An ECA verifies that your foreign education equals a Canadian credential, for Express Entry. This guide covers who needs one, the five designated organizations plus the professional bodies for doctors, pharmacists, and architects, the five-year validity rule, and how to submit your report. An ECA is not a licence.
An Educational Credential Assessment, or ECA, answers one question for immigration purposes: is your foreign education valid, and what Canadian credential is it equal to? It is the immigration-points step. It is not the licensing step, it is not a job offer, and it is not a guarantee of either. Keep those three things apart from the start and the rest of the process stays straightforward.
This guide covers the ECA for Express Entry, grounded on the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) ECA page listed under Sources. It does not cover licensing for any regulated profession. For that, use the profession guides linked under Related guides: licensing runs through the provincial or territorial regulator, on its own timeline, with its own assessment.
Step 1: Confirm you need an ECA, and for what
If you completed your education outside Canada, you need an ECA to be eligible as the principal applicant for the Federal Skilled Worker Program under Express Entry, or to earn points for education you got outside Canada. You can also earn points for your spouse or common-law partner's education, if they are coming with you to Canada — their credential needs its own assessment for those points.
You do not need an assessment for a Canadian degree, diploma, or certificate. And the report has to do real work to earn points: to earn points, your report must show that your completed foreign credential — degree, diploma, or certificate — is equal to a completed Canadian secondary school (high school) or post-secondary credential. An assessment that finds no Canadian equivalency earns no education points, which is why Step 4 matters: a secondary credential can still earn points where a post-secondary one does not match.
An ECA is used to verify that your foreign degree, diploma, or certificate, or other proof of your credential, is valid and equal to a Canadian one. There are different types of ECAs. You need to get an ECA for immigration purposes. If you got another type of ECA, you may be able to get it re-issued, depending on the type of ECA and the issuing organization — check with the issuing organization before you rely on it, as the FAQ above explains.
Step 2: Check the validity rule before you order
Your ECA must be less than five years old when you complete your Express Entry profile, and when you submit your application. That single rule decides the timing of the whole exercise.
If you have been invited to apply, make sure your ECA will still be valid when you plan to apply. If you have not been invited to apply, make sure your ECA is valid for the rest of the time you will be in the pool. If your assessment will expire before you can apply, contact the organization that issued it. They may re-issue it, depending on the type of ECA and the organization. If you apply with an expired ECA, IRCC will refuse your application.
The practical consequence: do not order an ECA years before you intend to enter the pool, and do not let an old report sit while you wait for an invitation. Check the issue date on the report you hold, count forward five years, and compare that date against both the profile date and the application date. The validity figure in this guide is stated because the IRCC ECA page itself states it — see the note in Sources.
Step 3: Decide which credentials to assess
In most cases, you only need an assessment for your highest level of education. If you have a master's degree, you only need an assessment for that degree. You do not need one for your bachelor's degree.
Assess more than one credential only for a stated reason. To get points for having two or more credentials, you need an assessment for each one. To get full points for more than one credential, at least one of the credentials must be for a program of three or more years in length. The order that you completed your credentials in does not affect points.
There is one further case worth knowing before you order. If your post-secondary credential is not equal to a Canadian credential, you could get your secondary credential assessed. That would get you points for completing secondary school. It is a fallback, not a starting point: assess the highest credential first, read the equivalency result, and only then decide whether a secondary assessment adds points.
Step 4: Choose the designated organization or professional body
You must get your assessment from an organization or a professional body designated by IRCC. They will give you a report that tells you what your education is equal to in Canada. An assessment from any other body does not count for Express Entry, however thorough it is.
Most people must use one of these designated organizations:
- Comparative Education Service, University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies
- International Credential Assessment Service of Canada
- World Education Services
- International Qualifications Assessment Service (IQAS)
- International Credential Evaluation Service, British Columbia Institute of Technology
Processing times and costs may vary by organization or professional body. IRCC states no fee and no processing time for any of them, and this guide states none either: compare the organizations on their own pages before you commit, because the report is tied to the organization that issued it, and IRCC does not rank them.
Three occupations have a different rule. If your primary occupation is as an architect, doctor, or pharmacist, you must use a designated professional body based on your occupation:
- Architects (NOC 21200). The Canadian Architectural Certification Board must do your assessment if your primary occupation is architect and you need a licence to practise — for example, if you are using the architect title and are responsible for the design and construction of homes or buildings. If you are in a position where you do not need a licence, one of the other designated organizations can assess your credentials, for example if you work as a project manager at a construction firm. Note the transition rule on the IRCC page: if your primary occupation is architect and you already have an ECA issued by another designated organization before October 31, 2024, IRCC will still accept it if it is valid.
- Specialists and family physicians (NOC 31100, NOC 31101, or NOC 31102). You must get an ECA report for your primary medical diploma from the Medical Council of Canada if your primary occupation is specialist in clinical and laboratory medicine, specialist in surgery, or general practitioner or family physician. If you have a different primary occupation, another designated organization can do your assessment.
- Pharmacists (NOC 31120). The Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada must do your assessment if your primary occupation is pharmacist and you need a licence to practise — for example, caring for patients in a community pharmacy, a hospital pharmacy, a long-term care facility, or other practice settings. If you do not need a licence for the position, one of the other designated organizations can assess your credentials, for example work in the pharmaceutical industry or a government job where a pharmacy degree is required but a licence to practise pharmacy is not.
For all three occupations, IRCC adds the same instruction: contact the regulatory body in the province where you plan to live to find out if you need a licence to practise your intended occupation. The ECA answers the education question; the regulator answers the licence question.
