US Credential Evaluation of a French Degree:
WES, ECE and Certified Translation

Why a credential evaluation?

The United States has no federal body that recognizes foreign degrees: the US Department of Education does not evaluate them. Universities, employers, state licensing boards and immigration authorities rely instead on private organizations that issue an equivalency report, known as a credential evaluation, stating which US degree your French licence or master corresponds to, and often converting grades on the French 0–20 scale into a US GPA.

An evaluation is typically required in four situations:

• graduate school admission (master's, MBA, PhD), where the university requires one or names a specific provider;
• employment, to show that you hold the level of education the position requires;
• professional licensing at state level (engineering, accounting, healthcare, teaching…), with each board setting its own requirements;
• employment-based immigration: for the H-1B visa, the federal regulations expressly list an evaluation by a credentials evaluation service specializing in foreign education among the ways of establishing degree equivalency, and such reports are also commonly filed in support of EB immigrant visa petitions.

WES, ECE and NACES members

The two names you will come across most often are WES (World Education Services) and ECE (Educational Credential Evaluators). Both are members of NACES (National Association of Credential Evaluation Services), a trade association founded in 1987 whose members are independent, non-governmental US evaluation services; its member list is public. Many institutions and boards require a report from a NACES member, or from one specific provider, so always check with the receiving organization before ordering an evaluation.

Baccalauréat, licence, master, grandes écoles: what do they mean?

US evaluators work from the French titles, so it helps to know exactly what each document represents:

• Baccalauréat: the national diploma awarded at the end of secondary education (general, technological or vocational track), which gives access to higher education. If you went on to higher education, it generally does not need to be evaluated;
• Licence: the first university degree, awarded for 180 ECTS credits (three years of study after the baccalauréat). Beware the false friend: a French licence is a degree, not a license;
• Master: a national degree awarded for 120 credits beyond the licence, i.e. 300 credits in total (M1 + M2). The maîtrise, an intermediate diploma, may be issued on request once the first 60 credits of the master's program have been completed;
• Grandes écoles: engineering schools, business and management schools, institutes of political studies… Their diplomas are not "masters" as such, but they may confer the grade de master (master's degree status) — following accreditation by the Commission des titres d'ingénieur (CTI) for engineering schools, or for certain business schools. The transcript and any mention of this status then carry considerable weight with the evaluator. The same care applies to the BTS (two-year higher technician diploma) and to RNCP-registered qualifications, which WES handles as separate categories.

One key point: equivalency is the evaluator's call, not the translator's. A certified translation faithfully renders the official title (Licence, Diplôme d'ingénieur…) rather than replacing it with "Bachelor's degree" or "Master of Science", which would prejudge the outcome of the evaluation.

Which documents, and who sends them?

For a French higher education degree, the document checklist WES generates for a US evaluation contains four items:

• the annual academic transcripts (relevés de notes), which do not go through you: they are sent either electronically via the Verifdiploma platform, or by the institution in a sealed envelope signed or stamped across the back flap. A sealed envelope handed to you by the institution may be mailed by you, provided it remains unopened. WES specifies that a student file (dossier étudiant) is not accepted in place of the annual transcripts;
• the transcript translation, which you upload yourself to your WES account;
• a legible copy of the degree certificate, which you also upload;
• the degree certificate translation, uploaded by you.

Never send original documents to WES: they are not returned. With ECE, paper documents may be sent by the applicant or by the institution; the transcript must be official and in a sealed envelope, while the degree certificate may be submitted as an original (returned with the report) or in a sealed envelope (see ECE's requirements for France).

Translation: what WES and ECE require

This is the point that most often catches French applicants off guard. For an evaluation processed in the United States, WES requires an English translation of any document not issued in English — which includes your French documents. (For an evaluation processed in Canada, by contrast, WES accepts French-language documents without translation.) According to WES's translation requirements, the translation must be:

• complete and word-for-word: every course title, grade, honors mention and detail about the institution must be translated;
• prepared by a professional translator: WES rejects translations made by the applicant, handwritten translations and incomplete translations;
• made from the official documents: WES does not accept translations of photocopies, and recommends asking your institution for two sets of documents, one for WES and one for the translator.

WES also states that an English-language version issued by the institution cannot replace a translation: it requires an independent translation of the original document.

ECE likewise requires a complete, literal English translation in the same format as the original, but also offers, as an option, to translate the documents itself solely for the purposes of the evaluation. Bear in mind that the evaluation is often just one step: an employer, a university or a licensing board may ask to see the diplomas themselves, and for immigration purposes USCIS requires every foreign-language document to be accompanied by a full English translation, certified by the translator as complete and accurate, together with the translator's certification of competence. A certified translation prepared once, from your original documents, will serve you at every one of these stages.

A certified translation into US English

I translate French diplomas and transcripts — baccalauréat, BTS, licence, master, engineering or business school diplomas, doctorates — into US English, with consistent terminology across all documents (0–20 grading scale, honors mentions, ECTS credits, course units, semesters). Each translation is certified, signed and stamped with my seal as a sworn judicial expert. Find out more on the degree and transcript translation page; for undergraduate applications based on high school report cards, see also school transcripts and university applications abroad.

Frequently asked questions

Do my diplomas need an apostille?
WES and ECE do not mention an apostille in their requirements for France. An employer, licensing board or other authority may nonetheless ask for one: for a French document going abroad, the translation comes first, then the apostille is affixed in France to the document and, if required, to the certified translation (see apostille and certified translation).

Can I send a scan?
Yes, for the quote. For a WES application, since WES does not accept translations of photocopies, plan on an official copy set aside for translation — we will agree on the best way to proceed.

How long does it take?
For a diploma and its transcripts, generally 24 to 48 business hours once the documents are received. Do factor in the time your institution needs to issue the transcripts and the time the evaluation itself takes: it pays to start early.