Foreign Diplomas

[HassanH]

Hi Everyone,

I have a couple of questions for you guys, hopefully someone can help:

I received my ITA yesterday. I am required to submit a scan of my Diplomas. I have a Masters Degree from Spain, and I already have an ECA for it.

However, my actual diploma is in Spanish, so do I have to have it translated to English and legalized before I can upload it? Or a simple scan of the actual Diploma + ECA report would suffice?

In case it has to be legalized, I have to go through: Ministry of Education --> Ministry of Foreign Affairs --> translation --> Send it to Canadian Embassy for legalizaton and certification. As you can see it's quite a hassle. So, do I have to go through all that just to upload my actual Diploma or would a translated version of that Diploma + ECA report be sufficient?

One more question: Do I have to do the same for my Bachelors Degree or is it enough to upload my Masters only.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Houzi]

You dont need a legalization, just a certified translation. In my country its usually done by a translator, who's signature is then certified by a
notary. Check CIC websites for recs for translation. Legalization is not mentioned there.
For 2d question, I can only speculate that if your bachelors is included to ECA, you better upload it too.

 

[HassanH]

You dont need a legalization, just a certified translation. In my country its usually done by a translator, who's signature is then certified by a
notary. Check CIC websites for recs for translation. Legalization is not mentioned there.
For 2d question, I can only speculate that if your bachelors is included to ECA, you better upload it too.

Hi, thanks for your reply !
No it is not included in my ECA, I received points based on my masters degree alone, the only reference to my bachelors would be in my personal history, so i'm assuming it is not needed ?

Thanks!

 

[Houzi]

Hi! It is an ongoing argument on this forum, to include non-ECA degree or not. My opinion is no, since you get points for ECAed diploma only, thus non ECAed one is useless, and wont be considered. I also believe in providing all necessary info, but no more than that.
If you feel like providing it, you can do it with LoE saying why its non ECAed, for example. Some guys do it just for the peace of mind. I have a second bachelor degree, non ECA, I mentioned it in LoE since it was done in another country, and I provided a PCC for this period, even if it was more than 10 years ago, and thus not shown in personal history.

 

[HassanH]

... and I provided a PCC for this period, even if it was more than 10 years ago, and thus not shown in personal history.

Since you mentioned PCC, I have a question about this.
I lived in Spain for 2 years, so I need a PCC from there. However, now I am living in my country of Lebanon and applying for immigration from here. So I need to visit Spain once more and obtain a PCC.

My question is:

Will it be valid ? Since we know that "For countries in which the applicant no longer resides, the police certificate must have been issued after the last time the applicant lived in that country."

From what I understand, I have to submit my online application after receiving the ITA, then I can travel to Spain and obtain one from there without issues right? (but then I would have to update my travel history because I visited Spain, again). This is quite confusing, any clearance on your part would be greatly appreciated, thanks !

 

[Houzi]

Hi! Im not an expert on PCCs, but I recall it really must be obtained after last visit. Im afraid if you go to Spain, its issue date will be before you leave the country. I advise you to find somebody to apply on your behalf. Its safer that way. Or by mail, if they do it, like FBI, but no electronic certificates! Only original one will do. I dont think your travelling after ITA is a solution, since you show travel history for past 10 years, not past 10 years from ITA. And Spain being EU, travel history is probably easy to check. Adding travel history is no prob, in short, but PCC is problem, if you exceeded 6 month in total in a certain country.