reference letters for work experience.

To give a brief background, I am currently debating whether I should file a Statutory Declaration or arrange a Reference Letter from a supervisor at Corporate and Investment Banking Division of a bank where I spent around 4 years. Given that I held three different positions within this division during the tenure as seen below, a fellow member of this forum advised to arrange individual reference letters from respective supervisors in the division. It is pertinent to note here that first two positions held have identical JDs, however I do not have any official evidence for change in title from first title to second title (there was a bank-wide change in titles). Due to this, a member advised to obtain a reference letter from HR at the bank, which is extremely difficult and time-consuming (plus HR might not confirm exact JD as the function is typically delegated to divisions).

1.	*10 months* Junior Analyst Research – CIBG
2.	*2 year 8 months* Senior Officer - Economy and Industry Research – CIBG
3.	*6 months	* Relationship Manager – CIBG
4 years 

To keep things simple and avoid excessive documentation I have been thinking of obtaining a single reference from a supervisor in this division citing the last position held, confirming JDs for merged position (#1 and #2) and position #3 separately. For instance, the language may be as follows:

_This is to certify that the person has been employed us from period x to y. The last position held by this person is RM- CIBG. During the period, he was required to serve a minimum of x hours per week

During the employment term, the positions held along with job duties are described below.

Junior Analyst/Senior Office - CIBG
Key job responsibilities during the tenor are:
1.
2.

RM- CIBG
Key job responsibilities during the tenor are:
1.
2.
_
*Dilemma*
Like most large organizations particularly banks, this bank has the rigid policy that employees should not issue HR related confirmatory letters. My concern is what if the HR at this bank refutes or holds the Issuer of reference letter accountable for policy breach in case VETASSES or DIBP approaches HR for authenticity/confirmation of details. An expert colleague who submitted a Statutory Declaration for his experience within this division and got a positive assessment also recommended me to file a single Statutory Declaration for this experience as well. While chances of verification by VETASSES/DIBP are slim, I just need to be sure. Advice requested!

I am facing a similar dilemma for Reference Letter from my current employer which is a bank as well.

Look forward!


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## 1337 (Sep 2, 2017)

*Bump


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## Initious (Oct 16, 2017)

Will the HR department be able to provide a consolidated statement detailing your entire tenure and the jobs performed? With regard to the stat dec, I recommend submitting both the reference letter and the stat dec to make your case even stronger.


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## 1337 (Sep 2, 2017)

Initious said:


> Will the HR department be able to provide a consolidated statement detailing your entire tenure and the jobs performed? With regard to the stat dec, I recommend submitting both the reference letter and the stat dec to make your case even stronger.


I can try getting a consolidated statement from HR but it may be difficult. Otherwise I will probably have to resort to Stat Dec only.


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## Initious (Oct 16, 2017)

1337 said:


> I can try getting a consolidated statement from HR but it may be difficult. Otherwise I will probably have to resort to Stat Dec only.


As always with stuff related to Australia migration, I can't be 100% sure but when I submitted my application to VETASSESS as a self-employed, my references, mostly big companies with >AUD 1 million in annual revenue, helped me a ton. Since you are an employee, the difficulty is almost halved as compared to mine. 

To quote my agent, "anyone can do a statutory declaration" and it is up to them to find out if you are speaking the truth or not. If you have to choose one, go with the references. I believe your HR department will be able to help out as it is part of their job, or you can offer to write it up and just let them print (on company letterhead) and sign on it. They will appreciate it! 

Another piece of advice if you are going to write the letter yourself is to make sure that it does not say "migration" or anything similar. Just a general letter detailing your job scope and such will do. I did that for mine upon advice from my agent.


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## 1337 (Sep 2, 2017)

A reference letter from HR will undoubtedly have more value. In my case, even if i am able to obtain a letter confirming the exact titles and corresponding dates, it would make a huge difference. I can then supplement it with Stat Dec with detailed JDs. The existing official experience letter available with me only mentions the last held position.


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