How long should I wait for a response to my request for a reference letter from my former employer?

manpreet Best Answer 2 years ago

I needed a reference letter from my former employer for my immigration case. So I asked the person responsible for HR & he told me to fill in the appropriate details in the interest of speeding up the process & send it back to him.

Great, so my lawyer & his team drafted one that would conform to specifications that the immigration department needs.

I send that to him on Monday & waited for almost a day & when there was no response back from him, I called him & he told me that I would get it by the end of this week.

It's Friday now & I haven't heard back from him yet. I emailed him today asking him for an update and copied my lawyer & his team as well. But it has been an hour since that email & I am contemplating writing to the CTO who's the co-owner as well to have that processed as soon as possible. My lawyer has specifically told me that without the reference letter, my case has the higher chances of getting rejected, so naturally this is the most important thing.

What should I do here?

manpreet 2 years ago

I would suggest you call your former employer and politely express the urgency of your need. You cannot push to hard though, as they do not have to do anything for you.

Sometimes a polite phone call can go a lot further than an email in conveying your message. Sometimes people skim over emails and the urgency of a request is lost.

If you have to leave a voice mail, try something like this:

Hello WHOEVER, this is WHOEVER calling to check on the letter of reference I sent to you. I was hoping you have the time to take care of this as soon possible, as I really need it by WHATEVERDATE. ( emphasizing really need it ) Without this letter, my case will be incomplete and I may not get the job. Thanks for your help in this matter.