Although WES standard reports do not have an expiry date, Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) reports for Canadian immigration purposes expire five years from the date of issue.

Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) created the five-year expiry policy for a few reasons, including the fact that ECA providers may change their equivalencies and evaluations decisions within five years of the issuing date.

If your ECA report has expired and you would like to renew it, you will need to log into your WES account and order an “additional report” for IRCC. Ordering an extra copy will extend the expiry date for another five years.

To obtain a standard credential evaluation report with no expiry date, log into your WES account and “upgrade” your ECA report to either a Document-by-Document or Course-by-Course evaluation report. It costs $50 CAD to upgrade to a Document-by-Document report and $100 CAD to upgrade to a Course-by-Course evaluation report.

Aside from having no expiry date, there are many benefits to ordering an upgrade. A standard WES credential evaluation report is designed for other purposes than just immigration. An upgrade can help you obtain recognition for your credentials among a wider variety of recipients, which is a necessary step in applying for employment, higher education admissions, or professional licenses.

WES typically recommends Document-by-Document reports for employment or licensing purposes and Course-by-Course reports for education purposes. If you are not sure which report to order, you should contact the institution that will receive the report to determine their credential evaluation requirements.

For more information about WES ECA reports, visit this page. Learn more about standard WES evaluations reports here.

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