It’s February, and thank goodness we are starting over. The U.S. Military was starting to catch up with us last month. During January, we are glad to be able to report that we were able to help with foreign credential evaluations for 10 members of the armed services. This equals more military education evaluations than we have ever done in a single month to date!

Whether this increase in foreign credential evaluations is a result of the economic problems our country has been having, or the fact that word is just getting out, we are glad to be able to help. In fact, we’ve been experiencing a significant increase in the number of evaluation reports lately. In addition, more and more of our clients, both military and civilian, have been writing us back to let us know the difference our evaluation reports have made in their lives.

It’s nice to know when you’ve been able to make a difference, and we are glad to hear from those who tell us of the difference we have made. The most recent response we received was from one of our clients who was happy to be able to tell us that she had received word that her I-140 had been approved without an RFE or denial. She had a three-year degree, and many clients have come to us after an RFE or denial, requesting our assistance. She chose to use our foreign credential evaluation agency first, however, and was so happy to get through the process without the difficulties her colleagues had experienced that she wanted very much to write and tell us about her approval.

To the U.S. Military: Thank you for making a difference by serving our country!

To our clients: Thank you for letting us make a difference by serving you!

Last July, Career Consulting Agency’s executive director, Ms. Sheila Danzig, issued a press release announcing her policy of free foreign degree evaluations for military personnel. She offered up to 50 free foreign credential evaluations each year. Although we haven’t yet reached that benchmark, we have had between two and ten foriegn degree evaluations for the military each month. As of January 15, we had 4 for this month, so there are 46 more free ones out there!

We regularly receive calls from recruiting sergeants, as well as inquiries from service professionals themselves about whether a person’s foreign education credentials can be evaluated for employment or enlistment purposes. We are always happy to help people get their foreign degrees evaluated. CCI offers free document evaluations, and a discount on other evaluation reports to military professionals.

One thing our consulting agency does not do, however, is translate documents with foreign degrees into English, or work with untranslated documents. We do recommend Accurate Translator Services for translating these educational evaluations, but we do not do the translations directly through our agency.

Military persons who need foreign degree evaluations can call the toll-free number, or email a request to thedegreepeople to have their degrees evaluated. Our goal is to complete these evaluation reports as quickly as possible. It is one way that we can thank the brave people who have chosen to serve our country, and we are glad to be able to do so!

It’s true! For a number of years, Career Consulting International (CCI) has been offering free document evaluations for military professionals. Every month, we have a few recruiters or service personnel email or call to inquire about evaluation reports. January has so far brought only two persons from the military with foreign degrees that required educational evaluations.

Document evaluations, for example, are very helpful for students who need to show that their foreign high school diploma is the U.S. equivalency of high school graduation, or that they have a Bachelor degree from another country. These evaluations help people prove that they are eligible to enlist or to gain a promotion. Sometimes, recruiters contact the agency to request an evaluation report for someone who is about to enlist. Often, however, the service people have read or heard about the agency’s policy and contact us seeking to have their degrees evaluated. Either way, we are happy to serve!

Some persons require course by course evaluations or expert opinions, and we cannot offer these free because of the expense involved. We are able, however, to deduct the cost of the free document evaluation from the fee and offer that reduced rate to the military person. If you are in the military and have a foreign degree, or if you know someone who does, their career may benefit from one of these free foreign degree evaluations!

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.

Last week, one of our clients wrote to us, requesting urgent assistance in evaluating his foreign academic credentials. Though he had held his job for some time, recent economical problems were resulting in cutbacks at his place of employment. He required an evaluation of his foreign degree in order to remain employed.

This person’s problem is not at all unusual in these recent months. People are returning to work after spouses have been laid off, or are working to keep jobs they already hold. Current or prospective employers are requesting or requiring evaluation reports that demonstrate that these persons hold degrees that are the U.S. equivalency of a Bachelor or Master Degree.

If you’re worried about keeping your job, or are seeking a work or immigration visa to the United States, learn more about what type of education evaluation you need. Be aware, though, that some degrees are easier to evaluate than others. People who received their foreign education credentials from countries that were formerly part of the Soviet Union or the Eastern Bloc often find it easier to demonstrate that their academic credentials are equal to a US degree because of the enormous number of lecture and classroom hours required (sometimes more than 5,000 to 10,000.)

Although people who attended school in India or many European countries also have a great number of lecture and classroom hours, these degrees are completed in three years. The USCIS often requires greater documentation that these 3-year degrees are the U.S. equivalency of a Bachelor Degree, and so these evaluation reports can be more expensive.

What kind of evaluation do you need? That depends on many factors. Let The Degree People review your credentials, and help you select the type of report that will best help you. Take advantage of the extensive experience and expertise of top evaluators Sheila Danzig and Professor John Kersey. Don’t lose your job or get your employment visa denied tomorrow because you didn’t know what you needed today!

If confirmed, Janet Napolitano’s nomination as Director of Homeland Security is likely to have a significant impact on the H1B visa process and  possibly even be a significant factor in increasing the cap on these employment visas. Of course, in order to get confirmed, she will have to face committee chairman Joseph Lieberman, her sometime ally. Although she could not singlehandledly raise the visa cap, she is likely to be very influential in making some major changes to the H1B program.

One challenge that Napolitano will inherit if she is confirmed is the current problems inherit in the system. A recent examination of a small percentage of approved applications revealed that aspects of more than 20 percent of H1B visa applications were in violation of federal laws and regulations. Examples of these included fraudulent foreign degree evaluations (some applicants submitted degrees from fake universities), signature forgeries, and applications from nonexistent companies.

