For applicants who received an ITA (including via a French-language draw) and are preparing employment proof for the application:
- Do not treat a letter of employment and payslips as sufficient on their own. Community consensus is clear that a separate reference letter is still required regardless of what other employment documents you have.
- Get the reference letter from your employer well in advance, since it needs to cover the specific details IRCC requires (role, responsibilities, dates, hours, salary) — this typically takes employer coordination and lead time.
- Treat the reference letter as non-negotiable, even in situations where other documents might be incomplete or missing — respondents described it as a hard requirement, not a nice-to-have.
Because this reflects community consensus rather than a documented IRCC rule you're pointed to directly, cross-check the current IRCC document checklist for your application type to confirm the exact reference letter requirements (content and format) before submission.