Information on refugees and academic credentialing

April 10, 2012 4:05 AM

Is anyone familiar with post-resettlement transferring of credentials for refugees? Would you happen to know of any relevant documents, articles, legislation, etc.?

Asking for an acquaintance. They are awaiting resettlement to the United States and are looking for any information on transferring their credentials after resettlement. Although I hope that they are receiving information on this from whichever organization is handling their documentation, I was wondering if anyone knew of any documents, books or other texts that discuss the steps necessary to transfer an academic degree to the U.S.? (or any useful search terms as I am not at all an expert on this and am probably missing something obvious) If it's relevant they practiced law before and hope to continue that career in some form.

posted by Papagayo to law & government (3 answers total)

The US Office of Refugee Resettlement may be able to help. From reviewing their fact sheet, it appears your friend will need to contact the relevant state licensing agency for the specifics.
posted by kithrater at 4:25 AM on April 10, 2012

Bar admission rules vary by state. You want this report by the ABA the Comprehensive Guide to Bar Admission Requirements 2012 [pdf]. Chart 4 is the part about foreign law schools.

You can get more information from the individual state bar admission agency. They're all listed at the end of the report.
posted by interplanetjanet at 6:00 AM on April 10, 2012

I used to work as a paralegal for an immigration lawyer and he had an academic credentialling service he worked with to handle this for H-1Bs and green cards. What the service did was evaluate the transcript/degree and state what US degree it was equivalent to for the immigration service.

Unfortunately I can't remember the name of the service he used (it's been a few years) but there are companies out there that do exactly this for a fee.
posted by immlass at 7:37 AM on April 10, 2012