Saturday, June 20, 2015 | By: JustPJ

Educational Credential Assessment (ECA)

One of the basic requirement for the 2015 Express Entry Federal Skilled Worker Program is their education. For foreign applicant, it is a must to secure an ECA before applying to the EE FSWP as stated in the CIC website and I quote:

Education
You must have: x x x

This ECA report is only given by the designated organizations approved by CIC as follows: (1) Comparative Education Service - University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies; (2) International Credential Assessment Service of Canada; (3) World Education Services (WES); (4) Medical Council of Canada (professional body for Doctors); and (5) Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada (professional body for Pharmacists).

I signed up with No. 3, WES. Why WES? My friend Google told me that WES is a new organization and that it caters the cheapest and fastest assessment of school credentials. Thus, I went on to WES website and tried on their free degree equivalency tool here. I followed the steps as instructed and I got an initial Canadian equivalency result of Bachelor's Degree three years for my four-year course of Bachelor of Science in Commerce Major in Banking and Finance.

Thus, on 23 April 2015, I registered and paid the services of WES for my school credential assessment. I paid the following WES services through credit card to make the transaction faster and easier. The conversion rate with Citibank at the time I paid WES is at CAD$36.125 or the amount of Php11,634.06. I opted for international courier because as per my co-forumers in P2C, regular mail's will take 2-3 months or even longer to reach an applicant.


Then WES gave me a reference number and a downloadable International Transcript Request which I have to fill up and sign before sending it to my school. WES required documents are stated below which are self-explanatory.


Finally, my husband and I's journey to our Canada dream started when I paid for my ECA. Every applicant needs this before making an Express Entry Profile with the CIC. I was the only one who applied for ECA because I am the Principal Applicant but if you have again the "extra money" you can always have your spouse's school credentials evaluated for additional points in the Express Entry.

26 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi,

In WES sign up page, there is this field:
I am applying to use my report for * -- what should I select? CANADA or CIC? Thanks.

JustPJ said...

Hi Alexis, I do not remember but I think it is for CIC and CIC is for Canada. Good luck.

annadotscute said...

hi i just want to ask how many copies of tor and diploma should i send to wes? thank you

JustPJ said...

1 each but remember your TOR must be sealed and to be sent outby your school. Diploma is a different story. Good luck.😊

Unknown said...

Hello ms.PJ, i would like to ask if diploma is needed also to submit in wes?thanks

JustPJ said...

Hi Ana. Please read this post again. Diploma and TOR are needed in for WES evaluation. Good luck.

cc-a said...

Hi PJ, kindly. I just want to ask how to pay WES thru Western Union. I know you used your credit card, my problem is, I don't have one. My only option is Western Union. They are asking for the contact person from WES but, WES is not replying on the contact name. What could I do? Thank you.

JustPJ said...

Hi Unknown. I am sorry I cannot help you with this because I only pay all our fees through credit card. I have not experience paying to other forms of payment except to that of credit card and the bank draft in our NBPNP fee. Good luck.

cc-a said...

Thank you, PJ. Hope you can blog about living in NB with pictures of the surroundings.

JustPJ said...

Hi cc-a. Just posted a new blog. :)

rayshell said...

very informative! :) Did you notarize your diploma?

JustPJ said...

Hi rayshell, no need to notarize diploma (except I think if it is not written in english, ours is), just the photocopy will do. Good luck.

Toby101 said...

Hi Dear, sorry to ask but please confirm my understanding.

Transcript to be sent to WES directly by my school - How did you ask your school for this?

Diploma is to be sent to WES by the applicant itself - please confirm.

How about for International Transcript Request, who will send this to WES? The applicant or the school?

Thank you so much!!

JustPJ said...

Hi Toby101. Here's my answer to your questions: (1) Yes, the school must send an original copy of your TOR, sealed. Just go to your school and request for it. Show them the request form from WES. (2) Yes, applicant will send the photocopy of diploma. (3) The school, they will put the request together with your TOR on a sealed envelope. All the best on your application.

Unknown said...

hi PJ,I initially ordered document by document, how can i change it to ECA Package? Hindi ko pa naman nababayaran but I already request my school to send the TOR -using the reference number for the dox by dox...

JustPJ said...

Hi Ruby Ann, that I honestly do not know where to tweak it. But should you not pay first the ECA before letting your school send your TOR? That is what I did. WES gave me the reference number after I paid my ECA request. Did it change? Good luck anyway.

Unknown said...

Thank you for your reply JustPJ. Yes, i was able to secure a reference number prior to any payment. What i did was to add recipient of the report which cost me 30CAD, put there CIC. I just hope CIC will be able to view it eventually. Anyway, per update from WES, complete na evaluation and the documents were sent to me na daw. Awaiting. Salamat ng marami.

JustPJ said...

No worries Ruby. Good luck.

Unknown said...

Hi MsJUSTPJ, this is not regarding ECA but the full process for EE. Did you just sign-up all for yourself or do you have consultant to guide you? How long does it take to approved your PR? How much is the total cost of your expense including dependents? Thanks in advance for your answer :)

JustPJ said...

Hi Mary Ann, just use the "My Blog Posts" on the right for the details of our application, it is all stated there but I just cannot remember where. We started May 2015 so just follow the dates. As for the expenses, it is on the "My Pages" also on the right. Thanks.

Unknown said...

Hi, Did you include your high school TOR and diploma? Thanks :)

JustPJ said...

Hi Unknown. No, only College TOR and diploma. Good luck.

Maria said...

HI Just PJ, submission in WES will not include high school just the college education, am I correct? Just want to make sure before I proceed though. Appreciate your response here :)

Anonymous said...

I applied for ECA via WES just last night (18 Sept 2017) and there was an instruction saying: Please include your secondary and higher education for analysis. I asked my consultant and she told me that before HS credentials were not asked and it just started recently. So I added info about my high school education. I also need to send my HS diploma as supporting doc for analysis and request my school to send Form 137 (TOR for HS), or I can send it as long as it's sealed and stamped by the school (same procedure as when sending your university diploma). Have you heard of this or are you taking the same application route as mine?

Anonymous said...

Hi PJ, how many points will be added (conservatively) if I will ask my wife to have her educ background assessed?

Atique Mehdi said...

I have a diploma certificate from Sweden. It was issued by Swedish Institute. How can I verify the certificate. I gave them mail but yet not received any response. How can I send the copy of that certificate to WES? another question is, Do the ECA of spouse add extra point?

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