Commonwealth Migration Group

Professional Services

Your employment reference letter is the most scrutinised document in a skilled file — one missing detail can wipe out years of points.

Overview

Reference Letter Drafting

An employment reference letter — also called a work reference or Statement of Service — is a formal letter from an employer documenting your role and duties. For Australian skilled migration it does two jobs: it proves to the assessing authority (ACS, EA, VETASSESS and others) that you performed duties consistent with your nominated ANZSCO occupation at a skilled level, and it proves the duration of skilled employment you claim in your SkillSelect EOI for work-experience points. It is the most heavily scrutinised document in a skilled file and the most common cause of delays or negative outcomes.

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Professional Services

Relevance

The primary evidence that proves skilled employment for both assessment and points

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Why It Matters

Why it matters

Assessing authorities and the Department of Home Affairs award skilled-employment points only for experience that is properly evidenced. A reference letter that omits required detail — or reads like a generic HR template — can cause the authority to disregard a whole period of employment, dropping your points below the invitation threshold or producing a negative skills assessment. A complete, specific and verifiable letter, by contrast, directly secures both eligibility and points.

Key Details

What a compliant reference letter must contain

Official company letterhead with company name, address and contact details

An authorised signatory — full name, title, work phone and email of an HR officer or senior manager

Your name and job title as employed

Start and end dates (DD/MM/YYYY), or "to date" if ongoing

Employment status — permanent or contract, and full-time or part-time

Actual hours per week (skilled employment generally requires at least ~20 paid hours)

Salary or remuneration, with currency

A specific, detailed description of the actual duties you performed — never copied from ANZSCO

Deliverables

What you receive

2–5 business days
  • Customised experience letter drafts
  • ANZSCO-aligned job duty guidance
  • Employer format assistance
  • Document review support

How It Works

Your Step-by-Step Journey

Describe your real work so it aligns with the ANZSCO occupation — never copy the ANZSCO wording itself.

A manager or HR officer who can verify the role and is contactable for verification.

Capture every mandatory field — dates, status, hours, salary and detailed duties.

State hours per week, salary and full dates so the period clearly counts as skilled.

Cross-check the letter against payslips, tax records, contracts and your CV and EOI dates.

Where a former employer won't sign, arrange a colleague's statutory declaration plus secondary evidence such as payslips and tax statements.

Watch Out

Good to know

Duties copied from ANZSCO descriptions (or from another reference) are routinely rejected.
Missing hours per week or salary — without these an authority may not count the period as skilled.
No company letterhead, or a signatory who can't be verified.
Date inconsistencies between the letter, CV, payslips and EOI.
Substituting non-assessable documents — contracts, offer letters, appointment letters or position descriptions are generally not accepted in place of a reference letter.
How CMG helps
  • Provide authority-specific reference-letter templates and a checklist of every mandatory field.
  • Help you articulate duties truthfully and specifically so they map to the ANZSCO occupation without plagiarising the standard.
  • Advise on statutory-declaration fallbacks where an employer cannot or will not sign.
  • Cross-check letters against payslips, your CV and EOI dates before lodgement so points aren't disregarded.

Information verified against the official source before we advise you.

FAQ

Common Questions

What makes a reference letter acceptable?

It must be on company letterhead, signed by a verifiable authorised person, and state your role, exact dates, status, hours per week, salary and a detailed, specific description of your actual duties.

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