ICES, the International Credential Evaluation Service is a program designed by the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to help in the provision of Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) for Canadian immigration.
It is designed to make a breakthrough or as a helping hand for foreigners in immigrating to Canada through Express entry, Agri-Food Pilot and Permanent Residency. It is widely used among the immigration pathways mentioned above, although some provincial nominee programs may also apply the use of ECA depending on the province.
The International Credential Evaluation Service (ICES) is an alternative or a comparability of the Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) in forms of statements mostly required by the immigration, Citizenship and Refugees. It helps in comparing the Canadian education to that of a foreigner from an international country to match their equivalence.
The main help of the International Credential Evaluation Service is to help individuals in providing them with the in-depth information and evaluations of their educational documents for both Canadian education, immigration and work purposes to be able to scale through and make successful decisions. The initiative also helps in managing all the various application processes through it’s credible information and evaluations.
It is a governmental established program in the British Columbia province but also helps the interests of the Canada immigrants from all nations. It is established by the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT). The ICES is also a registered member of the Alliance of Credential Evaluation Services of Canada (ACESC).
Objectives Of The ICES
The main objective of the International Credential Evaluation Service as defined above is to help in comparing and contrasting educational qualifications of international immigrants from all the various parts of the world.
The program works in line with Canadian immigration and also the LMIA Canada. This is to say, when you’re immigrating to Canada or you’re in position to seek any kind of job in Canada, the International Credential Evaluation Service will walk you through the certificate evaluations if you didn’t study in Canada or your studies curriculum is different from that of Canada.
They help in comparing your foreign credentials to be able to meet up with the employment qualifications in Canada and also when you’re willing to proceed with your studies in Canada. The program helps in assessment through the following:
- The level and duration of the program.
- The minimum academic credential one must hold in order to be admitted to the program.
- The recognition of the institution and program
- The program of study to which the credential provides access in the country of origin.
ICES Processing Time
The program is equitably good, transparent and easy to do. The general processing time is normally 4 weeks from the time the application was submitted and received for the basic evaluation and about 7 weeks from the time of the receiver of the application for the comprehensive evaluations.
It is an objective one with its boundaries. It might interest you to know that the ICES are not responsible for the determination of candidates performance or in position to determine and make judgments of the quality of individuals qualifications.
Rather they are obliged to perform thorough research by investigating and comparing candidates qualifications and then match them with the current Canadian educational system.
For Canadian Immigration pathways such as express entry and provincial nominee, the International Credential Evaluation Service, ICES helps to provide them with the Educational Credential Report they need before completing the application.
The report is normally accessed and processed 16 weeks after the document was submitted and received by the International Credential Evaluation Services ICES. Normally, the application renewal takes about 2 weeks to be processed while it takes 7 days for the application duplicates to be done if you need any actually.
Those Intending To Apply For ICES Program
For those intending to apply for this program and are Physician or Medical Doctors, you’re advised to be accessed by the Canadian medical council if you want to be licensed.
For those looking forward to obtaining a license and practice as pharmacists in Canada, you’re strongly advised to look for assessment from the Canadian Pharmacy Examining Board.
And for those applying for the Atlantic Immigration Pilot, you should visit the website of the Atlantic immigration for more information on how to do it. For other immigration, you can visit the Canadian immigration website or express entry.
ICES Fee
In order to apply for the International Credential Evaluation Services, ICES, you’re to pay a certain amount of money. Generally the service fees for this program is $50 CAD. For Domestic couriers within Canada the fee is $26 CAD and for the US and International courier the fee is about $75 CAD. For an extra copy, the fee is $20 CAD and about $50 CAD for renewal.
You’ll be charged an extra money of $50 CAD if your ICES fee check reads insufficient funds when tried. All types of payments are non refundable even if your application is rejected.
Requirements for ICES
- A Coloured copy of your government issued photo identification document that indicates your real and legal name with your date of birth. To do that, you should at least submit one of the following in the application portal; your valid passport, driver’s licence or international identification card.
- You must submit a colour copy of the front and back of each final award, maybe degree, diploma or certificate in order to be eligible for further application. However it is not necessary to upload the back if it is blank.
Thereafter, your real original qualifications will be delivered from your institution where you study with the former (PDF upload) as a bait to continue with your application.
Likewise for documents like transcript, marks cards, or diploma supplement, a coloured copy in form of PDF should be used for your records in the school before the official release from your institution.
- You must obtain copies of the literal (not interpretive) translations of each of your qualifications and documents in English if the ICES requires you to translate any of them. You’ll be contacted directly by ICES to request a translation. It is basically required for foreign languages only.
For other information on the requirements for the ICES, you can visit their official website.
