Your last employer dissolved in 2023, the HR inbox bounces, and the two managers who could vouch for you have scattered across three countries. Without a signed reference on company letterhead, the standard employment-evidence route is closed. This is the exact situation an ACS skills assessment statutory declaration is built for: a sworn statement written by someone who worked beside you, standing in for the letter you cannot get.
It is not a soft substitute. ACS treats the declaration as secondary evidence, weaker than a signed reference and stronger than payslips alone, and it applies a specific list of suitability tests before it counts the employment behind it. Get one element wrong and ACS discounts the entire period the document covers. This guide walks the requirements in order, maps each section of the declaration to the ACS standard it satisfies, and gives you a full annotated sample for a software developer role.
One prerequisite governs everything below. Before ACS will even consider a sworn statement as a reference substitute, its InfoHub guidance requires a letter or official email from the company explaining why an employment reference cannot be provided. Skip that letter and the assessment fails before the declaration is read.
When ACS accepts a statutory declaration instead of a reference letter
How ACS ranks employment evidence from strongest to weakest
ACS works down a hierarchy. A reference on company letterhead that meets its 13 mandatory requirements (letterhead, website, DD/MM/YYYY dates, classification, weekly hours, annual pre-tax salary, position title, bullet-pointed duties, and signatory contact details among them) is the primary standard. The declaration sits one rung below. It carries the same information, but because a colleague swears it rather than the company issuing it, ACS requires corroborating payment evidence alongside. Payslips or tax records on their own are the weakest tier and rarely carry a period by themselves.
Three situations where a sworn statement is the only route
Realistically, the declaration route opens in a handful of cases: the employing company has been wound up and no one remains to sign on letterhead; the employer has a fixed policy against issuing references; or you were an overseas contractor whose client never ran a formal HR function. In each, you still need the company explanation letter, or for a dissolved firm documentary proof of closure, before the declaration will be weighed.
Who can legally sign your declaration
Your ACS skills assessment statutory declaration succeeds or fails on who signs it. Direct answer first, because this is the single most common failure: you cannot sign it yourself. ACS states that a self-written declaration will not be accepted from an employed applicant, and it discounts the employment period the document covers.
Eligible declarants: a supervisor or senior colleague
The declarant must be a work colleague who held a managerial or supervisory role, who worked with you during the period claimed, and who witnessed your day-to-day duties. A peer at your own level, and certainly a junior, does not qualify. ACS lists "declarant is a junior colleague" among its grounds for rejection. The person needs first-hand knowledge of what you did, not just confirmation that you were on the payroll.
What the declarant must prove about themselves
The colleague signing your declaration must attach proof of their own employment at the same company: either a Current Employment Certificate or Statement of Service on official letterhead showing their start date, or a Leaving Certificate on letterhead showing start and end dates. ACS uses this to confirm the declarant actually worked there and overlapped with you. Without it, their word cannot be independently verified, and the declaration carries little weight.
When your manager is unreachable
If the company is gone, a former manager traced through LinkedIn is a legitimate fallback. One applicant case documented on the am22tech forum describes a person with dissolved UK employers who combined a former manager's signed reference (found via LinkedIn) with a notarised company dissolution statement, bank statements, and P60 tax records. ACS credited eight years of experience, though it classified the dissolved-company period as non-professional. Treat that as a documented individual outcome, not a guaranteed result, but it shows the evidence chain assessors will engage with.
What the declaration must cover to satisfy ACS assessors
Every block in the document has a job. The table below maps each section to the specific ACS suitability criterion it answers, which gives you a single compliance checklist to draft against.
Declaration section | ACS criterion it satisfies |
|---|---|
Declarant identity and role | Declarant is a managerial or supervisory colleague who witnessed your duties |
Working-relationship statement and overlapping dates | Declarant is not a junior colleague and does more than agree with your other documents |
Employment dates, classification, weekly hours, salary | The four experience tests: 20+ hours/week, professional-level complexity, commensurate salary, commenced after 18 |
Duty bullets in operational language | Duties are not copied and pasted from ANZSCO descriptions |
Witness attestation (sworn, signed, same day, location) | Valid witnessing under ACS rules |
Declarant's attached Employment or Leaving Certificate | Declarant's credentials independently verifiable |
The experience tests carry more weight than they appear to. ACS's experience-evidence guidance requires the work to run at least 20 hours a week, sit at the level and depth of complexity of your nominated occupation, pay a salary reflecting that skill level, and have started after you turned 18. Your declaration should make each of those provable in passing, not force an assessor to infer them.
