Ecctis Translation Requirements: Translating Your Degree for UK ENIC and Visa Checks

The UK ENIC document list for a Statement of Comparability asks for the final certificates from your completed qualifications (up to four), official transcripts showing all subjects and grades, signed and dated by the awarding institution, and certified translations if your documents aren't in English. The Ecctis English proficiency and qualification comparison service asks for the same certificates and transcripts, with certified translations where needed, plus a Medium of Instruction letter.

Neither page sets out a detailed translation format, so the safest choice is a full translation of every document, with the translator's certification of accuracy, the date and contact details. That's the same format the Home Office asks for under paragraph 39B of the Immigration Rules, and our academic document translation service provides it on every page.

GOV.UK says that if your degree was taught in English and wasn't awarded by a UK institution, you'll need an assessment from Ecctis, which gives you a code confirming the qualification is equivalent to a UK bachelor's degree or higher and was taught in English. That wording appears on both the Skilled Worker and Student visa pages. For settlement and citizenship, GOV.UK also accepts a degree taught or researched in English, assessed by Ecctis.

The Statement of Comparability is a separate product from UK ENIC, which Ecctis operates. Employers and universities often ask for one to understand a foreign qualification. Our guide to academic transcript translation for Skilled Worker and Student visas explains why the transcript carries most of the weight in that comparison.

This is the rare section of a translation company's blog that tells you not to buy a translation. If your Statement of Comparability rests on a Spanish título and its certificado de notas, UK ENIC can read them as they are. Check the current waiver page before you apply, because the list and fees can change.

Two cautions. The waiver is part of the Statement of Comparability service; the Ecctis visa services have their own document list, which asks for certified translations of documents not in English. And a Statement of Comparability is only one stop: an employer, a regulator or the Home Office may still want the translated degree in their own file. If you'll need a translation anyway, ordering it once and using it everywhere is usually simpler.

The Medium of Instruction letter is the document that does the real work in an English proficiency assessment: the certificate proves you have the degree, and the letter proves you studied it in English. Many universities issue it in English already, because they know what it's for. Some issue it on standard letterhead in the local language, which is how a letter confirming that teaching was in English ends up needing an English translation. Bureaucracy has a sense of humour, even if nobody in it does.

Ask the university's registry for the letter early, as some take weeks. If they offer an English version, take it.

Ecctis asks for official transcripts showing all subjects and grades, signed, stamped and dated by the awarding institution. A Brazilian histórico escolar or an Italian certificato di laurea con esami lists every module, the CFU or crédito value and the mark, and the translation keeps all of it. Stamps, signatures and the registrar's handwritten notes are noted in the translation too, so the assessor can see what's on the original.

Names matter here more than people expect. Ecctis checks your name against your ID and asks for evidence of any name change, so the translated transcript should spell your name exactly as your passport does. Tell us the passport spelling when you order and we'll use it on every document. Our guide to names spelled differently across documents explains why one letter can cause a delay.

Ecctis also verifies the qualification with the awarding institution, and if it asks for further documents, the timescale restarts. That makes translation the easiest delay to avoid: it takes us about a day, while a missing document can cost you weeks. UK ENIC offers a Fast Track for Statements of Comparability; check its current fees and timescales on its own site.

For a Skilled Worker or Student application, work backwards from the date you need to apply. If the Ecctis code is part of your English evidence, the code comes first, and the translations come before that. Our student visa translation service covers the rest of the student file.

The page count comes from the transcript. A one-page degree certificate is quick; a five-year medical transcript listing every rotation is not. Translate the final qualification you're relying on, and only add earlier ones if Ecctis or the employer asks for them. You can upload up to four qualifications for a Statement of Comparability, but there's no reason to send four if one does the job.

Put the certificate, the transcript and the Medium of Instruction letter in one order, so your name, the university's name and the degree title are translated the same way in all three. Every document includes two free revisions. You can get an instant quote by uploading the documents, and we'll tell you the page count before you pay.