International degree verification is the step where an employer, university or licensing board confirms that a degree earned outside the United States was really awarded, to the person named, on the dates claimed. Three routes cover almost every case: a direct request to the school, a national verification system run by the education ministry, and a credential evaluation report stating what the credential equals in U.S. terms.
Timing follows the route. A Chinese online verification report takes one to two working days for the English version, and World Education Services allows about two weeks to review documents before the evaluation itself begins.
Whether the credential is then accepted, or treated as equal to a U.S. degree, is covered in are foreign diplomas accepted in the USA. This article stays on the mechanics of confirming that the degree exists.
Why employers verify international degrees
Employers verify international degrees for the same reasons they verify U.S. degrees, plus one more.
- Confirm the award. The check asks the school or the national system whether the person named holds that qualification.
- Meet a job requirement. Most licensed professions set a minimum level of education.
- Screen out unrecognized providers. HEDD, the United Kingdom degree verification service, holds details of 471 recognized UK institutions and of 243 bogus ones.
- Place the level. A program abroad does not always map to a U.S. bachelor’s degree.
That last point separates an international check from a domestic one. A foreign registrar answers in the vocabulary of its own system, which is why credential evaluations carry so much weight here. Do employers verify degrees covers how often education checks happen at all.
Who handles international degree verification
The hiring manager rarely does this work. Four kinds of organization do.
- Background screening companies, which route each check to the school, to a national system or to a local partner.
- Credential evaluation agencies, which report on what the credential equals.
- Internal HR teams at smaller employers, which contact the school directly.
- Licensing boards and state agencies, which name their own acceptable evaluators.
No federal agency licenses credential evaluators. The National Association of Credential Evaluation Services says it was founded in 1987 “in the absence of a US government agency that monitors such services” and lists 19 current member agencies. Education background checks covers the consent and notice steps on the screening route.
How to verify educational and professional qualifications from other countries
Several countries run one national system that answers verification requests, and using it is faster than writing to a registrar.
| Country or region | National system | Who runs it |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | HEDD | Jisc, operated by Prospects |
| China | CHSI verification reports | Center for Student Services and Development, Ministry of Education |
| India | National Academic Depository, through DigiLocker | Ministry of Education with MeitY |
| Europe and 56 countries | ENIC-NARIC centres | European Commission, Council of Europe, UNESCO |
HEDD for a degree from the United Kingdom
HEDD calls itself a centralized system for degree verification connecting employers, agencies, universities, embassies and councils. It returns place of study, the award and grade received, and dates of attendance. Accounts are free and approved within one working day, and prices start at £14. It is built for verifiers rather than for graduates checking their own record, so a candidate cannot run the check and forward the answer.
CHSI and CSSD for a degree from China
Chinese verification runs the other way around. The graduate signs in to the CHSI archive and generates an online verification report of the qualification certificate, the student record or the degree certificate, then downloads the PDF or emails it to a named address. A verifier authenticates that report free on the CHSI site or through the link in the emailed version, as often as needed while it stays valid. The English version adds a manual check of one to two working days.
The Center for Student Services and Development states that it is the only ministry authorized institution for qualification verification, and that a report should not be used without the consent of the person it belongs to.
National Academic Depository and DigiLocker for a degree from India
India lodges academic awards centrally. The Ministry of Education describes the National Academic Depository as an around the clock store house of certificates, diplomas, degrees and mark sheets lodged by academic institutions and boards, which removes the need to approach a school for a transcript in order to verify an award. Documents issued through DigiLocker are deemed to be at par with original physical documents under Rule 9A of the 2016 Information Technology rules for digital locker facilities. Published statistics list 1,990 institutions on board and 13.09 crore awards, about 131 million, as of June 6, 2023. The student shares the record, so an employer normally receives a verified file.
ENIC-NARIC centres for Europe and beyond
Elsewhere the ENIC-NARIC network points to the right office. It is a joint initiative of the European Commission, the Council of Europe and UNESCO, covering 56 countries under the Lisbon Recognition Convention of 1997, and its centres answer employers asking about a candidate’s foreign credentials and professional recognition procedures. The UK centre is UK ENIC, managed by Ecctis for the UK government, which issues a statement of comparability against the UK education system.
Professional qualifications follow a separate track. Licensing bodies decide whether a foreign license or title carries over, and the ENIC-NARIC centre for the country is the place to find that regulator. US, UK and EU diploma differences explains why the paperwork varies so much between systems.
What documents employers and evaluators look for
Verification centers on four documents.
- The diploma or degree certificate, naming the award and the date.
- The transcript or mark sheet, listing courses, credits, grades and dates. What does a transcript look like shows the usual layout.
- An English translation. WES requires documents to be translated into English and states that it does not offer translation services.
- The credential evaluation report, where one is asked for.
Who sends the documents matters as much as what they contain. WES requires official academic records to come from the issuing institution, either in a sealed envelope carrying the university name and the WES reference number with a seal or signature across the flap, or through a digital partnership in which the school transmits records directly. When the institution charges a verification fee, the applicant pays it.
How international degree verification works in practice
Step 1: Employer collects your details
During the application or background check stage, you provide:
- Full legal name and any former name used at school
- The school name in its official English form, with city and country
- Degree title, field of study, dates of attendance and the graduation date
A local nickname for the university slows this down, and so does a graduation year that does not match the certificate.
Step 2: Background screening company or HR sends a verification request
The employer or its screening company contacts the school directly, uses the national system for that country, or asks the candidate for a credential evaluation report. Some registrars answer verifiers by email. Others route every external request through a ministry system, as China does.
