# Immigration to Australia - Statutory Declaration



## zav236 (Aug 5, 2012)

Just wondering how this works.

I am currently in aus on 457 and am looking to apply for PR with ACS as the first step.

my work experience is predominantly in India and US.. If I need to get statutory declaration as part of my work experience, Can my colleagues / supervisors in India sign on my statutary declaration and how would I get them witnessed ? 

The logisitcs seem to be mind boggling. I need to send them by post or ask them to print out the declaration format and my experience declaration content and ask them to sign, notarize the paperwork and courier it back to me here in aus.

would love to know how others handled it.

regards,

Zav


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## Maz25 (Jul 6, 2008)

The statutory declaration is done by yourself and signed in front of a lawyer, judge or other person authorised to sign a statutory declaration. The lawyer does not actually certify the contents of the statutory declaration as being correct but rather certifies that you are the person who signed the documents and that your signature is genuine (you sign it in front of the lawyer). The statutory declaration needs to be supported by evidence in the form of payslips, contracts, correspondence, etc in support of the claims that you are making in the statutory declaration.

Your previous colleagues can give you a reference on company letterhead (if you have worked for large companies, you only need to contact HR and they will issue the letter as most companies do not wilfully deny an ex-employee a reference), which would negate the need for a statutory declaration. If they are unable or prevented from doing so, then they may give you a detailed reference on plain paper and include their business card and/or contact details which can be used in the event that the contents of the reference needs to be verified. You can then include that reference as one of the supporting documents for your statutory declaration.

It is not common for an ex-colleague to offer a statutory declaration because without supporting evidence, which they would not have, it's not worth anything.


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## zav236 (Aug 5, 2012)

Maz25 said:


> The statutory declaration is done by yourself and signed in front of a lawyer, judge or other person authorised to sign a statutory declaration. The lawyer does not actually certify the contents of the statutory declaration as being correct but rather certifies that you are the person who signed the documents and that your signature is genuine (you sign it in front of the lawyer). The statutory declaration needs to be supported by evidence in the form of payslips, contracts, correspondence, etc in support of the claims that you are making in the statutory declaration.
> 
> Your previous colleagues can give you a reference on company letterhead (if you have worked for large companies, you only need to contact HR and they will issue the letter as most companies do not wilfully deny an ex-employee a reference), which would negate the need for a statutory declaration. If they are unable or prevented from doing so, then they may give you a detailed reference on plain paper and include their business card and/or contact details which can be used in the event that the contents of the reference needs to be verified. You can then include that reference as one of the supporting documents for your statutory declaration.
> 
> ...


Thanks a ton for your response.

The organizations I worked for nearly 10-12 years back, dont exist in the same form and it's kind of practically impossible to trace back the HR and ask them to look through records nearly a decade back.. 

I do however maintain professional relationship with my managers who have since become senior leaders in the IT function... They would out of our professional relationship will be willing to declare my role and skills during the period I worked for them. 

I am just wondering with me out here in Aus and these managers located in India and US in their day to day reality, what's required of them to help me ?

Do they have to sign the declaration and have it notarized or just a signature with their business cards would do. 

I have scoured the ACS site for any clues on these real world situation, I havent seen anything there... 

would appreciate further insight onto this. 

This is more than anything relevant to me considering that I have worked in many organizations earlier and some of them may not be inclined to give me a detailed experience letter out of the letter heads. What they would give me is a standard company designation with dates on the designation. These letters, I already have with me as I quit each of the organizations I had earlier worked for.

The kind of letter that's required is a high involvement exercise in drafting detailed work content, which most organizations are less likely to indulge esp. for one of their ex-employees.

Another additional question: Would generic letters with designation and work period in company letterheads, suffice ?

appreciate your help.

warm regards,

zav


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## Maz25 (Jul 6, 2008)

As I said, only YOU can do a statutory declaration. It's not just a simple case of writing what you did -you NEED to prove what you write is truthful and hence why I say that someone else can only give you a reference letter on plain paper if the company no longer exists, as where would they get evidence to prove what they are writing in a statutory declaration is true. They would not have your payslips, contracts, etc - these are things that YOU have and hence why YOU need to do the statutory declaration. 

In the stat dec, you can write all these wonderful reasons why you are unable to provide a reference letter on letter head. You can use the letters you have but if they do not contain detailed job descriptions/ tasks/ duties, etc, then they can just be used as evidence to support that you worked in that particular company, for a length of time (they won't prove that you did a particular task/ project, etc) and you will need to make a self-declaration of your duties, aka statutory declaration.

You previous managers simply need to write the reference letters and then send them to you by email/ post and you use the letters to support your stat dec. Make sure that their contact details are correct as DIAC will most likely check these out and so would ACS and you do not want to encounter difficulties simply because of incorrect contact details provided by your referees.

Have you actually gone back to your previous employers to ask them for a reference? Until you have done so, then do not write them off. It's a lot more difficult to prove your experience using a statutory declaration than it is with a reference letter on company letterhead. Even it takes a few weeks to get, sometimes the extra effort is worth a lot more than the possible complications that comes from using statutory declarations.


