Academic Credential Evaluations: As Makes a Difference
academic credentials evaluation
What Kind of Foreign Credential Evaluation Do You Need?
Academic credential evaluations for immigration visas such as I-140 or H1B visas often differ greatly from educational evaluations used for employment or education. Learn more about the types of foreign credential evaluations and decide which one will help (EMAILWIRE.COM, June 08, 2009 ) June 8, 2009, Fort Lauderdale, FL If you’ve earned a degree or high school diploma in another country, you will probably need an academic credentials evaluation to show that your degree is equivalent to a U.S. Degree. Most foreign credential evaluation agencies offer a variety of different types of educational evaluations. If you’re having difficulty deciding what type of evaluation you need, this information may help you to make a better choice. Will you be using your evaluation for immigration, for education, for employment, or for a combination of these purposes? Employment requirements are often much different from immigration requirements, so knowing how you’re planning to use the evaluation will be very important to the person evaluating your education credentials. Make certain to tell the agency how you’re planning to use the evaluation; a good consulting service will be able to tell you exactly what type of evaluation you will need and what documents you will need to provide. Most employers only require a document evaluation, which simply states that your degree is equivalent to a U.S. degree in the same field. If you need to show that you have specific course work in a certain area, though, or if your employer requires you to show that you earned a certain grade in these courses, you will need a course-by-course evaluation. If you’re using the evaluation for immigration purposes, tell the agency for which type of immigration visa you’re applying. Different visas have different requirements. For example, H1B visas allow workers to combine educational degrees. This combination, however, must equal four years of postsecondary education. If a person’s degree is only three years in duration, he or she must show three years of work experience to qualify for the H1B visa. In contrast, however, an individual applying for an I-140 Visa, or permanent residency visa (sometimes known as a “green card”), must show what is called a “single source degree.” This means that a person must demonstrate his or her Bachelor Degree to be the U.S. equivalency of a four-year degree, without combining this Bachelor Degree with any other education. Some credential evaluation services offer evaluations of three-year degrees. However, they may or may not have extensive expertise in showing this equivalent to a U.S. Bachelor Degree. Certain agencies, such as Career Consulting International (sometimes referred to as The Degree People, or CCI), specialize in showing three-year degrees equivalent to a U.S. Bachelor Degree. Executive Director Sheila Danzig often works extensively with people who have previously had requests for evidence (RFEs) or denials from United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). For more information about three-year degree equivalencies, visitwww.thedegreepeople.com or call 1-800-771-4723.]]>
H1b Visa and I140 Visa Denials, RFE’s … Based on Education
Workers applying for temporary or permanent visas in the United States sometimes receive RFEs or denials. Career Consulting International offers free pre-evaluation services to these clients, their attorneys and their employers.
(EMAILWIRE.COM, April 21, 2009 ) Fort Lauderdale, FL – You’ve gathered all your materials together – degree, mark sheets or transcripts, identification, and paid the fee for your foreign credential evaluation. When you receive it, you submit it to USCIS – and wait, hoping that you’ll get an approval notice in the mail soon. Instead, when you open the mail, you find a Request for Information (RFE). Or worse, still, you find yourself with a Denial in hand. What do you do next?
If you’ve gotten a denial or RFE, this may be a result of a problem with your sponsor’s paperwork or ability to pay your salary. In this case, an attorney may be able to help correct the paperwork or demonstrate the corporation’s ability to pay.
Alternatively, you may have received an RFE or denial because of your academic credentials evaluation. Possibly the USCIS wanted more evidence that your Bachelor Degree was equal to a U.S. Bachelor Degree, or they could not determine that the university you attended was accredited in your home country. In this case, you may need a more extensive foreign credentials evaluation, or an expert opinion letter to help get your case approved.
Career Consulting International (CCI), a credential evaluation service owned and operated by Sheila Danzig, has developed a special website, www.ccifree.com, for people with foreign degrees who have received an RFE or denial. While that was great info about our clients getting RFE’s / Denials, it is best not even to bring that up as it can be confusing.
The vast majority of the education RFE’s and Denials are for the I140 visa and the #1 reason for the denial is for combining education. Certain Employment based Visa’s like EB-2 do not allow for combining at all. EB-3 allows for it, but only if it is so stated on the labor certificate.
At www.ccifree.com, people who have received these notices from the USCIS can submit a brief form, including their academic credentials and their notice without charge. An expert evaluator will then examine the education credentials and the notice to determine what information USCIS might require to approve the case. A company representative will then contact the client and explain what assistance CCI can offer. In some cases there is nothing that can be done. In most cases it is an uphill battle because they have already received an RFE or Denial. “It is best when we do the evaluation in the first place,” said Danzig. “But we have good success even after a denial in many cases. We have one eye on the USCIS requirements and one eye on the education documents. We know when you can combine and when you can’t. We have extensive reference material for many of the unusual degrees such as the 3 year bachelor’s degree, Chartered Accountancy (CA), AIME, AIMETE, ICAI, ICWAI, and others. Because degrees from other countries can be very different from ours reference materials and original research are often needed to explain the equivalencies.”
In addition attorneys and employers who are not certain whether their clients have the necessary education credentials, or who would like advice about what kind of evaluation their clients may need are also encouraged to visitwww.ccifree.com. CCI offers free pre-evaluations to attorneys and employers assisting clients with first-time visa applications or with RFEs or denials.
Many people don’t hear about this service until it’s almost too late, so they submit their academic credentials with very tight deadlines. In this case, clients are encouraged to call after submitting the request, so that evaluators can be made aware that their deadline for answering the USCIS is very near. Otherwise, CCI’s goal is a 2 business day turnaround time for these pre-evaluations, though most are completed within 24 hours.]]>