Getting an ECA when your school closed or your records are lost

Getting an educational credential assessment (ECA) is a standard requirement for skilled workers who want to immigrate to Canada. The assessment translates your foreign degree, diploma, or certificate into its Canadian equivalent. This allows Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to award you points under the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS).

The standard process is built on a simple assumption: your school is still open, they have your files, and they can mail your official transcripts directly to an assessment agency. But when that assumption fails, the system becomes a major hurdle. If your university closed down permanently, merged with another school, or lost its physical archives to a fire, war, or natural disaster, the standard process breaks down. You are left trying to figure out how to get your education recognized when the traditional paperwork no longer exists.

This guide covers the practical steps you can take to find missing records, work with successor organizations, and present alternative evidence to Canadian assessment bodies.

How to track down successor institutions and government archives

When a college or university closes, its student records do not usually just vanish. Most countries have laws requiring closed schools to hand over their student files to a custodian. Your first move is to find out if another school took over the operations of your old university. In higher education, mergers are common. When two schools combine, the new institution takes custody of all legacy student files. If you graduated from a small college that was later absorbed by a larger state university, you