Published Date: 30 December, 2022
Last updated on: 06 January, 2023
Degree Equivalency is an assessment of your academic documents when looking to further your studies or work abroad. It involves verifying your documents’ authenticity and the status of the issuing institution. The process grants you a degree equivalency certificate. Countries like the UAE require an Equivalency certificate before you can begin working there. The certificate is issued by the UAE’s Ministry of Education, once you meet the issuance requirements, which include document verification.
Why Do You Need a Degree Equivalency Certificate?
You need a degree equivalency certificate to work in a country that requires it for employment. Many international jobs that require a degree also require a degree equivalency certificate for you to be considered for employment.
Besides employment, you also need a degree equivalency certificate to pursue higher education in a foreign country like the US, UK, Qatar, and UAE, among others. Institutions of higher education require the certificate to ensure your academic qualifications meet their countries’ standards of education.
In the UAE, individuals need a degree equivalency certificate to:
- Pursue higher education in the country
- Get a practicing license for some professions such as healthcare, teachers, lawyer, etc.
- Register for a Society of Engineering card (SOE)
- Meet hiring requirements and policies of some major corporations
- Apply for the UAE Golden Visa
- Work for the UAE government
How to Get a Degree Equivalency Certificate
Different countries have different ways and requirements to enable you to get the certificate. In the UAE, for example, you’ll have to provide several documents to apply for the degree equivalency certificate. The documents will vary depending on your academic qualifications.
If you have a bachelor’s degree, for example, below are some of the documents required to apply for a degree equivalency certificate include;
- Your graduate certificate
- Original transcript of results
- A legal translation of your certificate if it’s issued in any other language other than English or Arabic
- A duly attested high school certificate
- A copy of your Passport
- Proof of where (country) you studied and attained your certificate attendance. If you enrolled in the year 2000 and after.
To access the full list of documents, please refer to MOE’s website here.
It is worth noting that a degree issued from certain countries is exempted from providing an Embassy letter verifying its authenticity. Also, if you completed high school before the year 2000, you will have to provide a letter from the Embassy of the country you went to high school in confirming you finished high school. The letter will be part of your required documents for equivalency certificate.
Some of the documents required to apply for a degree equivalency will have to be verified from the source. It is the reason that the UAE Ministry of Education partnered with DataFlow for primary source verification of the documents and confirmation of information related to the degree and its issuing authority. You can use DataFlow to verify your degree before applying for the degree equivalency certificate on the UAE Ministry of Education (MoE) website.
To apply for the Equivalency certificate in the UAE:
- Submit your Degree and mark sheets for verification on the DataFlow portal
- Track the progress of your verification on www.dataflowstatus.com
- Once your report is ready, you can start the process on the MoE portal
- Register or log in to your account or UAE PASS
- Fill out the application and upload the required documents.
- Your application will be reviewed by the Certificate Equivalency Department
- (If required) you will be notified to provide additional information or documents
- Pay the fees through the MoE portal
- The application will be reviewed, and the issuance of the final decision will be generated (Equalize / Reject), which will be sent to the registered email.
The service takes 10 – 30 working days based on the category of the university and some delays might occur if the application needs further assessment. The documents for the application have to be submitted in person. You cannot submit them via courier or have them submit them on your behalf.
The UAE Ministry of Education also reserves the right to request more or different documents for the equivalency certification process.
Conclusion
Degree equivalency is a vital process for working or furthering your studies abroad. In countries like the UAE, the process is also a requirement when looking to get a Golden Visa. Different countries have different requirements and procedures for degree equivalency. In the UAE, a mandatory requirement is document verification, which can be done through DataFlow.
