Can I apply for ILR without the letter from my current employer?

[agiriraj]

Hello everyone,
I am on Tier 2 General visa and I am working in UK from past 5 years.
During the first 3 years I was with some other employer and later I got sponsorship from someone else.
Now its time for me to apply for ILR and for that I need employment letter and absence report from my current and previous employer.
Now after I booked an appointment for ILR document submission my current employer is holding those documents and demanding to sign 1 year agreement, which I do not want to do.
My first question is, can I apply for ILR without those 2 documents from my current employer?
If not what are all the options I have in front of me here to make sure the process goes smooth without any further issues?
Has anyone come across this kind of issue before and how did you manage it?
I need some good suggestions here.
Thanks,
Apoorva

[bhai86]

Current employer letters are mandatory, you cannot get away with that. Your application will be rejected if you don't provide them!

On a side note, I am not sure if employers in UK can force you to stay even if you sign a contract and wanted to leave them later. Maybe other members can comment on this?

[agiriraj]

Thanks for your response mate.
Here is a good news, Just now I received a letter from my employer finally after a lot of struggle.
Thanks for your quick response and advice anyways.
I truly appreciate !

Regards,
Apoorva