If you are looking to apply for Canadian permanent residency under one of the Express Entry programs, the system will assign you marks based on certain factors. The four main factors considered are your level of education, language skills, age, and work experience.
In order for you to access your academic qualification where you may have acquired education outside of Canada, you must be assessed to determine whether or not your foreign or non-Canadian education is equivalent to the Canadian credentials. For instance, if you have a foreign bachelor’s degree, the Canadian authorities will want to verify that your foreign degree is equivalent to that offered by a Canadian institution.
World Education Services (WES)
The Canadian government has several entities that are approved to conduct the assessments and provide the government with reports thereafter. The results of the assessments are then used to determine your eligibility under the Express Entry programs. One of the designated entities that do the credential evaluations is World Education Services (WES).
The World Education Services is by far the most popular entity but it is not the only one. Other approved agencies include the International Credential Assessment Services, the International Qualifications Assessment Service, the International Credential Evaluation Service, and Comparative Education Service at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies among others. All of these agencies are able to do an assessment of foreign credentials should you have non-Canadian academic qualifications.
Foreign Qualifications Evaluation
The credential evaluation can affect your overall point score on the Express Entry System. When an agency does its evaluation and determines that your foreign qualification is not at par with that of a Canadian learning institution, it is likely that your qualification may be treated as a lower-level qualification.
Under the Express Entry System, a person with a bachelor’s degree or a three or more years’ program from a university, college, or technical school will ordinarily be assigned a total score of 112 points. If you have a foreign bachelor’s degree and an evaluating agency determines that your foreign qualification does not meet the Canadian standards of a bachelor’s degree, the number of points assigned to you will fall and range around 91 points in total even though in your home country, your credential is a bachelor’s degree.
It is worth noting that the points you will be assigned will depend on the final assessment completed by the Canadian credential assessment agency. In conclusion, your foreign qualification assessment report can either improve or reduce your Express Entry System score as compared to having Canadian education.
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Should you have any questions or inquiries concerning foreign qualifications evaluation in Canada and how it can impact your Express Entry score when applying for Canadian permanent residency, we are available and happy to provide the best professional advice.
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