If you have a foreign degree and are applying for immigration visas, university admission, or employment in the United States, you will need a foreign academic credentials evaluation. How do you decide which foreign education credentials evaluation agency is the best? Here are a few tips to help you choose an agency that is right for you.

First, don’t be afraid to shop around. Find out what guarantees these agencies will offer. For example, Career Consulting International offers a lowest price guarantee and promises to answer your questions at any time after you have had an educational evaluation completed - even ten years later.

While you are shopping, find out what kind of communication you can expect from the agency. Are you going to wait days or weeks for someone to respond to you? CCI has phone lines that are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to answer your questions.

Does the agency offer a free evaluation or pre-evaluation of your credits? Do you know what kind of degree equivalency you are going to get before you review your evaluation? CCI doesn’t ask you to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars before you know what you can expect from your evaluation report.

It’s hard to understand why people want to pay more money for poorer service, but you do have the freedom to choose whatever you want. If you don’t want to waste your time or your money, check with the experts at CCI - you won’t be disappointed!

To all of those who have served or are serving in the U.S. military, the professionals at Career Consulting International salute you. You’ve worked hard for your country, and you deserve our respect and our honor. Let us thank you with something even more tangible: a foreign education credentials evaluation.

Our foreign academic credentials evaluation agency offers free document evaluations, and a significant discount off the cost of our other evaluations, to professionals who are actively serving in the military. Just yesterday, we received another request for a foreign degree evaluation from another service member. 

We were able to show that his completion of secondary school requirements was in fact the U.S. equivalency of a high school diploma. This is the third free evaluation report we have been able to complete for the armed services this month, and we are hoping to be able to help with many more.

It’s a pleasure to find some way to thank our men and women in the military for all that they do to serve. Our hats are off to them, and on this Veterans’ Day, we salute them once again. Thank you for carrying out your duty to your country! Serve bravely and come home safely!

Recently, Career Consulting International was asked by a Navy service member to assist with an educational evaluation of his foreign education credentials. His goal is to enter the Navy’s medical service.  This is the fourth evaluation report CCI has completed for military personnel in October.

So far this month, we have equaled the number of foreign degree evaluations we completed for armed services members last month - which was our highest total ever. The word is starting to get out, and I am confident that one day soon, the U.S. Armed Forces will be able to meet Ms. Danzig’s challenge. (If you know anyone who can help them meet that challenge, get the word out!)

To remind you once more, most people who have obtained high school or college educations in other countries usually need their foreign diplomas evaluated to show the U.S. equivalency of their education. These evaluations can be used to help people with employment or educational goals, or even to apply for immigration visas to the United States.

In the armed services, college education can assist with a promotion, while a high school diploma is required for entry. Because these military people have chosen, of their own free will, to help by serving our country, we at CCI try to do our part in helping them by offering free document evaluations to help them get the credit they deserve. So keep spreading the word!

Looks like the word is getting out a bit about Ms. Danzig’s challenge concerning foreign academic credentials evaluations for the U.S. Armed Services. Today we received another inquiry from a recruit who needed a U.S. equivalency evaluation for her foreign diploma from high school.

That brings the total of evaluation reports to three so far this month, and, since we are only 1 day past the middle of the month, I am projecting that the number of foreign degree evaluations will be up from last month (4). If you know of anyone in the U.S. military who needs an educational evaluation, remember that Career Consulting International is offering free document evaluations to anyone who is an active member or who needs a foreign credentials evaluation to qualify for enlistment.

Although most people only require document evaluations, a few people do require more extensive evaluations, such as course by course evaluations. It’s important to check with your recruiting or commanding officer to be certain exactly what type of evaluation you need before ordering, so that we can best help you.

Once again, our hats off to those of you who serve. For those who have come to CCI for help with foreign degree evaluations, our thanks for letting us show our appreciation for your hard work and dedication!

Recently, we had the pleasure of receiving information from a client that his foreign academic credentials evaluation had been accepted by his employer. He proudly informed us that he was wearing his new title.

It’s hard to imagine what it would be like to attend school for four or six years and be successful in one’s home country, only to immigrate to another country and lose that immediate acceptance of one’s foreign degree. Yet, that is exactly what happens for many people who arrive here as a result of immigration visas. They cannot get a job using their skills and knowledge until after their foreign credentials have been evaluated.

Career Consulting International is very glad to be able to help hardworking, educated people who have foreign degrees obtain an accurate evaluation report of the U.S. equivalency of their degrees. Everyone deserves an equal opportunity for success in their careers!

In these hard economic times, a raise or a promotion never hurts. We were glad to know that we had been able to help this person prove that he did have the equivalent of a Master Degree, so that he was able to have the academic and job recognition he deserved.

We promised to keep you posted on how the U.S. military responded to the challenge issued by Career Consulting International. It must have taken a little while for the word to get out, because we had no responses in August. With that in mind, here is an update on the foreign education evaluations for September.

So far this month, we have been asked to evaluate foreign degrees for two members of the U.S. armed forces. We are hoping to have the privilege of completing an educational evaluation for a third individual this week. Although this does result in a 200 percent increase in our results from last month, we are still far short of our goal.

