Have your education assessed — Skilled immigrants (Express Entry)

Have your education assessed — Skilled immigrants (Express Entry)
An Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) is used to verify that your foreign degree, diploma, certificate (or other proof of your credential) is valid and equal to a Canadian one.
Who needs an ECA?
If you have a Canadian degree, diploma or certificate, you do not need to get an ECA for that credential.
You will need to get an ECA for your foreign degree, diploma or certificate if:
you want to be considered for the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) under Express Entry, and
you are a principal applicant, and
you got your education outside Canada, or
you want to receive Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points for your foreign education
for yourself as an Express Entry candidate, or
for your spouse or common-law partner coming with you to Canada.
To be eligible under a) or to get points under b) you must include ECA results as part of your Express Entry profile.
The ECA report must show that your completed foreign credential (degree, diploma or certificate) is equal to acompleted Canadian secondary school (high school) or post-secondary credential.
You must submit an ECA for all levels of completed foreign education you want us to consider. It is up to you to decide which credentials to have assessed by a designated organization.
Depending on your case, you may want to have both your secondary and post-secondary credentials assessed, and not just your highest completed foreign credential. You will not get any points for your foreign education under the CRSin Express Entry or be eligible under the FSWP if the result on your ECA report does not match at least one of the results in the conversion table.
Note: An ECA can give you early feedback on how your credentials compare to those in Canada. It may also help when you are looking for a job. But, being assessed does not guarantee that:
you will get a job in your field or at a certain level,
your work experience and professional credentials are automatically recognized in Canada, or
you will be licensed to practice in a regulated profession.
Please check Job Bank to learn more about the job market outlook for your occupation in the specific region where you plan to settle.
If you plan to work in a regulated profession, you must still get your licence in the province or territory that you plan on settling in.
A regulatory authority will decide if you can be licensed in a profession. They will assess factors such as your education, experience/competencies and language skills, as well as other factors.
You should contact the regulatory authority in the province where you plan to live as soon as possible. They can give you information about the process for being licensed, including steps you can take before you leave your home country.
How does it work?
We will only accept an ECA from one of the organizations designated by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) (below).
The original ECA report must:
be issued on or after the date CIC designated the organization,
not be more than five years old on the date that CIC gets a) your Express Entry profile, and b) your application for permanent residence, and
show your credential(s) is equal to a completed Canadian one.
Note: You will have to provide the reference number from the ECA report in your Express Entry profile, as well as in your application for permanent residence (along with proof of your foreign credential). If we cannot validate the number you enter, you will need to provide an electronic copy to confirm. Keep a copy in case we need to see it.
If you are invited to apply for permanent residence and you do not include this assessment and proof of your foreign credential when you apply, your application is not complete and will not be accepted for processing. Any fees submitted will be returned and you will need to submit a new Express Entry profile to be considered in the future.
Before you submit a profile, check the ECA conversion table to confirm that the result on your ECA report matches at least one of the assessment results listed. You can see how many points you would get for your foreign education under the CRS or the FSWP selection