Employment history help

[Cedmonds]

Hi hi first time poster.
My partner and I applied for skilled migrant visa
EOI received - 10th of Jan 2019
Applied - 8th Feb 2019
Lodged - 2nd March 2019
No case officer assigned.
We were on essential skills work visas each beforehand. I left my work and returned to UK so as not to breach visa conditions on December 18th 2018 due to a very toxic work environment. Current employees have an ongoing case against the company. I have copies of the lawyer documentation to show this environment if immigration ask why I moved back and partner is here. We have remained in contact everyday and the plan was for me to go back and apply for SMC ASAP.

Now as we have waited for a case officer my partner realised he applied possibly without enough evidence of work experience.
He is a general manager of a pub with 10 years experience but due to companies dissolving and him having lost payslips, contracts along the years.
He currently can only evidence one year working in the UK as a general manager.
His NZ experience he arrived in October 2015, became a duty manger may 2016, general manager start of September 2016.
I’m assuming we will have case officer around September time this year which will give him 4 years experience.
Now I’m trying to get my partner to locate in the meantime his old managers/owner of the companies which have dissolved.
He has found one person who was his operations manager back in 2009 and this would give him 1 more years experience. (Yet to contact him)
I wondered if he contacted him and asked him for a reference documenting the dates he worked, and also to help with the reference if my partner gets bank statements from 2009 which show wages going into his account whether that would suffice?
To bring work experience up to 5 years and then whether to repeat this process with other past employers as well.
I’m so stressed out as we have not seen each other for 7 months and I don’t want this time apart to have been all for nothing over this.

[EGoodhue]

Reference letters are good, but if it's not possible to get them (due to the passage of time, people moving on, companies closing, etc.) then bank statements and tax records are good alternatives to provide to INZ. Unfortunately INZ is unlikely to accept anything other than reference letters and/or bank statements and/or tax records, so without any of those documents, work experience points are not going to be awarded.

[Cedmonds]

[QUOTE=EGoodhue;582189]Reference letters are good, but if it's not possible to get them (due to the passage of time, people moving on, companies closing, etc.) then bank statements and tax records are good alternatives to provide to INZ. Unfortunately INZ is unlikely to accept anything other than reference letters and/or bank statements and/or tax records, so without any of those documents, work experience points are not going to be awarded.[/QUOTE

Thanks so much for the reply I’ll get him onto tax records straight away
Guess there’s that little silver lining to delay in case officers that it gives us time to try to rectify this.
Really appreciate your time taken to reply