Ms. Napolitano has been a strong advocate of increasing the H1B Visa cap. Her stance on welcoming the technological skills of persons with foreign degrees offers great potential benefit for U.S. companies and businesses. It remains to be seen, however, what kind of approach she intends to take to minimize fraudulent or erroneous foreign credential evaluations.

This could be done by making the foreign credential evaluation agencies responsible by penalizing them for evaluation reports that offer U.S. equivalencies for fake degrees. Agencies like Career Consulting International and Wes maintain high standards for corroborating degree equivalencies, and should have nothing to fear from this type of approach. Financially penalizing agencies that, knowingly or unknowingly, engage in this behavior should help to significantly reduce the incidence of failing to verify that a foreign country’s university education is indeed equivalent to that of an accredited U.S. university.

President-Elect Barack Obama’s governmental appointments will most likely have a major impact on immigration visas and foreign workers in the United States. The degree to which things will change remains to be seen. Hopefully, some of these abuses will be corrected, and the cap will be increased, so that America can regain her place as technological leader and innovator within world markets. The current U.S. economy sure could use that boost!

If you received a foreign degree and are seeking the U.S. equivalency, you will need a foreign credentials evaluation. These may be relatively inexpensive, or quite costly, depending on the degree of complexity your educational evaluation requires. Document evaluations are typically available for less than $100, while evaluation reports requiring expert opinions may cost over $1,000.

When you are ordering, it’s helpful to know what type of evaluation you need. To determine this, you may discuss with your potential employer whether a document evaluation is sufficient. If you have extensive experience but less formal education than your new boss would like, ask the consulting agency whether you qualify for a work credentials evaluation.

If, however, you are applying for admission to a university, and have already completed some postsecondary education, you will probably need a course by course evaluation. This type of evaluation lists your course work, your grades, the number of semester credit hours you have earned, and your grade point average. Be sure that your credits are reported in terms of semester credit hours if you are interested in college, because this is the way most colleges calculate credits.

If you have questions about what you are ordering, contact the consulting agency before you order. A good foreign credentials evaluation agency will always have a knowledgeable representative available to assist you with ordering the right evaluation. Make sure you know that the evaluation you are ordering meets your requirements, so you know that you can accomplish your goals by having the right evaluation.

It’s November, and the professionals at Career Consulting International are waiting to see whether the U.S. Armed Forces can meet the challenge. We’re looking for 50 foreign academic credential evaluations needed by active members of the armed services. So far, it looks even more promising than last month.

We have had two educational evaluations for military professionals since the first of this week, so we only need 48 more. In case you’ve missed out on our patriotic efforts, we are offering free document evaluation reports to the first 50 members of any person who is in active military service. Finding personnel who are willing to help us out with this goal has been a challenge.

Just to review, if you know someone who is serving in the U.S. military who received a foreign degree, or high school diploma, this person may benefit from a foreign credential evaluation. If they can show their degrees to be the U.S. equivalency of postsecondary education, they may be eligible for a promotion.

Do you know anyone in the military who was born or went to school in a different country? Have they had their education evaluated by a foreign credentials evaluation agency? If not, help them get their promotion or advancement today!

You’ve earned a foreign degree at the Bachelor or graduate level, and want to apply for an immigration visa to the United States. To apply for an employment-based visa, you must prove that your education is the U.S. equivalency required for the labor certificate. How do you know if your degree will hold up to examination?

First, check the UNESCO database at  http://www.unesco.org/iau/onlinedatabases/list.html . If your university is listed here, your degree will probably be recognized as accredited education by the U.S. Department of Education. This is the educational authority recognized as well by USCIS. Some universities, such as some accredited institutions within the United Kingdom, can be located at other websites as well.

Sometimes, a private educational institution or university operating within a particular country will be recognized as accredited education as well. These foreign academic credentials may be issued by a private university or by that country’s department or ministry of education. For example, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India is an educational institution established by that country’s statutes and passing those examinations can yield the U.S. equivalency of a degree as well.

Determining whether some foreign diplomas, such as certain postgraduate diplomas offered in some countries, are accredited can be a difficult process. For this reason, many foreign academic credentials evaluation agencies, including Career Consulting International, offers pre-evaluation reports. These can be used to offer students an idea of whether their education can indeed be evaluated as the international equivalency of an accredited degree.

Not all diplomas do meet U.S. requirements for accredited education, and extenuating circumstances apply. For this reason, the USCIS generally requires persons who have obtained their degrees outside the U.S. to have an educational evaluation performed before an employment-based visa is issued. Do your homework, and get your degree evaluated so you will know whether your diploma will make the grade!

So far, it looks like October is going to be another quiet month for foreign academic credentials evalations for October. As promised, I am updating you on The Degree People’s latest attempt to thank U.S. Military personnel for their service.

As of early last week, we had received no requests from Armed Forces members for educational evaluations. We have had the pleasure of being able to respond twice this week. Our evaluation reports have helped service members receive promotions and even enlist as a result of CCI’s commitment to help these people with free evaluations to determine U.S. equivalencies of their foreign degrees.

Remember, Ms. Danzig has offered to help 50 persons from the armed services each month receive free document evaluations. So far, only two people have stepped forward to respond to October’s offer. If you know anyone who might be able to benefit from this offer, please tell them so that we can help them get a degree evaluation.

If you or someone you know is an active member of the U.S. military, and completed your high school or college education in another country, a foreign credentials evaluation could be of tremendous help. Career advancement and promotional opportunities may be available – don’t hesitate to take advantage of this opportunity today!