Converting foreign qualifications

[rdayba]

Hello Everybody,

A query:

Recently the issued surfaced about being locally qualified here. I am
a long termer, here to stay, but all my qualifications are British. In
certain lines of work this is an issue because 'foreign' degrees are
not recognised. It's as if I don't have anything legally, to the point
where I may not legally even have a high school diploma. It used to be
the case (for good or ill) that a certain deference appeared to exist
towards people with foreign qualifications, and an effort was made
employ them and overcome the bureaucracy. Now it all seems to have
become too complicated for potential employers to bother and they
increasingly opt for candidates with local, legally recognised,
degrees in my line of work. While this is great for Argentine
nationals it completely eliminates people like me.

Has anyone attempted to convert their foreign qualifications into a
local one, doing some courses, acquiring exemptions, en route to
obtaining an Argentine titulo (licenciatura,profesor)?

After working all the way to a Ph.D. I am not very keen on starting
all over again to get a first degree, especially here where this
process seems interminable at times (I've got friends in their 40s who
have yet to obtain their licenciatura and pass all their exams, after
20 years!).

Frankly, I would like someone to recognise what I've got and give me
the official stamp here with the minimum of effort and fuss whether it
be an equivalency or a new degree after a few compulsory courses.
I am not fussy but somewhere in the humanities and/or social sciences
is where I am aiming at. I am also not concerned about the institution
(public, private, quality), what's important, naturally, is the legal
status and official recognition of the degree and level in Argentina.

If anybody has any experience or knowledge of this issue, info about
contacts or institutions it would be very helpful. Also if anyone's
actually succeeded in getting their British secondary school, and
degree recognised I'd love to hear about it.

Saludos,

Ray

 

[criswkh]

I know this works for US documents. You have to get your certificates/degree apostilled. After they are apostilled, your future employer can get them translated or you can get them translated. I found that here my degrees have more pull for a job than in the US. This has worked for me. I teach chemistry/physics. Schools are on vacation right now. You have until middle of Febuary before most start back. You will also need to get a CUIL or CUIT before you start applying.

 

[KatharineAnn]

I think it depends what you need the qualifications for, and what each employer is asking for. First, there´s the legalization process in your country - which would be the apostille. Then you get a public translator to translate it, then get the translation legalized. At this point, I would think your employer SHOULD honor your qualifications... If they don´t....

The process for legalizing in Argentina (this process is called Convalidación) different degrees is different. I know from personal experience that it is not easy to do for your High School diploma - I am currently in the process of doing this. They require you to take 6 high school exams in ´materias de formación nacional´. So that´s a pretty long trámite.
As far as your university degrees go, I don´t quite know. I´d imagine that the requirements are not that strict, and that if there is a convalidación, that it shouldnt be quite as...well, ridiculous.

 

[VieNeVautRien]

Right now I m trying to convert my british high school qualifications to get into uni and its becoming a nightmare. I discussed a lot with the Ministerio de Educacion, there is not agreement with the biritish system and they are not really used to it. Also my certificated cannot be legalized by the "apostillado" and its a big deal.

I m local, I just finished my high school abroad by a british curriculum school. It supose that everyone who holds an argentine passport should have his high school studies accepted and shouldnt take any exam doesnt matter where the diploma came from but its still complicated.

I m waiting for the ME of education by tomorrow. They finally decided to contact the British Council which is the only organism who can legalize my certificates and prove that they are genuine. I will tell you then if everything is right, otherwise I will not get into uni for this year.

By the way, Have you contacted the Biritish Council here in BA? The are suppose to help you in that, at least I hope they do.

I wish you best of luck.

 

[rdayba]

Thanks for the advice people. I got some ideas to be getting along with and when I make some progress I will post back here to let you now the results, positive or negative.

Ray

 

[rdayba]

Katharine, do you have a degree? And if you do, can't you just get that validated and skip the high school stuff or do you have to do the high school stuff anyway?

The process for legalizing in Argentina (this process is called Convalidación) different degrees is different. I know from personal experience that it is not easy to do for your High School diploma - I am currently in the process of doing this. They require you to take 6 high school exams in ´materias de formación nacional´. So that´s a pretty long trámite.
As far as your university degrees go, I don´t quite know. I´d imagine that the requirements are not that strict, and that if there is a convalidación, that it shouldnt be quite as...well, ridiculous.

 

[KatharineAnn]

Katharine, do you have a degree? And if you do, can't you just get that validated and skip the high school stuff or do you have to do the high school stuff anyway?

It´s that I want to study another undergraduate degree. I have a degree, but for undergraduate degrees they don´t care about your other undergrad degrees, they want your high school degree, si o si. Kinda a pain in the butt, but here the system is different. They don´t do the bachelors, then masters, then doctors thing. You can´t do any masters you want with any bachelors. If you want to go into something new, you´ll probably have to start over with a new undergrad....Licenciatura