Step 3: School or evaluation service checks your records
Depending on the route, the school confirms the award with the degree title, the dates and the graduation status, or an evaluation agency reviews the diploma, transcript and grading scale, or the verifier authenticates a national report the graduate generated. What reaches the employer is a short statement that the award is on record.
Step 4: Employer compares results to job requirements
The employer then checks whether the award was confirmed, whether the level meets the requirement and whether the field fits the role. Gaps usually produce a request for more documents instead of a rejection.
How long international degree verification takes
Published timings differ by route, and none start until the paperwork is complete. WES begins only after receiving all required official documents from the applicant and the institution.
| Route | Published time |
|---|---|
| Chinese online verification report, English version | One to two working days for the manual check |
| HEDD account approval | One working day. The check itself depends on the university |
| WES document review and authenticity check | About two weeks once every document has arrived |
| WES document-by-document report | About one week, up to two weeks for complex cases |
| WES course-by-course report | About two weeks, up to four weeks for complex cases |
| Screening company education check abroad | Commonly five to 10 business days, depending on the institution |
The stages run one after another. An applicant who needs a course-by-course report should plan on roughly a month from the day the last transcript reaches the evaluator, plus the mailing time. Local holidays, a registrar with no email process and a closed or merged school all add time. How long does degree verification take covers the same question for U.S. schools.
Role of credential evaluations in foreign education verification
For licensed work, graduate admission and many corporate roles, the credential evaluation decides the outcome. A report identifies the institution and whether it is recognized at home, names the credential and its level, and states the U.S. equivalent, for example a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. A course-by-course version adds the subject list and converted grades, which licensing boards and graduate programs usually require.
Evaluations are a paid service ordered by the candidate. Because no U.S. government body oversees the field, employers, universities and boards tend to publish the providers they accept. Confirm which report type the recipient wants before ordering, since a document-by-document report will not satisfy a board that asked for course-by-course.
Common problems with international degree verification
- Name mismatches between a current legal name and the name printed on the foreign diploma. Changing a name on a diploma explains what schools will and will not reissue.
- Records the school cannot locate, common with older awards, mergers and closures.
- Institutions that are not recognized at home. HEDD keeps its file of 243 bogus institutions for exactly this reason.
- Translations that mislabel a degree or a course title, which matters more when the evaluator works from them.
- Program structures that evaluate below a U.S. bachelor’s or master’s.
- A registrar that never answers. Where a national system exists it is the fallback, since the graduate can generate the report and the employer can authenticate it.
None of these disqualify a candidate on their own, but they delay the file.
How to prepare and explain your international credentials to U.S. employers
- Gather the full set, meaning the degree certificate and the complete transcript in the original language.
- Generate the national report early where one exists. A Chinese graduate can hold a current report before any employer asks, and an Indian graduate can confirm the awards sit in DigiLocker.
- Order certified translations from a professional translator, since evaluators do not translate.
- Order the evaluation type the recipient names, from a provider it accepts.
- Describe the degree on a resume the way the evaluation describes it, and give the school’s official English name, city and country.
Explaining credentials to a U.S. employer is mostly a translation task. The employer wants the level, the field and a way to confirm both. One sentence naming the degree, its U.S. equivalent from the evaluation and the verification route answers all three.
Keeping your own copies of international documents
Even when the employer verifies directly, a personal set of records saves time. Certified copies from the institution, a saved PDF of the national verification report and the evaluation report cover almost every later request.
ValidGrad sells novelty replica diplomas and transcripts for framing and display. A replica is a display item. It cannot answer a verification request from an employer, an evaluator or a ministry, and the terms of service forbid using one to claim a credential.
Frequently asked questions
Can an employer verify a degree from another country?
Yes. The employer can write to the school, use the national system where the country runs one, or hire a screening company. The answer confirms the award and the dates.
How do you verify international certifications and credentials?
Start with the body that awarded the credential. For an academic degree that is the university or the national depository. For a professional certification it is the certifying organization or the regulator that issues the license.
How long does an international education verification take?
Published times run from one to two working days for the English version of a Chinese report to about a month for a WES course-by-course evaluation, counted from the day the last document arrives. Screening companies commonly quote five to 10 business days for a check abroad.
What happens if the school does not respond?
The employer usually turns to the candidate for documents, and a national verification report or a credential evaluation fills the gap. For closed or merged schools, the education ministry or successor institution is the place to ask.
What to remember
- Three routes exist: the school, the national system and a credential evaluation. Most files use two.
- The United Kingdom, China and India each run a central route, and ENIC-NARIC centres cover much of the rest.
- Diplomas, transcripts, translations and evaluation reports are what every route asks for, and evaluators want them from the institution.
- Delays come from missing records, unrecognized schools and mismatched names. A foreign degree by itself is rarely the obstacle.
Sources
All checked September 14, 2026.
- HEDD. What a check returns, the 471 recognized and 243 bogus institution counts, free accounts, prices from £14.
- CHSI, online verification report. The three report types, free authentication, one to two working days for the English version.
- CHSI, Verification Report of China Higher Education Qualification Certificate. CSSD as the only ministry authorized verifier, and the consent rule.
- National Academic Depository, Ministry of Education, India. What NAD stores, DigiLocker delivery, Rule 9A parity, and the 2023 institution and award counts.
- ENIC-NARIC networks. Founding bodies, 56 countries, the Lisbon Recognition Convention of 1997.
- UK ENIC. The UK centre, managed by Ecctis for the UK government, and the statement of comparability.
- WES current processing times. Two weeks of document review, one to two weeks document-by-document, two to four weeks course-by-course.
- WES, required documents. Records sent by the institution, sealed envelopes, translations, institution fees.
- NACES members directory. Founded 1987, no US government agency monitoring the field, 19 current members.
- Checkr help center. Five to 10 business days for an education check abroad.