Skilled Professional Program
Career-Focused Case Management Credential Evaluations and Professional Licensing
New Mainers may need additional training, credentials, or licensing prior to applying for and obtaining jobs in their fields in the US.
NMRC Skilled Professional Program
For new Mainers with experience or a Bachelor degree or above from their home country, services include:
- Career guidance and intensive career focused case management
- Training on job search skills and assistance with job search process
- Assisting with credential review process and licensing requirements
- Connections to employers, informational sessions, job fairs
- Professional networking groups and support
- Sector focused professional training
- Online computer tutorials and assistance with job search
- Coordination with other training and service providers, volunteer opportunities, internships
- Other services as needed
Sign Up for Advisement Services
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!
Assistance with Credential Evaluations
and Professional Licensing
Credential Evaluations
A credential evaluation or equivalency is a process to determine if a person’s foreign college transcripts and diploma are equal to a US degree. Knowing why and when an evaluation needs to be done and how to do it can be complicated. The New Mainers Resource Center can provide advice and assistance to help with this process.
Professional Licensing
Some professions, like nurses, engineers, or teachers require a license or certification to work in that profession. The licensing process can be very hard for people to meet. NMRC can help people through the licensing process for their profession. It has also developed some guides for several professions: lawyers, doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers, pharmacists, physical therapists, electricians and CPAs.
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. For most evaluations, a person is required to have a translation done by a certified translator. There are a number of local companies that do translations. Some evaluation companies also provide this service.
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?
- 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?
- 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?
In the News and Related Reports
U.S. professional licensure is daunting, but doable
Published by Amjambo Africa! | July 14, 2022
When Oumalkaire Said Barkad arrived in Maine in 2014 with a master’s degree from the Engineering School of Reims, France, she didn’t know about the many additional steps required to become a licensed Professional Engineer (PE) in the U.S. She soon waded into the complicated process for Maine residents with non-U.S. degrees – in many fields beyond just engineering – to receive professional certification.
Equivalencies – Credential Evaluations | Part 1: What Are They?
Written by Sally Sutton, Program Coordinator, NMRC
Published by Amjambo Africa! | September 10, 2022
The New Mainers Resource Center at Portland Adult Education works with New Mainers who come to the U.S. with college degrees and years of experience. Most people want to know if their college degrees will be recognized as they look for jobs, apply to schools, or seek licensing in their professions. Will a degree be recognized? The answer is it depends.
New Report Provides Framework for Upskilling Maine’s Foreign-Trained Health Professionals
Published October 30, 2020
The purpose of the NMRC-PAE Foreign Trained Health Professional Licensing Pilot Project Report was to research ways to increase diversity and cultural competence of the health workforce by identifying strategies to reduce the barriers that foreign trained health professionals face.
Professional Licensing
Many professions in Maine are considered licensed professions. This means that to be able to do work as that type of professional, it is necessary to meet the requirements for licensure for that profession. For example, even if a foreign trained engineer has a degree in engineering from their home country and has worked for 10 years as an engineer, they will still need to meet the requirements for licensure as an engineer if they want to work as a professionally licensed engineer in Maine.
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?
The licensing process can be complicated and expensive. For most professions it will require, amongst other things:
- Evaluations of transcripts and diplomas from your home school
- Proof of work experience and/or the need to obtain additional experience in the US
- A high level of English competency
- Very difficult tests
- Additional coursework to make up for any deficiencies
- Money to cover the costs of the different steps in the process
NMRC Professional Licensing Guides*
As a way to help foreign trained professionals understand the licensing process for their profession, NMRC has produced a series of licensing guides to help foreign trained professionals better understand the licensing process for their profession. The professions include: CPA (Certified Public Accountant), engineer, nurse, doctor, lawyer, teacher, electrician, physical therapist and pharmacist.
These guides provide detailed information about: the different steps in the process, costs, resources, educational programs and alternative careers. While the guides attempt to make the process clearer, the information can still be very complicated. It is important to get clarification and answers about anything that is not clear. Maine’s licensing boards are a great resource for getting answers to specific questions about the process. Additionally, in 2021 Maine laws changed for many boards to give them greater flexibility regarding licensing requirements for foreign trained professionals so it is important to be in touch with the licensing board for your profession if you have a problem. It may also be helpful to review the information with a workforce or career advisor. Below are links to the licensing guides.
*Please note that Maine laws and rules change and professional licensing boards update their procedures and make changes to their websites and applications. NMRC will make every effort to keep these guides up to date, but information may change so it is important to confirm the information in the guides with the data available on a licensing board’s website.
“There is no question that the foreign-born population is key to being able to grow Maine’s economy.”
Dana F. Conners,
President of the Maine Chamber of Commerce
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.
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