Get a foreign degree or qualification recognised

There is no ministry of education in the United States that recognises foreign degrees, and no official certificate declaring your qualification equivalent. Recognition is decided separately by each employer, university and licensing board, and what they rely on is a report from a private evaluation company. Knowing that in advance saves people months of searching for an authority that does not exist.

Who evaluates

Private NACES member organisations, not the government

Cost

Roughly $100–$300 depending on the type

Time

One to three weeks, faster for a fee

Licensed professions

Need a state licence as well, not instead

Two kinds of evaluation

A document-by-document evaluation states what your qualification is equivalent to overall — that your degree corresponds to a U.S. bachelor's, for instance. It is the cheaper option and is normally enough for employers and for immigration purposes.

A course-by-course evaluation lists every subject with its U.S. credit-hour and grade equivalent, and calculates a grade point average. Universities and licensing boards almost always require this one; employers rarely do. It costs more and takes longer.

Order the cheaper one unless you know the recipient needs the detailed version. Ask first — an evaluation bought for the wrong purpose cannot be upgraded without paying again.

Choosing an evaluator

The credible evaluators belong to NACES, an association of member organisations that hold each other to published standards. Membership is the closest thing to a quality mark that exists here, and most institutions that accept evaluations at all will name NACES membership as their condition.

Check the specific requirement before ordering. Some universities and boards accept only certain named evaluators, some require the report to be sent directly to them rather than through you, and some will not accept a report older than a few years.

Getting your documents

This is the slow part, not the evaluation itself. Most evaluators require transcripts sent directly by the issuing institution, in the original language, with a certified translation. Contacting a university in another country, arranging payment and having documents posted internationally routinely takes longer than everything else combined.

Start it before you need it. Where an institution no longer exists or records were destroyed, evaluators have alternative procedures — ask rather than assuming your case is hopeless.

Licensed professions are a separate process

Medicine, nursing, law, teaching, engineering, accountancy, pharmacy, architecture, social work and the skilled trades are licensed by each state, not nationally. A credential evaluation is one input to that process, never a substitute for it.

Expect some combination of examinations, supervised practice hours, English language testing and sometimes additional U.S. coursework. Requirements differ by state, and a licence in one state does not automatically transfer to another — though many states have reciprocity arrangements worth asking about before you choose where to live.

While the process runs

Many people work in a related but unlicensed role in the meantime — a foreign-trained doctor as a medical assistant, an engineer as a technician. It keeps income coming in, builds U.S. references, and puts you inside an organisation that may sponsor or support the licensing route.

Community colleges often run bridging programmes designed for exactly this, at a fraction of university fees. And your state job centre can sometimes fund retraining. Be sceptical of any private service promising to have a foreign qualification "approved" — no such approval exists to sell.