Statement of Work for Professional Bodies

On this page:

• Statement of Work
• ANNEX 1: Educational Credential Assessment Report
• ANNEX 2: Data Collection and Reporting
• ANNEX 3: Standard Processing Time
• ANNEX 4: Service Charge Schedule

Statement of Work

• 1. The assessment organization (“Organization”) is authorized as indicated in paragraph 1 of the Service Agreement to provide services to persons (“Clients”) seeking to apply for a program or class under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act S.C. 2001, c. 27 (IRPA) for which an educational credential assessment (“ECA”) can be considered under, or is required by IRPA, including Ministerial instructions and regulations made under it. These services would be provided to support Canadian immigration programs or in fulfillment of Canadian immigration requirements for an assessment of a Client’s foreign educational credentials’ authenticity and equivalency to a Canadian educational credential. Such services shall not be provided unless and until the Minister has designated the Organization under IRPA to provide the assessment service. Even if the Organization is designated, Canada cannot guarantee any business or volumes.
• 2. The assessment organization will undertake the services as described in this Statement of Work which will entail an assessment of the authenticity of a Client’s foreign educational credential; an assessment of the Client’s foreign educational credential’s equivalence to a completed Canadian educational credential; and the provision of an ECA report to the Client.
• 3. In addition, professional credential assessments provided by a professional body will determine whether the Client’s educational credential is equivalent to the Canadian educational credential required to practice the occupation in at least one of the provinces in which the professional body is recognized by the regulatory authority for that occupation.
• 4. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) does not acknowledge a distinction between the concepts of “equivalency” and “comparability”, as they are used to describe the outcomes of an educational credential assessment. CIC considers these terms synonymous and will use “equivalency” when referring to an assessment outcome.
• 5. “Service” shall mean all activities described in the Service Agreement, this Statement of Work, and any subsequent service level agreement that may be agreed upon by the Parties.
• 6. “Educational Credential Assessment Organization” or “Organization” shall mean those organizations with the experience and capacity to authenticate foreign educational credentials, and assess them to determine their equivalency to completed Canadian educational credentials.
• 7. “Professional Body” shall mean those organizations with the experience and capacity to authenticate foreign educational credentials and assess them to determine their equivalency to a Canadian educational credential required to practice. The professional body and its assessments also must be recognized by the regulatory authorities in at least seven provinces or territories.
• 8. “Foreign Educational Credential” shall mean a foreign diploma, certificate or credential issued on completion of a program of study or training by an institution that is recognized by the authorities responsible for registering, accrediting, supervising and regulating such an institution in the country of issuance.
• 9. Total annual application volumes for Canadian immigration program streams fluctuate from year to year. Similarly, the rate at which Clients will take up this Service with an Organization is unknown and the distribution of Clients among Organizations is unknown CIC cannot guarantee, provide any assurance of, or information regarding the future volume of ECA applications to the Organization. No matter what the ultimate volume of Clients availing themselves of the Service of the Organization, no payment or subsidy will be made by CIC.
• 10. The Organization will be prepared to provide the Service beginning on [Date].
• 11. The Organization shall provide the Service in English and French.
• 12. The Statement of Work is comprised of this document and its Annex 1, Components of the Educational Credential Assessment Report, and its Annex 2, Data Collection and Reporting. The Service must be performed in accordance with all the parameters and requirements described in the Service Agreement (including Appendices), this Statement of Work (including Annexes), and any service level agreement that may be agreed upon by the Parties. The Organization shall perform the following Service (12.1 and 12.2).
• 12.1 Mandatory Services for CIC
• 12.1.1

  1. Provide ECA services for Clients intending to apply for immigration purposes underIRPAfor which an ECA can be considered under, or is required by IRPA, including Ministerial instructions and regulations made under it.

     For Educational Credential Assessment Organizations:

