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Does the spouse need an ECA? Only if you're claiming their education points

Canada • Express Entry • immigration 0 views
By VisaBuddies Communityvia community — compiled from public visa forums

Documents Needed

  • Educational Credential Assessment (ECA)

    Mandatory only for education you want CRS points for; spouse's ECA is optional if you skip their education points.

  • Attested degree

    Attestation alone is not an ECA — a designated body must assess it.

Step-by-Step

A spouse (non-principal applicant) had a degree from Libya that was attested but never put through an ECA, and couldn't send documents from Libya anymore. The advice:

  1. Calculate your CRS both ways first. Before spending money, run the CRS calculator with and without the spouse's education points. If the score difference doesn't change your prospects (in this case the couple was 38/35, so age already limited points), the spouse's ECA may not be worth the effort.


  1. ECA is only mandatory for points you claim. The principal applicant's ECA is required, but a spouse's ECA is needed only if you want the spouse's education counted toward CRS. If you skip those points, no ECA is needed for the spouse.


  1. The university can send documents directly. The practical workaround for being unable to send documents from Libya: contact the issuing university through its website. Universities routinely send transcripts/degrees directly to ECA bodies (WES and others) for a fee, so your physical location doesn't matter.


  1. Where you mail from is not the issue. The question of sending 'from Pakistan instead of Libya' dissolves once the university sends directly to the assessing body — what matters is that the ECA body receives documents through its accepted channel.

Dos, Don'ts & Tips

  • Do: Run the CRS calculator with and without the spouse's education before paying for a second ECA.
  • Don't: Don't confuse degree attestation with an ECA — only a designated body's assessment earns CRS points.
  • Tip: If you can't send documents from the issuing country, ask the university to send them directly to the ECA body — most do this for a fee.

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