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## zav236 (Aug 5, 2012)

Hi Maz25,

Once again, Appreciate your response. The companies I have worked for have the market reputation of providing just the basic details in a experience certificate. I have other friends who worked there struggle to get a satisfactorily detailed work content included in their relieving certificate. It's a case of a standard template printed out of SAP on the company letterhead with the HR of the day signing it out and giving it to the person leaving the organization.

It would be pretty futile to go back to them and ask them that since there are no organizational processes supporting these detailed info to be put in the letterhead. There is simple is no process or precedent.

Nevertheless, I will give it a honest try and sample my luck. I do remember, I have a friend in the HR (we were from the same batch of graduates in grad school).. will give it a shot and see.. however that's just for one organization I worked for.

I have a pretty universal problem and it's very similar in most cases. A process driven HR not interested in supporting an ex-employee.. They just dont need to care once you are out of their organization (I can understand that)... The only viable option is for my superiors to vouch for me and my work. I have excellent relationship with all of them and they would definitely write on my behalf. 

I would definitely in that case resort to the statuary declaration with payslips and experience certificates with additional reference letters as evidence to support my skill assessment.

Thanks for your inputs.

Warm Regards,

zav


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## Maz25 (Jul 6, 2008)

A lot of companies have this rule in place, where they are only willing to confirm your period of employment, position and reasons for leaving for fear of getting sued - unfortunately, that's just the nature of the world we live in. 

I worked for such a company and still managed to get a reference letter off them. Once you explain your reasons for wanting the letter and agree to relieve them from any liability, you may find that they change their mind. My reference letter contained a statement that the letter was issued at my request and the company would not bear any liability arising out of its contents, which was fair enough. It took me 3 months to get the letter but it was worth all the hassles. 

You may want to send your ex-employers the DIAC link that details what should be included in the reference letter, so that they feel a bit more reassured in terms of your reasons for requesting the letter.

One thing I would say is that if you are using a statutory declaration, attach every last piece of evidence that you have. Some things may seem irrelevant to you but the more evidence you attach, the less likely you are to be asked for further details. Better to have far too much as opposed to not enough evidence.


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## zav236 (Aug 5, 2012)

very very valid point. I am hunting through my hard disk for old pay slips.. I used to have the habit of downloading payslips and storing them as pdf exports onto my hard disk.. Will be helpful here...


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## rahul123 (Feb 7, 2014)

same situation. I was wondering if you have got a solution to this Zav. I have same issue with me residing in Australia and all my managers and colleagues in India.


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## rajua783 (Jan 17, 2015)

HI,


I am too in the same situation as you had been. I am in australia and perplexed on how to obtain the statutory declarations signed and couriered from india. Can you please know your experience in detail of how you managed to get it through finally.

Did you get the Stat Doc notarized back in india and then get it certified here.

Thanks for your post!


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## rahul123 (Feb 7, 2014)

rajua783 said:


> HI,
> 
> 
> I am too in the same situation as you had been. I am in australia and perplexed on how to obtain the statutory declarations signed and couriered from india. Can you please know your experience in detail of how you managed to get it through finally.
> ...


The statutory declaration needs to be signed by the person who is giving the declaration for you. That means that your work colleague or manager needs to get the declaration signed and notarized in India and then mail it over to you in Australia. You can request your manager to cover all the costs of courier and notarization and pay for the courier through netbanking etc. 

What I did was to get one of my relative reach out to my manager and had that notorized. My relative was able to cover the costs for courier on my behalf.

I had good relations with my ex-manager and called him up for this help.


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## Sameer1403 (Oct 28, 2016)

Sorry I am little confused with 2 contradicting statements mentioned above. 

Is it my manager (or senior colleague) who needs to sign SD and provide my detailed job description, if he can or I can also sign SD and just mention that my previous organisation has refused to give me reference letter and my manager is no longer working with that company and we are not in touch since a long?..Is it mandatory to get my manager involved into it.. 

I have worked with 2-3 managers and i am afraid that my last manager would not provide me reference letter for all the years i spent in that organisation (under different managers).


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## Udit Satija (Nov 24, 2017)

I am a citizen of India planning to apply for Australian PR, as requirement states we need to submit the ‘statutory declaration’ in the absence of ‘Statement of service’. 

1) I will be thankful if anyone can share prescribed format to be used for ‘statutory declaration’.

2) Can we get this signed by a dentist licensed to operate in India as a authorized witness

3) If this declaration need to be on plain paper or stamp paper ( if stamp paper how much value will suffice and if the same need to be notarized by lawyer )


Additionally, I would like to know if we need to get experience and educational documents attested (if so by whom i.e., self or gazette officer or notary)

In primary school do we need to include education year from LKG to Class 8 and in secondary do we need to include education year from Class 9 to Class 12. ( if otherwise please advise )


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