Certificate of Employment (COE)

If you want to migrate to Australia, one of the first things you need to do is to get skill assessment from your Assessing Authority. One of the requirements to assess your skills is your COEs from your previous and current employers.

Your COE should have the following:

• Company letterhead and signed by author or representative your that company
• Company full address, telephone, mobile or fax numbers, email address, and website
• Start and end date of your employment using the DD/MM/YY format
• Position title
• Countries where your employment was undertaken
• Performed duties and responsibilities
• Indicate whether your work is part time or full time

What if I can't get a COE from my previous employer?
This happens usually when the company no longer exists, or you had a bad exit that you can't go back there and ask a favor, or your employer simply doesn't want to give you your COE. When this happens, you can ask your colleague, HR, supervisor, manager or anyone who works closely with you during your stay in that company to create a Statutory Declarations or Affidavit with the presence of an authorized witness (eg. legal attorney). The said document must be Sworn Before, Signed Before or Witness Before the authorized witness. Also the contact details and relation of your colleague should be provided in the document. It is also advisable that the colleague has a higher position than your position in that company.


What other documents can I provide to prove my employment?
Any document related to the company will do. Here are some examples:

• Tax payments
• Contracts (during job offer, promotion, etc)
• Payslips
• Termination letter

Last Updated: Feb 2016

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