How to write each section of the declaration
The sworn opening
The document has to read as a legal instrument. It opens with the declarant's full name, address, and occupation, then the sworn formula your jurisdiction uses, and it must ultimately state that it was sworn, signed, or witnessed before an authorised person. Draft this part in the declarant's voice, first person: "I, [full name], of [address], declare that..."
The employment block
State your job title, the exact employment dates in DD/MM/YYYY form, the classification (permanent full-time, part-time, or contractor), your weekly hours, and where you sat in the reporting line. If the declarant can confirm a salary band, include it, because it speaks to the commensurate-salary test. This block is factual and tight; it does not need prose.
The technical duties, written the way an assessor reads them
This is where most declarations fail on substance. Assessors check duty descriptions two ways: are they specific enough to prove professional-level work, and are they lifted verbatim from ANZSCO? A declaration that copies the ANZSCO wording is deemed unsuitable outright. You have to describe the same competencies in operational language, naming technologies, scope, and outcomes.
Worked sample: statutory declaration for a software developer (3 years)
Below is an annotated draft for a fictional developer covering a three-year role assessed against ANZSCO 261312 Developer Programmer. The annotations show which ACS criterion each block answers. Adapt the specifics; do not copy the wording. The figures here are illustrative, and your version must use real ones you can stand behind.
> I, Daniel Osei, of 14 Kingsway, Software Development Manager, do solemnly and sincerely declare:
> (Annotation: declarant identity and senior role. Satisfies the managerial-colleague test.)
>
> 1. I was employed as Software Development Manager at Northbridge Systems Pty Ltd from 02/2019 to 05/2023 and directly supervised Priya Nair throughout her employment there.
> (Annotation: establishes the overlapping period and reporting line. Answers the "not a junior colleague" and working-relationship criteria.)
>
> 2. Priya Nair was employed as a Software Developer from 06/2020 to 06/2023, permanent full-time, working 40 hours per week.
> (Annotation: dates, classification, and hours. Feeds the 20-hour and classification tests.)
>
> 3. In that role she:
> - Interpreted functional specifications and technical designs for the company's logistics platform, then built and modified the Java Spring Boot services behind its dispatch module, used by roughly 40,000 drivers.
> - Diagnosed and resolved production defects logged in Jira, cutting the critical-bug backlog on that module from around 30 to fewer than 5 across two quarters.
> - Wrote and maintained JUnit test suites for the order-processing service and authored the API reference used to onboard new developers.
> (Annotation: duties in operational language, mapped to 261312's "interprets specifications, builds, maintains and modifies code" without copying it. Names technology, scale, and outcome.)
>
> 4. I make this declaration conscientiously believing it to be true, and it is witnessed below on the same day it is signed.
> (Annotation: sworn language plus same-day witnessing requirement.)
Six phrasings ACS assessors flag and the stronger replacements
Weak phrase (flagged) | Stronger replacement |
|---|---|
Responsible for software-related tasks | Owned the payments module of a Java application from specification through production release |
Assisted with IT projects | Implemented the customer-portal front end in React within a four-developer team |
Worked on databases | Designed PostgreSQL schemas and stored procedures that cut nightly batch runtime substantially |
Handled bug fixing | Diagnosed and closed production defects in Jira, clearing the critical backlog over two quarters |
Involved in testing | Wrote JUnit suites that raised automated coverage of the order service to a documented target |
Did documentation | Authored the API reference and design notes used to onboard new engineers |
Each rewrite names a technology, states the scope, and points to an outcome. That is what turns "was on the team" into "did professional-level work."
Getting the ACS skills assessment statutory declaration witnessed correctly
Authorised witnesses in Australia
If the declarant signs in Australia, an authorised person must witness the declaration: commonly a Justice of the Peace, a solicitor or barrister, or a court officer. The Attorney-General's Department publishes the full list, and ACS directs applicants to it. The witness watches the declarant sign, then adds their own signature, the date, and their location. Miss the same-day rule and the document is void: ACS deems a declaration unsuitable if it was not witnessed on the day it was signed, or if it was altered afterward.
