Education Document Translation for Canada

Recognition of education sits with the provinces, assessment with the organisations

Authority over education in Canada belongs to the provinces; there is no single country-wide authority that recognises diplomas. What a foreign degree corresponds to is shown through the reports of designated assessment organisations such as WES Canada and ICAS. On a university application the decision to admit is taken by the institution itself, and some schools carry out their own assessment without asking for an outside report. On the immigration side, IRCC looks for a report from the organisations it recognises, and that list is independent of the academic application. The answer to the question “which report”, in other words, changes with the destination.

In French-speaking Québec the process runs separately, and documents are expected to be prepared in French. Applying with the same diploma to Ontario and to Québec can mean a different language and a different organisation. The target province has to be settled before preparation begins.

What each document does

The diploma proves the degree; the academic transcript is indispensable if credits and marks are to be converted. Assessment organisations often ask for the document from the university directly, as part of verifying the source. A student certificate shows current enrolment. A language proficiency certificate is assessed on both the admission and the immigration side, and the two may apply different thresholds. Course descriptions come into play where professional recognition is the aim.

Destination	Whose list governs the report	Language
University admission	The institution’s own preference	English or French
Immigration application	Organisations recognised by IRCC	English or French
Québec application	Provincial practice	Predominantly French

The problem met with most often

The commonest mistake in Canadian files is having the translation done by a translator who is not registered with a provincial translators’ association. Where that is so, a sworn statement is expected to be attached to the translation; skip that step and the file is treated as incomplete. The second frequent problem is trying to use a report obtained for an academic application in an immigration application – because the lists of organisations differ, the report may be of no effect. The third is sending an English file to Québec.

The translation and certification step

The order runs like this: the target province and language are settled, the original documents are gathered, the certification step is completed where it is needed, the translation is made and the statement attached, and only then does the assessment application follow. Because the certification position for documents changed recently, current practice has to be checked against the official list. You will find certification levels document by document in our document guide, and the differences between countries in our country list.

Thinking about the report’s second use from the start

A good many of those who go to Canada to study also weigh up working or settling there after graduation. It is therefore useful to think at the education stage about the later procedures in which the assessment report obtained might serve. A report obtained for academic admission may not hold good on the immigration side, because the lists of accepted organisations are different. Making a choice that keeps both destinations in view avoids having to obtain a second report afterwards.

Similar reasoning applies to the translation of the documents. The set of translations prepared for an education file can also be used in work and residence applications; at that stage, though, further documents come into play, and terminology is expected to stay consistent. Keeping a record of the course names, titles and descriptions of institutions used in the first set means the later additions speak the same language.

• Choose the assessment organisation with your later goals in view as well.
• Settle your choice of province and language at the outset.
• Keep a record of the decisions you make on terminology.
• Verify the current state of certification practice from an official source.

Another practical matter in Canada is the expectation that documents will be sent by the university directly. Most assessment organisations want the diploma and transcript not from the candidate but from the issuing institution; this is how the source is verified. Turkish universities may send them in a sealed envelope or through an electronic channel. Discussing in advance with the student affairs office which method will be used removes the most uncertain part of the process.

On the conversion of marks, what decides matters is the explanation of the scale on the transcript. Because different grading systems are used across the Canadian provinces, an assessor cannot convert anything without knowing the source scale. Where that explanation appears on the back of the transcript or on a separate sheet, it has to be included in the translation; that one missing page is a frequent reason for files being put on hold.

For those who will be applying to Québec, a plan for French documents has to be built from the beginning; changing language later means preparing the whole set again.

When budgeting for Canada, three items should be costed separately: the translation, the assessment report and the school’s application fee. They run to different timetables, and the report process is the least predictable of them because it involves verification of the documents. If you are going to apply to more than one institution, the report may also have to be sent to each of them separately. Where an application to Québec is in question, a French translation creates a further item, and it is the item that is most expensive to add later. Planning all of this in one go, once the list of applications is settled, keeps unexpected costs from arriving in the middle of the process.

In a bilingual country, choosing your destination at the outset is the greatest saving of all. You can look at our pricing page and request a quotation by uploading your documents.

What is described here rests on common practice; national legislation and institutional practice may be updated. It is as well to put any point you are unsure of to the institution before you apply.