Educational Credential Assessments

Meurrens LawImmigration Trends

An Educational Credential Assessment is a report by a designated company company that evaluates an individual’s foreign education and compares it to a Canadian equivalent. It is necessary to be eligible for the Federal Skilled Worker Program, to get education points in Express Entry and for certain provincial nomination programs. The designated organizations are: Comparative Education Service: University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies; International Credential Assessment Service of Canada; World Education Services; International Qualifications Assessment Service; International Credential Evaluations Service; Medical Council of Canada; and Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada. The Medical Council of Canada has been designated only for those applicants who intend to apply with “specialist physician” or “general practitioner/family physician” as their primary occupation in their application. Jurisprudence Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (“IRCC”) will follow what a designated entity states in its Educational Credential Assessment (an “ECA”).  In Ijaz v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2015 FC 67, the Federal Court of Canada affirmed that that visa officers can simply follow exactly what an ECA, stating that: In my view, based on the foregoing, it was open to the Officer to interpret the WES educational assessment and the IRP Regulations as he did, being that the WES equivalency … Read More