Foreign-Trained Health Professionals

Resource Guide

The New Mainers Resource Center offers workforce and academic advisement and support for healthcare professionals trained and credentialed prior to coming to the US.

Foreign-Trained Heath Professionals Checklist

Are you a

Foreign-Trained Health Professional?

Complete your first step toward returning to the Healthcare Field!

Our advising team can help you…

Find information about career pathways
Transfer credentials from your home country
Improve your communication skills
Prepare for job interviews
Build professional networks

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Are you ready to take advantage of the services and support that NMRC offers? Sign up to work with an advisor to get your credentials to work in the US!

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Credential Evaluations

What is an evaluation?

An evaluation or equivalency is the process by which a person’s college transcripts and diploma are reviewed to determine if they are equal to a US degree.

For example, is a bachelor’s degree in economics from a school in Iraq equal to a bachelor’s degree in economics degree from a regionally accredited school in the United States, such as the University of Southern Maine?

One step that may be necessary before an evaluation can be done is to first have the documents translated into English. An English translation is not the same thing as an evaluation.

What’s the value of my degree or diploma?

Many new Mainers come to the US with college degrees and years of experience. They may be accountants, engineers, or some type of medical professional. Most people are interested in knowing the value of their degrees or diplomas.

Will an employer or school consider their previous education?
Is their degree equal to a US degree? What is the equivalent degree?
When is an evaluation of their degree necessary and who should do it?

The answer to these questions is: IT DEPENDS.

What does it depend on?

Determining the US equivalent of a degree is a complicated process. It depends on:

The individual
Educational background and profession
Type of job they are looking for

English level
Country where education was obtained
Access to documents

Knowing when and how an evaluation should be done is a complicated process. It can also be expensive, with a translation costing several hundred dollars and the evaluation costing several hundred dollars as well.

What questions should I ask?

There are several questions a new Mainer should ask themselves and be able to answer before they have an evaluation done:

Why do I need an evaluation?

Work
School
License

Who is requesting the evaluation?

Is someone asking me for an evaluation of my degree?

Employer
School
Professional Licensing Agency

What evaluators do they use?

Different professions, different licensing bodies, different schools, different employers have different requirements for who does the evaluation.

Whether it is a school, employer, or licensing agency they will tell you how they want the evaluation done and who should do the evaluation.

There are different companies that do evaluations. There is a national association of some evaluation companies, NACES — National Association of Credential Evaluator Service.

Most schools and employers will accept an evaluation done by one of the companies that belong to this group. Licensing entities for professions like doctors, nurses, and engineers will have their own procedures, agencies, and requirements. Each agency will have different costs and requirements for how you will need to submit proof of your education.

If you think you want to go back to school how ready are you for entering a program?

Why?
What is the program?
What are the English proficiency requirements?
What is your English proficiency level?
What are the other requirements for getting into the educational program?
How close are you to meeting those requirements?
What is the cost of the program, what are your financial resources for school, what other financial obligations do you have?
What is the completion rate, graduation rate and financial burden (loans) people who enter the program leave with?
Be a smart consumer!

What is your professional background?

If you have a technical background in engineering, computers, or some science, it may be useful for you to have an evaluation done just to show an employer that you have the technical training to do the job.

But if you are in a field that relies more on soft skills, your experience, your ability to communicate — your verbal and written communication skills and computer skills may be more important than what you studied in school.

What types of jobs will you be applying for?

Is it an entry level position or one that will require you to use your professional skills? For an entry level position, you will probably not need to show the equivalency of your degree. You may need to show that you have at least a high school diploma. This does not need to be a US diploma. Many employers will not require proof. Of those that do, you could likely just show them an English translation of your diploma.

What is your English level?

If your English level (and computer skills) are not at the level necessary to do professional work in your field, you may first want to focus on improving these skills before you worry about an evaluation.

Do you have work authorization?

If not, when do you expect to get it?

If you are not able to work yet, you may not need to have an evaluation done until you can work.

Can you afford to cover the cost of the evaluation?

Either you will need to pay for the evaluation and translation or ASPIRE, WIOA, or someone else will need to cover it.

Depending on the company that will do the evaluation and how many reports you order, an evaluation could cost between $250 and $350.

Do you have a complete set of your transcripts and diploma?

If needed could you get them sent from your school to the company that will do the evaluation?

It may not be worth having an evaluation done if you do not have a complete set of your transcripts and diploma.

Some companies will accept copies, others will require originals be sent to them, and others will require that your school send your transcripts and diploma to the evaluation company. Some licensing bodies will only accept transcripts and diplomas sent from your school. Some will also require that course descriptions be provided and, of course, these will need to be provided to them in English.

Are your transcripts or diploma in English?

If your transcripts and diploma are not in English, you will need to have them translated by a certified translation service. This will cost about $50/page. Your transcripts and diploma could cost $250 to $350.

What information is provided in an evaluation report?

Most evaluation reports will include the following:

Information about the school you attended and the entrance requirement into that school
The dates you attended
The courses you took
The US equivalent of your grades for each course
The number of credits earned
The length of your program
The grading scale from your school
Your grade point average
The number of credits you took according to US standards

If your degree is the equivalent of a US degree, it will say something like: “US Educational Equivalent, Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from a regionally accredited college or university in the US.” This means that this degree would be the same as if you graduated from the University of Southern Maine with a Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. The degrees should be considered equal.

If your degree is not the equivalent of a US degree, it might say that you have the equivalent of 3 years or 4 years of study from a US regionally accredited college or university.

What are the main questions I should ask myself if I think I want to have an evaluation done?

The main questions to ask yourself are:

Why am I having it done?
Who wants the evaluation report?
How do they want the report done?
Do I have or can I get the documents they need for the evaluation and submit them the way they want them submitted?