MPI Report Examines Credential-Recognition Barriers Immigrant Professionals Face

"Foreign-trained professionals in the United States often encounter significant obstacles on their path to professional practice, among them difficulties in demonstrating the value of their past work experience and qualifications. Many must be formally recertified in the United States before they can legally practice their profession.

Because of the United States’ decentralized federal system, no single structure governs professional certification in regulated occupations — resulting in a profusion of overlapping and sometimes contradictory national, state and local rules and exams that are often costly, complicated and time-consuming for immigrant professionals to navigate.

A new Migration Policy Institute report, Credential Recognition in the United States for Foreign Professionals, examines the U.S. credential recognition process, particularly with regards to recertification in the medical and engineering sectors, and offers some recommendations for improvements." - MPI, May 16, 2013.