Got International Credentials? How to Find the Right Organization For Your Evaluation, Translation, and Verification Needs
Article by Alessandra Testa, GPA Ambassador
Are you a foreign professional seeking work in Philadelphia, or recently hired by a Philadelphia-based international company? Or perhaps you are an incoming international student or a domestic student returning from studying abroad. If you fit into any of these categories, your international diploma, degree, transcript, and academic or professional credentials will need to be translated, evaluated, and certified by a federally-approved, US-based language service organization before you can work or study in the United States.
This article provides a brief overview of two organizations available to you within the Greater Philadelphia Area. They are best-suited to translating and verifying academic credentials (although these services are applicable to professionals seeking to verify training or vocational credentials as well).
Organization: Globe Language Services, Inc
Established in 1982, Globe Language Services, Inc issues translations, expert opinion letters, and evaluation reports for employment, further education, and professional licensing.
- Materials: Educational credentials, diplomas, degrees, transcripts, and work experience
- Services Provided: Evaluations (including opinion letters), Translations, and Duplicates
- Best For: Individuals seeking translations, foreign professionals seeking work in Philadelphia, H1-B immigration visa applicants, companies seeking to hire foreign workers, international students
Organization: World Education Services
WES is a non-profit organization operating within Canada and the United States that has been providing credential evaluations, research and consulting services, and ongoing support for international students, skilled immigrants, and educational institutions since 1974.
- Materials: Educational credentials, diplomas, course descriptions, degrees, academic transcripts, licenses, work experiences (must be already translated into English)
- Services Provided: Free articles, webinars, and ‘toolkits’ aimed at providing insight into the different fields where evaluations are needed, document-by-document evaluation, course-by- course evaluation, CPA supplemental evaluations
- Best For: Individuals seeking a more personalized approach to the credential evaluation process, incoming college freshmen, transfer students, or graduate degree students, foreign professionals seeking to work in Philadelphia, government, educational, or professional organizations, H1-B immigration visa applicants, licensing board applicants, certified public accountants
A word to international students: before exploring your options, reach out to your American university to learn how their admissions office handles transcript verification and evaluation agencies—in some cases, you can get your credentials translated before even arriving to the US. Alison Haget, an Admissions Officer from Villanova University, notes that “some universities and colleges will require students to use outside evaluation agencies—or colleges will pay those agencies for transcript evaluation—but we do not do this. [At Villanova], the only requirement is that students submit credentials in English. If the transcript is not in English, they can have an official translation done.”
Haget recommends reaching out to your country’s local Education USA office if you do not know where to obtain an official translation of your academic credentials from your home country, “as they often have a list of local companies that will do those types of services.”
Feel free to visit our ‘Members’ Page for a full listing of the translation and interpretation services offered within the Greater Philadelphia Area.
For more information on Education USA, please visit https://educationusa.state.gov/about/translation.
For more information on Globe Language Services, please visit https://www.globelanguage.com/index.php.
For more information on World Education Services, please visit https://www.wes.org/.