Manager reference letter

Stage 1
1

Hi there,

I hope you can help. I have 3 references chosen for my application however, one of these are my manager in my current job. I understand in the guideline you cannot use a manager as a reference but people above this position do not know my work personally. For context, my manager holds a high position and the company is a software developing company. I have also worked for this company for 6 years.

Many thanks

2

I can’t find where it says that managers cannot write a recommendation letter. I am checking the section related to Recommendation Letters on the official visa guide.

As far as I know it is ok to have a letter from your manager. It is just recommended to get one from a higher level at the company because it looks better but in my opinion if you cannot then the manager is fine.

Also you need them to write a recommendation letter, a reference letter is something else and can be very generic or irrelevant to the application. They need to recommend you for the Global Talent visa.

3

Thank you for your reply I’m very grateful. Sorry I meant recommendation letter rather than a reference letter!

4

There’s a limitation under the MC guidelines:

Evidence of recognition, such as Reference Letters, provided by an immediate colleague, manager, or friend are not sufficient.

LoRs need to be from a “senior member of their organisation”- how senior is your manager?

5

If it is under MC guidelines then it only applies to the Mandatory Criteria. This does not apply to the 3 Recommendation Letters you are required to provide for your overall application.

If you read the text above, it says that

Examples of relevant evidence could include:

  • You led the growth of a product-led digital technology company, product or team inside a digital technology company, as evidenced by reference letter(s) from leading industry expert(s) describing your work, or as evidenced by news clippings, lines of code from public repos or similar evidence.
  • You led the marketing or business development at a product-led digital technology company, demonstrably enabling substantial revenue and/or customer growth or major commercial success, as evidenced by reference letter(s) from leading industry expert(s) describing your work, senior global commercial executives inside the company and/or at company partners/customers, or similar evidence.

They say in the examples that to prove MC you need reference letters from leading industry experts.

Then they further clarify this at the end that reference letters from direct managers or colleagues are not sufficient and you need to provide letters from leading industry experts to prove MC if you want to prove it through a reference letter.

I don’t believe this statement applies to the 3 Recommendation Letters that are compulsory. Because the conditions for those three are already mentioned in the Recommendation Letter section.

Three letters of recommendation from three different well-established individuals acknowledged as experts in the digital technology field, with detailed knowledge of your work over a period of 12 months or more, supporting your Global Talent application, which include all of the following:

Each person who writes a letter for you must:

  • Be a senior member of their organisation
  • Know your work