ECA is Educational Credential Assessment to check if your foreign degree is considered equivalent to the same degree in Canada.
How to Get ECA for Canada PR?
World Education Services (WES) and International Qualifications Assessment Service (IQAS) are the two most popular organizations among others for ECA services. Between the two, WES is known to complete assessments much faster, and hence is used widely.
Note: IQAS is not accepting any new applications between November 19, 2019 and May 19, 2020.
There are exceptions, however. For those in regulated profession, you need to get your credentials assessed through a specific agency. E.g. if you are a General Practitioner (GP) or Physician, you must get your credentials assessed by the Medical Council of Canada.
Check which agency is right for you.
How to file WES Assessment?
#1 Visit the WES Canada website and create a profile.
#2 Use the WES’s free Degree Equivalency Tool to get a sense of what you can expect from the evaluation.
#3 Create your WES profile. Choose the “ECA Application for IRCC” option.
#4 Provide the necessary details and make the payment of CAD 220 + taxes. In case of delivery, you can choose standard delivery at CAD 7 that can take few weeks to months, and cannot be tracked. Or you can choose Courier Delivery at CAD 85, which includes tracking and takes about 10 days to deliver anywhere in the world through UPS/FedEx.
Note: These days IRCC is accepting a soft copy of your evaluation. So you don’t have to pay for the courier delivery option, and might as well go with the Standard Option.
#5 Note down your WES Reference Number. You’ll need to quote this reference number any envelope you send to WES. Otherwise, your evaluation will be incomplete.
#6 Use the WES Documents Required tool to check what documents you need to send to WES for evaluation purposes.
#7 Reach out to your university for sealed and attested transcripts. This process and fees associated can vary from university to university.
- How to get transcripts from Delhi University
- How to get transcripts from IP University
- How to send your transcripts to WES if your University doesn’t.
#8 Once your documents have been mailed to WES, you can track your application online and check your status.
In some cases, WES may choose to verify the authenticity of your documents by directly reaching out to your university. In this case, you’ll see a notification on your WES account. As mentioned in one of our blogs above, you’ll have to reach out to your university and facilitate the response to WES as there may be fees involved.
In other cases, if WES feels that your envelope has been tampered with, they may ask you to have your university resend the documents. (Happened to me!)
#9 Once the evaluation is completed, you’ll find a soft copy of the result in your WES account. The result will also be on its way as per your delivery instructions. You can choose to dispute the evaluation if you are not convinced, however very few, if not none, have reported any success.
WES assessment report is valid for 5 years.
WES evaluation takes 35 to 45 days for assessment report.
You’ll have to reach out to WES Canada via their contact center, and pay the fees for a Canadian evaluation.
What they will essentially do is move your file from the US database to the Canadian.
This way, you don’t have to send your transcripts to WES again. But if you have picked up a Master’s degree after your US evaluation, you will have to go through the whole process of a Canadian ECA for your Master’s degree alone.
It is highly recommended that you confirm with WES before transferring your application as this process may change in the future.
If you were not a tax resident in Canada at the time of your application, you can claim refund of the HST that was charged on your ECA fees – approx. $29.
Contact WES by email and follow the process they outline. Your credit card should be credited with the HST amount once your application is approved.
You only need to submit your highest degree for evaluation to be accepted by IRCC. But it is strongly advised to get all degrees from undergrad on wards assessed.
This is because, if for any reason your highest degree is not recognized, you can still get your other degree assessed at no additional cost.
WES requires Indian master’s degree holders to submit both Bachelor’s and masters degree for evaluation.
Spouse degree assessment is not mandatory. Only the primary applicant needs to get their credentials assessed.
However, many applicants also get their spouse’s credentials assessed to maximize their CRS scores. If you feel that additional points from your spouse can increase your chance of receiving an Invitation to Apply (ITA), then you can have your spouse do the ECA as well.