Signing overseas
For a declarant outside Australia, ACS does not accept a generic notarial mark. Its guidance directs applicants to an Australian Embassy or to the legal standard for statutory declarations in the country where they are applying. One trap is explicit in the ACS unsuitability list: a witness signature that states only "Attested Copy" does not count. The witness has to attest that the declaration was sworn or signed before them, not merely certify a photocopy.
Submitting the declaration in your ACS skills assessment
File naming, format, and upload sequence
Upload the declaration as a clear PDF named so an assessor can place it instantly, for example "StatDec_NorthbridgeSystems_Nair.pdf". Bundle it with its supporting evidence: the company explanation letter, the declarant's own Employment or Leaving Certificate, and corroborating payment evidence. On payment evidence, ACS asks for at least one source beyond the employer when two types are provided, so pair payslips with bank statements showing salary deposits, government tax records, or superannuation documents.
One declaration cannot cover several employers. Each distinct employer role needs its own sworn statement with its own declarant; verify the current rule on the ACS InfoHub before you submit. Treat each role as a separate document.
Since April 2025, applicants can nominate up to three ANZSCO codes in one application and receive a separate outcome for each, a change reported by migration agent network MARN Connect following the ACS policy update. If a given employment period is being claimed toward a specific code, the duties in that period's declaration have to demonstrate alignment with that code, not a generic IT description.
Responding to an ACS request for a supplementary declaration
Sometimes an assessor accepts the period but wants a narrow clarification: on hours, on a duty, on the declarant's seniority. Answer only what is asked, keep the original declarant where possible, and have any new statement witnessed the same way. A supplementary declaration that contradicts the first does more harm than the gap it was meant to close.
Four declaration errors that cause ACS to discount the document
1. No company explanation letter. Submitting the declaration without the prior letter explaining why a reference is unavailable means the application fails before the sworn statement is assessed.
2. A self-authored declaration. If you write it yourself, ACS treats the employment as unverified and discounts that period.
3. Duties copied from ANZSCO. Verbatim ANZSCO wording is on the unsuitability list. Describe the same work in your own operational terms.
4. A missing declarant certificate. Without an Employment or Leaving Certificate from the declarant, ACS cannot confirm they worked alongside you, and the declaration loses its weight.
For the wider evidence set your declaration sits inside, see our ACS skills assessment eligibility documents guide and the self-audit of common RPL rejection reasons.
FAQs
Can I write my own statutory declaration for my ACS skills assessment?
No. ACS does not accept a self-written declaration from an employed applicant and will discount the employment period it covers. The declaration must be sworn by a managerial or supervisory colleague who witnessed your work.
What should the declarant include if they only worked alongside me for part of the claimed period?
They should state the exact dates of their own overlap and limit their attestation to that window. For the remaining months, you need a second declarant who covered that time, or separate corroborating evidence, because a declarant can only vouch for the period they actually observed.
Does the statutory declaration need to be witnessed by a Justice of the Peace, or is a notary public acceptable for overseas applicants?
In Australia, an authorised witness such as a Justice of the Peace, solicitor, barrister, or court officer is required. Overseas, ACS directs you to an Australian Embassy or the local legal standard for statutory declarations. A notary stamp that reads only "Attested Copy" is explicitly unsuitable.
What if my former employer's company has closed and I cannot reach any ex-colleagues?
Prove the closure with a notarised dissolution document, then rebuild the reference from a former manager traced through LinkedIn, backed by bank statements and tax records. One documented am22tech case saw ACS credit the experience on that chain, though it classified the dissolved-company period as non-professional.
How specific do the IT duties need to be, and is reproducing my employment contract enough?
Contract responsibilities are usually generic and often mirror ANZSCO wording, which ACS flags. Rewrite them to name the technologies, the scope, and the outcomes of what you actually did, mapped to your nominated ANZSCO code rather than lifted from either the contract or the ANZSCO text.
Do I need a separate statutory declaration for each employer?
Plan on one declaration per distinct employer role rather than a single combined document. This is consistent with how ACS structures employment evidence; verify the current requirement on the ACS InfoHub before submitting.
Once your declaration and its supporting evidence are drafted, check the full ACS document checklist to confirm the rest of your employment evidence meets assessment requirements before you submit.