     1. Assess the equivalency of a foreign educational credential to a Canadian educational credential, and state whether the foreign credential is equivalent to a completed educational credential in Canada, as described in Annex 1;
     2. Assess the authenticity of foreign educational credential documentation; and
     3. Provide ECA services within the timeframes set forth in Appendix C.
  2. Have protocols in place to provide an assessment when usual methods described are not sufficient to determine a foreign educational credential’s equivalency to a completed Canadian educational credential.
  3. Provide ECA services that are accessible online to all Clients. In circumstances where conditions in a source country limit or make impossible the provision of credential assessment services to Clients, and such disruption impacts on the Organization’s ability to provide service, the organization will attempt to provide service through alternative means, and notify CIC as soon as it is aware of circumstances that make service provision impossible.
  4. The Organization must provide CIC with a list of possible assessment outcomes for foreign educational credentials, including where equivalency to a completed Canadian educational credential has not been established, and as compared to the educational credentials contained under the education factor in subsection 78(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations when there is a finding of equivalency to a completed Canadian educational credential.
  5. Provide an Assessment Report to the Client that contains the components (format, content and security features) as described in Annex 1, of Appendix A.
  6. Have a database operational with secure online access that will be used by CIC to verify Clients’ assessment reports and credential documentation.
     1. Provide electronic storage of the Client’s Assessment Report and all credential documentation submitted to the Organization for a period of ten years after the issuance of the Educational Credential Assessment Report. Should the Organization require a longer retention period for other/value added services offered to clients they should describe those periods and the legal basis for same.
     2. CIC will only access the Organization’s database when the Client has submitted an application for a program or class underIRPA for which an ECA can be considered under, or is required byIRPA, including Ministerial instructions and regulations made under it. In accessing the Organization’s database CIC will not have the authority to modify or alter in any way the documents of credentials or Assessment Report.
     3. The database must be accessible to CIC from within and outside of Canada.
  7. Retain the documents related to the assessments performed for a period of ten years from the date of issue of the Assessment Report. Should the Organization require a longer retention period for other/value added services offered to clients they should describe those periods and the legal basis for same.
  8. Provide a Status Report to CIC in [Date], and twice yearly thereafter in January and July, that includes no personal information rather only aggregate data as described in Annex 2, Data Collection and Reporting The Organization must track Clients that request assessments for the purpose of applying for a program or class under IRPA for which an ECA can be considered under, or is required by IRPA, including Ministerial instructions and regulations made under it. CIC may also request aggregate data at other times on an ad hoc basis.
• 12.2 Mandatory Client Services
  1. Inform Clients of actual processing times, via the Organization’s website, as well as inform the Client directly of any unanticipated delays in processing.
  2. Inform Clients of collection, use, disclosure, retention, storage and protection practices and obtain Client consent where required or recommended for these practices.
  3. Make available to Clients an appeal mechanism upon request and inform the Client of the appeal procedures and applicable deadlines. This appeal possibility is to be made clear to the applicant, and its importance highlighted.
• 13. The mandatory services (12.1 and 12.2) do not preclude the Organization from offering and providing additional services to the Client.
• 14. The Organization shall meet the following requirements, service parameters and standards in the performance of the Service:
  1. Supply all the necessary material and equipment for the Service, including what is necessary to comply with the Secure Verification specifications, as described in Annex 1 of Appendix A.
  2. Establish hiring practices that ensure a sufficient number of qualified personnel; provide effective and efficient supervision to ensure the quality of credential assessment; and provide ongoing training to ensure personnel develops and maintains expertise in credential assessment.
  3. The Professional body shall provide the Service to the Client in accordance with the times for educational credential assessment set forth in Appendix C.
• 15. The Organization must have in place protocols and relevant administrative, physical and technological measures and solutions in order to satisfy the requirements of the Service Agreement and the Statement of Work identified in relation to privacy and data management and protection laws, policies, standards regarding:
  1. Protection of privacy and preservation of integrity of Client personal information and records.
  2. Collection, use and access to Client personal information.
  3. Sharing of documents/disclosure of Client personal information with other organizations.
  4. Storage of all Client personal information and credentials submitted and assessment report for later retrieval by Clients or end-users.
  5. Correction of Client personal information.
  6. Return of documents to the Clients.
  7. Disposal/destruction of any records in any form containing Client personal information.
  8. Format and content of any notices to and consents to be signed by Clients.
  9. Maintenance of a file management system to permit easy access to information while ensuring the protection and preservation of Client personal information. File management procedures must ensure the safety, integrity and security of Client files, including the integrity of electronic files and all original documentation contained in those files.
  10. Have in place a policy protecting the confidentiality, integrity and privacy of Client files.
• 16.1 Where the Organization collects personal information from a Client to perform the Service, the Organization must only collect personal information that is required to perform the Service. The Organization may collect other information with the Client’s consent provided in writing or electronically and in accordance with relevant privacy legislation. The personal information to be collected by the Organization is limited to that described in the Statement of Work.
• 16.2 CIC would prefer that the Organization ensure that information is managed, accessible from within Canada and that all databases containing information and physical (paper) records are located in Canada. Should an Organization’s infrastructure not meet this parameter, the Organization must provide a statement to this effect in the proposal. CIC reserves the right to request a description of the Organization’s information management structure and practices where they differ from this parameter. The information and databases must be logically segregated for this Service from all other information and records of the Organization and not shared with or accessible by other business lines.
• 17. Amendment of this Statement of Work - During the course of the Service Agreement, parties of the Agreement may, by written consent, proceed to make modifications to this Statement of Work as described in the Service Agreement.

