HKCAAVQ Overseas Qualifications: Assessment Documents

In summary: proof of overseas qualifications, a qualification assessment report and professional accreditation are distinct layers and cannot substitute for one another. Proof of qualifications comprises documents such as graduation certificates, transcripts and public examination certificates, provided by the relevant institution or awarding body; a qualification assessment report is issued by the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications (HKCAAVQ) on a case-by-case basis for each applicant; and membership, registration or licensing by a professional body does not fall within qualification assessment and must instead be pursued through the arrangements of the relevant professional body or registering organisation. This boundary is set out in the Guidance Notes for Application and the Council’s ‘Assessment Process’ page.

Qualification assessment is not an institutional or programme accreditation; the assessment result applies only to the individual applicant. Individual employers, organisations or educational institutions have the right to decide whether to recognise or accept an applicant’s qualifications for the purposes of employment, registration or admission.

What HKCAAVQ assesses is whether an applicant’s overall qualifications meet the standard of a particular Hong Kong qualification — not whether it certifies the original institution, programme or professional organisation. Therefore, an assessment report is not equivalent to professional accreditation or a professional licence, nor does it pre-emptively guarantee that a particular overseas qualification is necessarily ‘equivalent to a certain Hong Kong degree’, or on that basis infer the applicant’s employability in a certain industry. The final decision to recognise or accept remains with the employer, organisation or educational institution, according to its own purpose and standards — see the Guidance Notes for Application above.

First check whether your case falls within the scope of exclusions

HKCAAVQ explicitly lists the following six categories of content it does not assess on its Assessment Process page:

• Qualifications that are incomplete, or not recognised as forming part of the local country’s education system;
• Qualifications involving less than one year of full-time study;
• Qualifications with excessive credit transfer or exemption — for example, where 90% derives from unrecognised learning;
• Qualifications from mainland China during the Cultural Revolution period, i.e. 1966 to 1976;
• Membership of a professional body or registering organisation;
• Work experience.

Accordingly, work experience, professional membership or membership obtained through an individual programme will not form part of the scope of this qualification assessment. Before submitting their application, applicants should first verify whether their qualifications are completed, whether they form part of the local education system, whether the mode of study meets the requirements, and whether they include excessive credit transfer or exemption — so as to avoid mistakenly treating items outside the assessment scope as eligible qualifications for assessment.

How to prepare proof of qualifications

Proof of qualifications is the foundational document for an assessment application. Different levels of qualifications require the submission of different materials; specific requirements are set out in the Guidance Notes for Application.

Senior secondary school leaving qualifications should be accompanied by the senior secondary school leaving certificate, the final version of all official transcripts, and public examination certificates. Transcripts should show the official final version, not a draft, provisional version or a document listing only some subject results.

Post-secondary, vocational education and tertiary / university qualifications should be accompanied by the graduation certificate, final transcript and other supporting documents relevant to the assessment. Relevant documents may include information shown on the reverse of the transcript such as the credit system and course codes, evidence of credit transfer issued by the awarding institution, and course information (if available). Applicants should not submit only the graduation certificate, because the final transcript, credit transfer records and course information may equally be relevant to the assessment.

Where the applicant’s name differs from that shown on the qualification documents, a certified true copy or copy of the name-change document must be attached — for example, a marriage certificate or deed poll. This requirement covers the graduation certificate, transcript and other proof of qualifications alike; one should not omit the corresponding name-change evidence merely because one of the documents already shows the new name.

Where documents are not written in Chinese or English, a certified Chinese or English translation must be provided, with the English translation preferred. The translation may not be prepared by the applicant, a family member of the applicant, or any person affected by the assessment outcome. The Council also does not accept translations provided solely by a translation company. Translation requirements and copy requirements are separate matters; a translation company’s standard submission confirmation cannot replace a certified translation — see the Guidance Notes for Application.

Submit copies only — do not post original documents

Individual applications may be submitted by uploading the required documents via the Qualification Assessment Service Platform. If an applicant is unable to upload the required documents through the platform, they must complete and print the application form on the platform, then post copies or certified true copies of all required documents to the Council.

Certified true copies sent by post must be certified by a notary public, law firm, the relevant awarding institution or a consulate. Whether a copy is sufficient and whether it can be certified are two separate requirements; if the corresponding copy or certified true copy is not provided in accordance with the guidance, the application may not be able to proceed to assessment.

Important: applicants or organisations should not post the original of any certificate, transcript or other important document to the Council. Whether or not a document requires certification, only a copy or certified true copy should be provided when posting.

This requirement applies directly to the individual application arrangements listed in the Guidance Notes for Application. Applicants should not post original documents merely because they need to submit a complete academic record.

Assessment process and timeframe

After receiving a qualification assessment application, HKCAAVQ will check the application documents; if the assessment can proceed, it will send an acknowledgement of application to the applicant’s email address. Generally, HKCAAVQ will notify the applicant by email within approximately 7 working days whether the submitted documents are sufficient. If an applicant has not received an email after 10 working days, they may enquire by emailing [email protected]. See the Council’s ‘Assessment Process’ page.

Assessment will only begin once all required documents have been received. The general assessment period runs from the next working day after the acknowledgement of application is issued, and generally takes fifteen working days. The time taken to confirm documents are complete and the actual assessment period are separate arrangements, and should not be understood as a fixed completion deadline for the entire application; the general timeframe mentioned above is only a reference and is not a guarantee.

If HKCAAVQ is unable to obtain the required information and/or documents from the applicant or the relevant institution within two months, it has the right to terminate processing of that application. Applicants should therefore not submit only the documents that are readily obtainable; evidence of credit transfer, course information, name-change documents or certified translations should all be checked together beforehand according to the circumstances of the case. Relevant requirements are set out on the Assessment Process page.

If an applicant considers themselves aggrieved by the assessment outcome, they may apply for a review. All review applications must be made by the applicant within 30 days of the date of receipt of the assessment report. A review is a formal outcome re-examination procedure and does not mean the original assessment result will necessarily change — see the Council’s ‘Assessment Process’ page.

Three-tier assessment fees

HKCAAVQ lists the following fees according to the purpose of assessment; amounts are subject to the official fee page:

• General purposes: HK$3,250.
• Teacher registration or teacher recruitment purposes: HK$3,580.
• Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS) application purposes: HK$3,860 / US$505.

The fee page states that the assessment fee includes registered postage; any fee adjustment will be made without prior notice. Selecting teacher registration or teacher recruitment purposes only means the qualification assessment is processed for that purpose; the Council neither handles teacher registration on the applicant’s behalf, nor does the assessment result equate to successful registration. Selecting Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS) application purposes only means the assessment is charged and processed for that purpose; the Council will not thereby make any immigration approval decision.

For Category C applications under the Top Talent Pass Scheme (TTPS), the relevant document requirements should be checked directly against the Immigration Department’s ‘Top Talent Pass Scheme’ page. That HKCAAVQ offers an assessment fee for Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS) application purposes should not be understood as a general pre-condition applicable to all TTPS applicants; nor should the assessment report be conflated with the Immigration Department’s full set of application documents.

Whether an application as a whole is sound depends on whether the qualifications fall within the assessment scope, whether the materials are complete, whether the translation complies with requirements, and whether only copies or certified true copies are submitted. HKCAAVQ’s arrangements of 7 working days, fifteen working days and two months are all general procedural timeframes; no qualification assessment result, teacher registration, professional acceptance or immigration application should be understood as necessarily approved.

migration.hk Editorial Team