Suppose that you are invited by another company to attend an interview which you do not want your current employer know about it. You have to apply visit visa in order to attend the interview because it is not in your residential country. To apply visa, you need a proof of employment from your current employer and proof that you're given time off on the date of intended arrival. The problem is most likely your current employer will ask you the purpose of visa application. What should you say? Vacation? If you can advise me sample of the letter, that will be helpful.
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Have they never heard of phone/Skype interviews? This is getting way beyond what anyone should reasonably have to do just to attend an interview.– Jane SOct 6, 2015 at 5:23
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They did Skype interview to filter out candidates. those lucky guy will have to attend face-to-face interview with them– AldoTOct 6, 2015 at 5:30
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1@JaneS sometimes a good company can afford to have a face-to-face interview and and in a lot of cases for a candidate it can be nice to fly to another country, live in a good hotel for a week, just to attend 1-2 days interview, especially if everything has been payed for.– Salvador DaliOct 6, 2015 at 7:09
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11. "proof of employment from your current employer" - Don't you have this already? 2. "proof that you're given time off on the date of intended arrival". Maybe you could clarify with the visa office what exactly they need. Normally they just want to verify whether your visit is actually a temporary one. Proving that you're taking vacation would probably verify this. You may not even need to involve your company with these matters. If you do need something, ask your HR and just stick to the facts. A certain document xyz was requested of you by a government office. That's it.– BrandinOct 6, 2015 at 7:47
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@Brandin I could not use the contract/offer agreement letter because it is out-of-date, VISA officials need the most recent one. When I ask to HR, they will ask me for what purpose. Probably I should just tell them for general purpose..– AldoTOct 7, 2015 at 1:02
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2 Answers
Since you don't have the job yet, you can't be applying to a work visa yet. So you will be applying to a tourist/business visa, which should not raise any alarm bells on your company. You just want a visa to travel to that country and it is no one's business where you spend you vacation time.
So the purpose of your VISA should the employer ask is, truthfully, tourism (for now).
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I am applying general visit visa, not work visa. However, I will be submitting an invitation letter from the interviewing company. If I say I wish to go on a holiday/tourism to my employer, there will be discrepancy in the visa application supporting documents - one doc (from inviting company) says "attending interview", another doc (from my employer) says "for holiday purpose". There is potential risk of getting VISA refusal. I am not sure if VISA officials will understand this situation or whether they will verify this by contacting the employer...– AldoTOct 7, 2015 at 0:53
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@AldoT There isn't really a contradiction. You are on holiday and you happen to also be attending a job interview. You probably don't even need to mention the job interview. Just say you're going on holiday, leave the address of the hotel/friend where you're staying if they ask for this, and that's it.– BrandinOct 7, 2015 at 10:51
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Actually disclosing that you are going to a job interview may raise red flags, you may consider characterizing it as a "business meeting". However I don't understand why would the consulate be concerned about someone applying to a tourist visa but again I don't know where you are applying to.– user1220Oct 7, 2015 at 14:31
To apply visa, you need a proof of employment from your current employer and proof that you're given time off on the date of intended arrival.
Frankly, I have troubles understanding that. And what if you didn't have a job and were invited for this face to face interview? You couldn't go?
I'm just saying this to make sure that you understand the difference between a tourist and a business visa (the latter being something very different from a work visa).
Per my understanding, your prospective employer is giving you an official invitation and is covering the cost of the visit. Since he is able to do that, we're speaking most likely about a larger company and important tax payer of this country. I can't quite imagine that you would need anything else in addition to that to get a visa from this country's consulate.
If they insist on a proof of employment, you might just provide your latest salary statements. If your company is larger, it might have a separate HR department where you can request such proof without your line manager knowing. As a last resort, you could make up some story that you need the proof for some kind of purchase, or renting a new flat, or whatever makes sense in your country.
The biggest issue is the "proof they have given you time off". Again the question, are you sure that's a requirement for a business visa? Sure, you could lie about going on vacation, but in my country the employer has the right to decline this request while he could not decline me going to an interview. So, this really depends on your local rules.
I would strongly urge you to speak to someone in the consulate in person (not just the visa desk front staff). Explain them your case and see what they would really need, and if they could provide a certain amount of flexibility considering documentation needed from your current employer.
