Often, people applying for foreign credential evaluations for their Bachelor or Master Degrees don’t stop to realize that there is a big difference between A and O. Advanced and Ordinary Level secondary exams, that is. In fact, in many countries, Advanced Level exams are equal to an extra year of college education.

Countries such as Norway, the United Kingdom, Spain, Ghana, France, Sri Lanka, and many others offer students ordinary level exams, which is equivalent to US high school graduation. These countries, however, also offer A Level exams, which is equivalent to one year of undergraduate education. Because of this, their three-year Bachelor Degrees can easily be shown to be the US equivalency of a Bachelor Degree, for both education and H1B visa purposes.

Other countries, however, including those in West Africa (including Nigeria, Cameroon, and Sierra Leone) offer both ordinary and advanced level exams. For many of these students, however, the completion of A level exams is equivalent only to graduation from high school – not an undergraduate year of college.

Some people don’t realize the difference, but many other people automatically assume that the credential evaluation service will take these differences into account without having proof of the completion of these exams. This isn’t the case, however. Unless applicants send these exam results, they won’t get credit for this education.

So if you’re ready to apply for an academic credentials evaluation, and your high school education was in a foreign country, send your high school diploma, as well as your ordinary and advanced level exam results. This will save a lot of confusion, and help you get the highest educational equivalency that your academic credentials deserve. Don’t sell your education short – help the evaluators by sending all of your educational documents.

We just received word from an attorney with whom we work that another of our clients’ I140 visas had been approved as a result of the foreign credentials evaluation through CCI. We were very glad to hear that this client’s evaluation had been accepted after the RFE had been issued.

The client holds a three-year degree from India, as well as  a Master Degree. The requirement was a minimum Bachelor Degree, but combining degrees is not permitted for I-140 visas. To help this person, Director Sheila Danzig and consultant Professor John Kersey worked to show that the client’s 3-year degree was the U.S. equivalency of a Bachelor Degree.

The process is complicated, and involves an extensive amount of research sometimes, so it can be expensive, often nearly $1200. This often involves extensive consultations with attorneys, research, and access to our evidence archives so that attorneys can reference little-known information in their briefs.

Of course, not every 3-year degree can be shown as the educational equivalency of a US Bachelor Degree. So we encourage all clients, especially those who have received RFEs or denials, to submit their information for a pre-evaluation so that we can offer them an accurate estimate of whether we will be able to help. Our success rates with these complicated cases is very high, and there is a lot of work involved sometimes. So there is a lot of cheering and celebration when we receive word from another of our clients that they have been approved!

Sometimes, it’s hard to establish an educational equivalency between a foreign degree and a U.S. Bachelor Degree. Many countries in Europe, as well as in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and many South American Countries, offer 3-year Bachelor Degrees. Some, although not all, of these degrees are considered the international equivalency of a U.S. Bachelor Degree.

Sometimes, as in the case of many European universities, students attend a 13th year of high school, which is as advanced as the first year of an undergradute university degree program in the United States. One example of this is a recent evaluation for a client with a five-year Master Degree from Italy. He  offered kind words of praise regarding the agency’s speed, efficiency, and courtesy. We were very glad to be able to help him with the document evaluation he required for educational purposes.

We recently received another response from a client who wrote to thank us for our work:

“I’m so glad I chose the right people to do it! You guys saved me a lot of money, now can I get right into my masters! You did a wonderful  job! I was looking for an agency to do my evaluation for quite some time I called and researched about probably most of the agencies in the country, and I found the Degree People the most professional one.Thank you for such great work!”

We appreciate the kind words of feedback from all our clients, and look forward to hearing how we can help you with your evaluation needs.

Even through the holiday season, the professionals at Career Consulting International have been rushing to complete last minute orders for foreign credential evaluations from client. Despite the rush, we always try to take time to make sure that we are able to help people with special details on their evaluations. Some of these special details including mailing instructions, sending along shipping and tracking notices, and even multiple attempts to reach clients whose documents have not yet been received.

Now and then, clients respond with kind words of thanks or encouragement. Recently, one of our clients wrote “I am extremely happy that I found your website on the Internet. I will always be grateful for your honest and professional advice. My evaluation cannot be better. . . I will recommend your service very highly. You are outstanding!”

Notes like these from our clients make completing the sometimes difficult evaluation reports very rewarding, and we are very honored to receive comments like these from our clients. Sometimes, finding a U.S. equivalency for the foreign degrees issued to persons who completed their education in another country can be challenging. Some degrees are not directly comparable to a U.S. degree.

Occasionally, we encounter degrees or diplomas obtained by persons in another country do not have an educational equivalency in the United States, or are not equal to accredited education in the United States. This isn’t something that our clients like to hear, but we strive to remain completely objective and to strictly follow the UNESCO rules for international equivalencies for degrees and diplomas.

Our goal is to issue educational evaluations that maintain our reputation and credibility with our clients, U.S. universities, and of course, the USCIS. While we cannot make every client as happy as the one who wrote us, we strive always to do our best to remain as helpful and objective as possible, and to issue the highest quality evaluations possible.

If you received a foreign degree and decided to enter the U.S. for education, employment, or immigration, you will probably need a foreign education evaluation to determine the U.S. equivalency of your degree. Although finding a foreign credential evaluation agency isn’t too difficult, finding a good one can be extremely tough, and knowing exactly what type of educational evaluation you need is important too. Just how easy is it to choose between the different types of evaluations?

In reality, a good agency will be able to tell you upon examining your application whether or not you’ve made the right choice. While certain types of evaluations may be acceptable for work, you may need a more specific type of evaluation, such as a course-by-course evaluation, for university admission. The difference can be even more critical if you are planning to apply for an immigration visa such as an H1-B or I-140 visa.

Most applicants have some idea of what type of evaluation they need. Most reputable agencies, however, know exactly which type of evaluation will work for a specific purpose. For example, some people are unaware that educational degrees cannot be combined when filing for an I-140. Occasionally, clients become frustrated and seek other alternatives when a good agency refuses to provide them with an educational evaluation that will not help them.

In a few instances, clients seek foreign credential evaluations, only to demand the kind of evaluation they believe will be best for them. They don’t understand the details of immigration visa requirements, and are sure that their opinion regarding their educational equivalency is correct. Rather than trust the experts, they would prefer to make their own decisions – even if they waste hundreds of dollars of their own money doing so.