Getting Your Educational Credential Assessment

An Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) is used to check the Canadian equivalency of a foreign degree, diploma or certificate. For example, an ECA will determine if an applicant’s foreign Master’s degree is of the same standard when compared to a Canadian Master’s degree. If your credential is awarded in Canada by a Canadian educational body, you do need to provide an ECA.

For the Federal Skilled Trades (FST) program and the Canadian Experience Class (CEC), you do not need a minimum education level to qualify for Express Entry. However, you can still get CRS points for any secondary education you’ve had outside Canada (if you apply for the ECA for your diploma).
There are seven designated organizations for ECAs:
• Comparative Education Service – University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies (CES, Date designated: April 17, 2013).
• International Credential Assessment Service of Canada (ICASC, Date designated: April 17, 2013).
• World Education Services (WES, Date designated: April 17, 2013).
• International Qualifications Assessment Service (IQAS, Date designated: August 6, 2015).
• International Credential Evaluation Service (ICES, Date designated: August 6, 2015).
• Medical Council of Canada (professional body for Doctors) (MCC, Date designated: April 17, 2013).
• Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada (professional body for Pharmacists) (PEBC, Date designated: January 6, 2014).
Keep in mind that ECA report must be issued on or after the date IRCC designated the organization. Most applicants will be able to get their ECA done by selecting one of the first 5 designated organizations from the list above.

If you are a specialist physician (NOC 3111) or general practitioner/family physician (NOC 3112), the Medical Council of Canada (MCC) must do the ECA for your primary medical diploma.

If you are a pharmacist (NOC 3131) and need a license to practice (for example, providing patient care in a community pharmacy, hospital pharmacy, etc.), the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada (PEBC) must do your ECA.

ECA validity period : An ECA is valid for a period of 5 years from the date it is issued. To be accepted by IRCC, the ECA must not be more than five years old on the date that IRCC gets (i) your Express Entry profile, and (ii) your application for permanent residence.

Comparative table of the 5 designated organizations : The price includes all the credentials you want to add (except for CES, which is the price per credential). Include all your credentials, so as not to pay an additional fee and waste time if you want to assess another credential later.

The obvious choice here is WES being the quickest of them all, and not that more expensive than the other providers.

The processing time is approximative and begin once a complete application is received. Processing times can also depend on the volume of application received. We recommend using WES, below is a guide for getting your ECA from them, and some few tips.

Applying for an ECA though WES : Be always careful that you are in the Canadian WES website, as there’s a U.S. one as well. You can check that on the top right corner of the WES page.