Step 5: Get the assessment through the organization you chose
Once you choose a designated organization or a professional body, that organization will tell you how to submit your documents to get your assessment. This guide gives no document checklist, because the checklist is the chosen organization's, not a general one: each organization sets its own submission instructions, and a checklist copied from another organization's page can send the wrong documents to the wrong place. Follow the instructions of the organization you chose, keep the original documents it asks you to keep, and confirm you have ordered the immigration-purpose report type before you pay.
Do not order from two organizations at once in the hope of a better equivalency. The report states what your education is equal to in Canada, and the equivalency finding is the organization's judgment on your documents. A second order is a second fee and a second wait, with no basis on the IRCC page for expecting a different result on the same documents.
Step 6: Submit your report in your Express Entry profile
Enter the results and the reference number into your Express Entry profile. You must include your ECA report and the reference number in your profile. Keep your original documents, and be ready to upload copies if IRCC invites you to apply for permanent residence.
If you have two or more credentials, the profile entry has its own mechanics, stated on the IRCC page. To get full points for having more than one credential, at least one credential must be for a program of three or more years in length, and you need a valid ECA for each credential. In the profile, go to the Study and languages form, fill in the Education history section with your first credential — using the credential for your highest degree, diploma, or certificate — click Save and add, and repeat for each remaining credential. You cannot submit more than one educational credential in the same field, and the order you complete your credentials in does not affect points.
For points, use the IRCC page's own table. The page carries a full list of possible ECA results with the level of education for your Express Entry profile and the points under both the Comprehensive Ranking System and the Federal Skilled Worker Program selection factors. This guide reproduces no points figures: find the result on your report in that table, read the level and points beside it, and enter the level that matches your report. A points figure quoted anywhere else — including a figure remembered from an older version of the table — is not a substitute for the row that matches your report on the current page.
What this guide deliberately does not carry
No fee or processing-time figures: IRCC states only that processing times and costs vary by organization, and no figure for any organization could be verified on the IRCC page. No ranking of the five designated organizations by speed, cost, or outcome: IRCC ranks none of them, and this guide follows that. No per-organization document checklist: each organization sets its own submission instructions. No reproduced points table: the IRCC page carries the table, and points must be read from the row matching your own report. No licensing content: an ECA is not a licence, and licensing belongs to the profession guides.
Related guides
Questions people ask
Is an ECA the same as a licence to work in my profession?
No, and the distinction is the point of this guide. An Educational Credential Assessment verifies that your foreign degree, diploma, or certificate is valid and equal to a Canadian one, for immigration purposes. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada states directly that your ECA report may help when you are looking for a job, but it does not guarantee you will get a job in your field or at a certain level, and it does not guarantee you will get a licence to practise in a regulated profession. If you plan to work in a regulated job, you must get your licence in the province or territory where you plan to settle, through that profession's regulator — a separate process from the ECA, covered by the profession guides linked under Related guides.
Do I need an ECA if my education was completed in Canada?
No. You do not need an assessment for a Canadian degree, diploma, or certificate. You need an ECA if you completed your education outside Canada and you want to be eligible as the principal applicant for the Federal Skilled Worker Program under Express Entry, or to earn points for education you got outside Canada. You can also earn points for your spouse or common-law partner's education if they are coming with you to Canada, which means their credential needs its own assessment. To earn points, your report must show that your completed foreign credential is equal to a completed Canadian secondary school or post-secondary credential.
How long is my ECA valid for?
Your ECA must be less than five years old when you complete your Express Entry profile and when you submit your application. If you have been invited to apply, make sure your ECA will still be valid when you plan to apply; if you have not been invited, make sure it is valid for the rest of the time you will be in the pool. If your assessment will expire before you can apply, contact the organization that issued it: they may re-issue it, depending on the type of ECA and the organization. If you apply with an expired ECA, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada will refuse your application. This five-year rule is stated on the IRCC ECA page itself.
Which organization should do my assessment?
Most people must use one of the five designated organizations: the Comparative Education Service at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies, the International Credential Assessment Service of Canada, World Education Services, the International Qualifications Assessment Service, or the International Credential Evaluation Service at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. If your primary occupation is architect, doctor, or pharmacist and you need a licence to practise, you must use the designated professional body for your occupation instead: the Canadian Architectural Certification Board for architects, the Medical Council of Canada for your primary medical diploma, or the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada for pharmacists. If you are in one of those occupations but do not need a licence for the position — for example, a pharmacist working in the pharmaceutical industry without a licence to practise — one of the five general organizations can assess your credentials.
Do I need an assessment for every credential I hold?
In most cases, you only need an assessment for your highest level of education. If you have a master's degree, you only need an assessment for that degree, not for your bachelor's degree. The exception is points for two or more credentials: to get points for having two or more credentials, you need an assessment for each one, and to get full points for more than one credential, at least one of the credentials must be for three or more years of study. The order in which you completed your credentials does not affect points. If your post-secondary credential is not equal to a Canadian credential, you could get your secondary credential assessed, which would get you points for completing secondary school.
I already have an assessment, but it was not for immigration purposes. Can I use it?
Maybe, but do not assume so. There are different types of ECAs, and you need to get an ECA for immigration purposes. If you got another type of ECA, you may be able to get it re-issued, depending on the type of ECA and the issuing organization. Contact the organization that issued it and ask whether your report type can be re-issued for immigration purposes before you build an Express Entry profile around it. The same check applies to the report type when you order: ask for the immigration-purpose report from the start, and confirm the reference number the organization issues, because you must include your ECA report and its reference number in your Express Entry profile.