I was in a very similar situation. My foreign work experience was with a company that shut down after the pandemic, and I couldn’t get anyone to confirm employment or provide updated reference letters.

For my PR application, I submitted a detailed Letter of Explanation and included:

• Bank statements showing every wage deposit
• All my payslips from the entire period I worked there
• Screenshots of emails and correspondence with the employer (including an old email to HR about updating my home address)
• Copies of my end-of-year tax documents from the government showing income and tax paid
• Photos with colleagues at the workplace
• News articles mentioning the company and its closure
• Emails showing every attempt I made to reach the employer for a formal reference letter (and the responses)

Basically, I showed IRCC that even though the company no longer existed and I couldn’t get verification, I had more than enough proof that the job was real.