Pingpong2021

Hi,

We are dual UK/Canadian citizens and moving back-from the UK to Calgary later this year where our younger son now lives. We have been away 11 years.
Our oldest son is 25 and also looking to make the move back with us. He has all his GCSE’s, 3 A levels qualifications and 1st year degree certificate. Can anyone advise if he will need to get these officially transcribed/converted to Alberta Equivalent for employment application purposes to prove he has a Grade 12 equivalent? Or would just producing his original UK educational certificates now suffice back in Canada?
Any advice greatly appreciated

Siouxie

Hello This may be of use to your son.
https://www.alberta.ca/iqas-educatio...d-kingdom.aspx
https://www.alberta.ca/iqas-educatio...px#jumplinks-6

Pingpong2021

Thank you for this, but does my son need to get his UK qualifications officially converted on an official document by an outside body to the Canadian equivalency? Or would a prospective Canadian employer simply use this Alberta guide above to assess his qualifications themselves?

Siouxie

I doubt many prospective Canadian employers will know or understand the overseas qualifications he might have, most won't bother to compare the 2. For the sake of $100 or so it's probably worth getting an official confirmation of their equivalency. Most jobs have hundreds of applicants, so having that could make a difference.

If he wants to get his qualifications officially converted he should use IQAS or one of the other officially recognised companies in Canada.. I'd suggest IQAS (basic assessment for work purposes) if you are going to be in Alberta
https://www.alberta.ca/iqas-employment-apply.aspx

The other approved companies are listed here - when you go to the individual company websites listed, choose 'General' (work or school) and not Immigration : https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpce...num=681&top=29
https://www.bcit.ca/ices/general-application/

Pingpong2021

Fantastic that is exactly what we were looking for, thank you so much for your help 😀👌

Tony_Tiger

Welcome to the forum Pinpong.
It mostly depends on what your son wants to do. If he wants to go to college and re-train for further study, from my own experience some do not recognise UK qualifications. Even high school equivalent courses.
If its a government job, they do not recognise UK credentials. I have raised this issue at a federal, provincial and municipal level. They don't care despite showing evidence how the British civil Service has a better system.
You will have to get it evaluated. Though if its a private employer I dont think they will care much.
At his age I would recommend getting his qualifications evaluated. It is very likely he will re-train and take further study for the job market here.

Pingpong2021

Thank you for this information, ironically he is currently working in the civil service here in England.

Tony_Tiger

I used to work for the civil service myself. I moved when I was 27. I have re-trained 3-4 times since being in Canada. Unfortunately my foundation was not right. I got a lot of misinformation from people who did not know anything.

If I had to go back do things differently. I would get my qualifications assessed. This makes it easier to re-train at college.
I would look at the different industries here, go to college and re-train. Let go of bias or how things are done in the UK. Learn from the people here and do it better.

I would have gone into HVac or a trade. Or go into a white collar industry like insurance from the start. Then setup my own business. There is a lot of great opportunities here.
When I worked in banking I met some amazing people here. A lot of them were trades. One person in particular was from the UK also. He said he picked something and did it really well. Not many people do that here. Because of that he cornered the market.
I ended up retraining going into insurance. But you have to get your qualifications. That takes time and it gets harder as you get older. Its worth your son getting his foundation right and getting more skills. In the long term it will really help him.

Siouxie