the CanadaVisa Team - 21 July, 2015
Canada's National Committee on Accreditation (NCA), which evaluates the internationally-obtained credentials of lawyers who wish to practice in Canada, has announced that the law degrees of legal professionals from India will be considered equivalent to those from the United Kingdom and Australia.
"The National Committee on Accreditation (NCA) has decided that three-year full-time law degrees from Common Law Countries, including India, England, and Australia should be treated equivalently regardless of their country of origin," said Vern Krishna, outgoing executive director of the NCA. "It is a substantial reduction in barriers to entry into the legal profession."
In addition to law degrees from India, Australia, and England, those from Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Ireland, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Singapore, the United States, Wales, and the West Indies are all being treated equivalently by the NCA.
Though a large barrier to entry has been removed for Indian legal professionals wishing to work in Canada, all foreign-trained lawyers must nonetheless pass qualifying exams in six subjects, as well as bar exams to be qualified to practice.
Foreign credential recognition remains one of the largest hurdles for internationally-trained skilled workers and professionals, notes Citizenship and Immigration Canada Minister Jason Kenney.
Funding allocations to the foreign credential recognition program has tripled in recent years, he says.
Federal and provincial governments are currently working to create a national framework for foreign credential recognition to speed-up the credential assessment and job market integration processes of newcomers.
