ECA Process Overview

Who are required to have their Educational Credential assessed?

Basically, any education taken outside of Canada needs to be assessed to be able to gain points in the CRS and to be eligible in the Federal Skilled Worker Program.

What is the ECA for?

Different countries have different standards when it comes to education. ECA compares your education obtained to its equivalent level in Canada. Evaluation methodology combines different criteria such as program length, institution standing, quality mechanisms, etc.

Processing Times

An Educational Credential Assessment typically may vary one from another.

Currently, IRCC accepts ECA reports from 7 Assessing bodies, listed below!

1. World Education Service (WES)
2. International Credential Assessment Services of Canada (ICAS)
3. International Qualifications Assessment Service (IQAS)

• IQAS will not offer ECA services between November 19, 2019 and May 19, 2020. During this time, please use one of the other organizations listed.
• IRCC continues to accept ECAs issued by IQAS

1. Comparative Education Service (CES)
2. International Credential Evaluation Service (ICES)
3. Medical Council of Canada (MCC)  For the Physicians (NOC 3111 or NOC 3112)
4. Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada (PEBC) For Pharmacists (NOC 3131)

NOTE* The ECA reports by the assessing bodies are valid up to 5 years from the date they are issued.

1. World Education Service (WES)

WES is the most widely preferred assessing bodies because of the low cost and simplicity of the process. It takes approx. 30-45 days for the assessment and to provide the ECA report after receiving all the required documents. As you can see, the time duration is way faster than any other assessing bodies who take months for an evaluation.

The WES evaluates for various fields that the applicants belong including the licenses, certifications etc. We recommend many of our customers to get their ECA through WES.

But lately, WES is on the headlines for introducing unprecedented changes. According to the sources, the assessing body is rejecting transcripts from a few universities across the world. A number of Indian universities are there in the list.

Want to know whether you are safe in terms of WES guidelines? Call us!

2. International Credential Assessment Services of Canada (ICAS)

Immigrating to Canada? Like the WES, this Ontario based assessing body offers Educational credential assessment for almost every profile.

The reports from ICAS shows a comparison of the applicant’s education against the Canadian/Ontario education system. As a candidate, you will get two report copies from ICAS and one you have to submit in the EE pool along with your complete Federal Skilled Worker application.

Here are the conditions under which ICAS accepts the applicant’s request for an ECA!

• The potential candidate wants to immigrate to Canada
• A foreign student looking for a study in Canada
• The candidate is living in Canada but has completed his/her study in a foreign country.
• Candidate with a degree from any other Canadian province and looking for an Ontario qualification for employment benefits or higher studies.
• A Candian citizen looking to study abroad
• A candidate living in Canada but have plans to work in the USA under a TN Visa.

Do you belong to any of the above categories? We can guide you in your ECA process with ICAS. Keep in touch, we are just one call away!

3. International Qualifications Assessment Service (IQAS)

• IQAS will not offer ECA services between November 19, 2019 and May 19, 2020. During this time, please use one of the other organizations listed.
• IRCC continues to accept ECAs issued by IQAS

The Albertan assessing body is authorized by IRCC to evaluate the applicant’s education credentials. Likewise, it has a reputation of not accepting credentials from institutions that fail to prove their authenticity. For example, a while after WES’ decision to reject applications from specific universities, IQAS followed the trail and removed those educational institutes from its own list.

But IQAS also acknowledges a wide range of universities and many of them are not accepted by WES. So, there are many cases, we suggest our clients for an Educational Credential Assessment from IQAS. Once the applicant is in Canada, the report can be used for employment or applying for higher education programs.

IQAS  processes the applications for further evaluation in order, after receiving them. It doesn’t issue a report to in a short time period just to meet the applicant’s deadlines. It means the applicants who request for the ECA first get the chance to evaluate their credentials soon.

4. Comparative Education Service (CES)

The Comparative Education Service (CES), a branch of the University of Toronto and is a Candian assessing body for Educational credential assessment. The processing time of this assessing body ranges 10 to 14 weeks.

Where can you use the CES report?

• In any province and territory
• Govt. institutions like the Canadian Information Centre for International Credentials (CICIC) and Council of Ministers of Education, Canada
• Canadian Employers
• Educational Institutes
• Regulatory bodies etc.

5. International Credential Evaluation Service (ICES)

The estimated processing time for the Canadian Immigration Assessment Package is approximately 25 weeks from the date on which all required documents are received in our office.  This is an approximate processing time and is not a guarantee.  ICAS does not offer rush services.

ICES at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) provides a comparison-based assessment of foreign education against the British Columbian and Canadian educational standards.

The good news is- its an alternative option for many candidates as ICES accepts universities that are not recognized by WES or IQAS. One of the ideal examples is Manipal Sikkim University that is recently removed from the WES and IQAS acceptation list.

As we never know when ICES may follow the trend and remove the specific universities, that is why if you are looking for an Educational Credential Assessment from IQAS, we should do it now, while we have the opportunity. In addition, for an IQAS evaluation, we have to send two copies of the transcripts, one is from the Educational Institute and the other copy is from the applicant.

6. Medical Council of Canada (MCC)

As the name suggests, the candidates with a medical degree or diploma get their educational credentials evaluated by the Medical Council of Canada (MCC). If you are Doctor wishing to immigrate and get a work license in Canada, you must do an education evaluation from MCC.

7. Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada (PEBC)

This is an assessing body for the Pharmacists wishing to be certified to work in Canada. Are you one? We can guide you with the steps for Educational Credential Assessment by PEBC.

Note* Applicants with an Educational Credential Assessment from PEBC or MCC has to face further assessments or training according to the province or territory they are planning to move.

To Conclude:

ECA evaluation is a very important and delicate step in your visa process. As the veterans of this industry, we have seen too many applicants committing mistakes and fail to get an assessment on time. Like we said before, as long as you’re not in the EE pool, you would never know what options do you have for immigration. You may lose draws with large point drops or provincial nominations with low cut-offs or lose a chance to live in a big city like Toronto.

We can always choose a safe road by completing our ECA fast and enter the pool. Need more help? Call now!

+91-4448512349 |+91-9566507734 |+91-9962326965 |+91-8680884772 |+91-7092556334 |+91-9003113837 |+91-8939263766.