In early August, Ms. Danzig released a statement to the press offering U.S. equivalency evaluations free of charge to members of the U.S. military. She authorized her company, Career Consulting International, to complete 50 evaluation reports free of charge each month. So far, we are 48 - or perhaps 47 short of meeting her challenge to the American military.

So if you know anyone who received a foreign diploma or degree and is a member of a branch of the United States military, please encourage them to contact CCI for a free evaluation of their educational credentials. Don’t let them miss out on this valuable opportunity because they didn’t hear about it in time. Help us thank them for serving so bravely!

Foreign credential evaluation agencies can be expensive, and paying the cost of a professional translator may seem like an added, unnecessary expense. It may seem just as convenient to have a “friend” translate, or find someone who agrees to translate it for a very small fee. After all, what difference can one or two little words make?

In fact, even a single word or letter can be critical to a favorable educational evaluation. For example, the misalignment of a single column can result in the wrong grade for a course, or the wrong number of credits being assigned to a course. Likewise, being unfamiliar with advanced terms in course subjects, an inexperienced translator could assign a key mathematics course as algebra rather than calculus, which could be very detrimental for the student with a foreign degree.

Many immigration attorneys and foreign education credential evaluation services, such as Career Consulting International, work with translator services on a regular basis. While these agencies do not require people seeking U.S. equivalencies for their diplomas to use a particular translator, they are able to recommend high quality companies that have historically offered high quality translations. Furthermore, their professional reports leave no room for clerical errors.

The visa application process can be expensive and time-consuming. Frequently, people are in a hurry to have their visas approved for employment or education reasons. They have little time for making multiple corrections to evaluation reports that contain multiple errors as a result of erroneous translations. Taking a moment to carefully select a good professional translator can save a lot of future time and trouble. Spend the extra time with your family and friends, rather than making corrections and fielding the hassles caused by poor translations.

Medical schools occasionally go out of their way to recruit students with diverse ethnic or minority backgrounds. While some people like to blame this on equal opportunity employment issues, the real fact is that the United States is an ethnically diverse country. Sometimes, these students have a unique ability to understand and relate to the cultural customs and traditions valued by people of the same ethnic background.

While a significant number of medical students are minority students, many other physicians come to this country to practice after obtaining a foreign degree in their native country.  Often, however, doctors refrain from immigrating because they are concerned that their degree might not be accepted in the U.S.

In reality, however, nearly every medical degree obtained in a different country is given the U.S. equivalency of a diploma from a medical college. There are a few exceptions. For example, although degrees in homeopathic medicine may be recognized in other countries, these foreign education credentials are not accepted in this country. LIkewise, acupuncture degrees can rarely be shown through educational evaluations to be equivalent to a U.S degree.

If you are a physician who is considering immigrating to the United States, contact Career Consulting International for a credentials evaluation. Don’t immigrate and start your education all over again! Find out if your degree will qualify you to take medical boards and practice as a physician in the United States.

Usually, most people in the United States think of immigrant visas as “green cards,” documents that allow people from foreign countries to remain in the United States and work. Another very different type of visa, however, is granted to workers who desire to work in the U.S. for a time, but have expressed no desire to actually immigrate. Approximately 85,000 of these visas, known as H1-B visas, were issued to foreign citizens in 2008.

Professionals who hold these visas work in specialty occupations and have the U.S. equivalency of at least a bachelor degree in at least one specified discipline, such as science, the arts, theology, health or education. Several other specialty fields are included in this classification. For a complete list, consult the USCIS website.

In order to demonstrate that their foreign degrees or diplomas are equal to a U.S. degree, most workers are required to obtain an equivalency evaluation from a foreign credentials evaluation agency, such as Career Consulting International. This is particularly true for individuals from countries such as India, Pakistan, and some European Countries who hold 3-year degrees. These credential evaluations are also used for other purposes such as education and immigration, in the event that a person desires to apply for permanent resident status.

Generally, people who hold H1-B visas are allowed to remain in this country for three years after obtaining the visa. These visas can be renewed one time, and allow a person to remain in the U.S. as a temporary worker for up to six years total. Individuals interested in staying longer or becoming permanent residents should consider applying for I-140 status instead.

If you are considering attending university in the United States, or have been thinking about emigrating to the United States, you may require a foreign credentials evaluation. This will help to ensure that your foreign degree or diploma is recognized as a valid educational document.  If you are able to get these documents before leaving your home country, this can save you a great deal of time and trouble.

Important documents to keep on hand for submission to a foreign credentials evaluation agency such as Career Consulting International include copies of your passport, driver’s license, and marriage certificate. Transcripts or mark sheets, as well as degrees or diplomas, from your native country are also important.

Women who are submitting their foreign credentials for evaluation often wish to include their married name on the educational evaluation. In order to do this, they should submit a copy of their U.S. state-issued driver’s license, their passport with their married name, or their marriage certificate. This will greatly facilitate the credential evaluation process.

The process of locating foreign evaluation services can be difficult. One of the best ways to find a reputable service is to check with an immigration attorney or official translating service. These agencies often work with companies on a regular basis and know which companies will offer the most timely and accurate immigration evaluations.