ANNEX 1: Educational Credential Assessment Report

Format/Security Features

The Assessment Report requested by persons (“Clients”) for the purpose of applying for a program or class under IRPA for which an ECA can be considered under, or is required by IRPA, including Ministerial Instructions and regulations made under it, must be presented on official letterhead, affixed with the Organization’s seal or any other identifying feature, and signed by an authority of the Organization.

The Organization must embed at least one security feature in the Assessment Report and inform CIC Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) of each security feature, as well as inform CIC of any changes to such features.

Content

The Assessment Report must include the following information:

1. Identifying information about the Organization and Client -
   1. Name of the Organization and contact information (e.g. official letterhead)
   2. Date of Report
   3. Reference/File Number – including the identifier “IMM” at the end of the Reference/File Number
   4. Name of Client
   5. Client’s date of birth
2. Information on document authentication -
   1. Type of documents being used for authentication (official, original or photocopy)
   2. Statement providing the results of an assessment of the authenticity of the Foreign Educational Credential documentation under review (must also state if the Organization was not able to complete the document authentication).
   3. Where the Organization determines that the document is not authentic, the Assessment Report will state that finding and does not need to include information under 4) below.
3. Information about the foreign educational credential being assessed -
   1. The name of the institution, recognized by the competent authority of the country, that issued the credential
   2. Country of educational institution that issued the credential
   3. The name of the credential and area of specialization/focus of study, if applicable
   4. Year credential was received
   5. The official length of the program
4. Credential assessment outcome statement -
   1. For CIC’s purpose the Organization must indicate whether the Foreign Educational Credential is equivalent to a completed Canadian educational credential – stating the name of the Canadian credential; length of the program; specialization if applicable. In the case of equivalency to a Canadian Masters or PhD credential, the length of the Canadian program does not need to be stated.
   2. Where equivalency is not established, additional assessment outcomes that differ from the above statements in 4 a. may be included in the Assessment Report at the discretion of the Organization. For example, the Organization could state an equivalency to a number of years of study in a Canadian education program.
   3. The credential assessment outcome statement should be clearly distinguished from the rest of the assessment and be located on the first page of the report before the detailed assessment of individual credentials.

ANNEX 2: Data Collection and Reporting

Status Report

CIC will collect statistical and aggregate data – in the form of a Status Report - from the Organization for the purpose of monitoring the implementation of foreign educational credential assessments for immigration purposes. The Status Report will be provided to CIC in [date to be filled in at the time of signing], and twice yearly thereafter in January and July. No Client personal information will be included. Such information may also serve as a basis upon which to renew the Service Agreement. CIC requires the following data information:

1. Applications and Reports
   1. Number of applications received.
   2. Number of reports completed.
   3. If the organization completes reports in French, the number of reports completed in French.
2. Completion Times
   1. Median and modal time to complete an Assessment Report for Clients once a complete application is received by the Organization, reported in business days.
3. Assessment Outcome Breakdowns
   1. By credential assessment outcomes.
   2. By foreign educational credential.
   3. By source country.
   4. By number of appeals by the Client and appeal decision.
4. Fraud
   1. Number of incidences of fraud.
   2. Incidences of fraud by client country of origin.
   3. Incidences of fraud by credential country of origin.

The Organization may also submit a narrative report, providing information on any important aspects of their service which cannot be articulated within the data points above. Potential topics include analysis and description of trends in service, outcomes, fraud, and documents from illegitimate institutions.

CIC will share summaries of the Status Reports with all Organizations, annually, along with a report of relevant information and updates on CIC matters relevant to ECAs.

Detection of Fraudulent Activity

The Organization must have internal policies in place that address the submission of documents that are suspected to be fraudulent or falsified. In cases where Client documents submitted to the Organization are deemed to be fraudulent after an Assessment Report has been issued to the Client, the Organization must inform CIC, as well as enact any other internal policies.

ANNEX 3: Standard Processing Time

[to be filled in at the time of signing]

ANNEX 4: Service Charge Schedule

[to be filled in at the time of signing]