Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - June 2009
The Canadian law establishment will now treat certified legal professionals from India as they would those from the United Kingdom or 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 NCA executive director Vern Krishna. �It is a substantial reduction in barrier to entry into legal profession.�
Though to practice law in Canada, lawyers from these countries must still pass Canadian exams, the move toward recognizing Indian credentials will allow for a much easier transition for new arrivals to Canada who may wish to practice law.
Lack of foreign credential recognition has been a growing problem facing the immigrant community in Canada. All too often, highly skilled and highly educated immigrants are working low-skill level jobs because of this issue.
This decision by the NCA may help push other professional boards in Canada to re-examine their own processes of foreign credential recognition.
According to Krishna, the countries to have law degrees treated equally now include England, Wales, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, West Indies, India, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Nigeria, Singapore, and Pakistan.
Source: Central Chronicle