How to request a statement

Information message concerning the new attestation fees and the temporary closures of PHOENIX from 1 January 2024:

Opening hours: Your foreign diplomas recognition service is changing! As of Friday 8 March, the French ENIC-NARIC Centre platform for the recognition of foreign diplomas will be closed every week from Friday 5pm to Tuesday 12pm for maintenance. Diploma recognition applications can therefore be submitted weekly from Tuesday 12 pm to Friday 5 pm.

Fees: from January 1st, 2024, the certificate of comparability for a foreign diploma will cost €90: €20 when submitting the application to verify eligibility, followed by €70 if the application is deemed eligible for detailed examination.

Processing time: The average processing time of an application for diploma recognition is currently 2-3 months. It is the responsibility of the applicant when submitting their application to ensure that their file is complete as per the instructions provided on the Phoenix platform. Incomplete applications will result in additional processing delays.

Closure of the platform Phoenix: to guarantee the fluidity of operations to process the applications for diploma recognition, the Phoenix platform will be closed during official school holidays in France (see calendar below). In addition, ENIC NARIC France reserves the right to temporarily close the Phoenix platform if the number of new requests exceeds the capacity of our digital server. In that event, the public will be informed about the duration of the closure and the reopening date of the platform via our social media channels and the Phoenix website.
School holiday calendar 2024 zone C (Paris - Ile de France) (https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F31952)

Required documents

The documents to be uploaded on the platform for submitting files for recognising foreign qualifications are:

• Both sides of legible, valid proof of ID (identity card, passport, residence permit, residence card).
  Asylum seekers, refugees and persons granted subsidiary or temporary protection must provide a document confirming the submission of an asylum application or an OFPRA or CNDA decision and may therefore be entitled to have their file assessed for free;
• The most recent qualification in their mother tongue (if you do not have this, send a confirmation of achievement);
• Evidence of the official duration of studies in the mother tongue issued by the institute: transcript of grades or Diploma Supplement. If the user does not have these documents, they must attach evidence proving the duration of education that has been issued by the institute;

• A French translation of the qualification and proof of duration, carried out by a sworn translator or official authorities in the home country. 

  The translation requirement does not apply to documents written in:
  German English Arabic Spanish Italian Portuguese

For those abroad, a list of sworn translators is available from the cultural departments of the French embassy.

Submitting the request

The request for a statement of recognition of qualifications is an individual and nominative approach.

The submission form must be completed with the information and details of the person who is requesting an assessment of their qualification.

To ensure that your file is formatted properly from a technical perspective, we recommend using a computer (and not a tablet or smartphone) and one of the following browsers, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome or Safari, and scanning your documents in PDF format. The size of each scanned document must not exceed a maximum of 2 megabytes.

The request for recognition is entirely online and takes several steps:

1. Log in via the following link: https://phoenix.france-education-international.fr/inscriptions;
2. Register in advance on the Phoenix platform by entering your personal information. Once this first step is complete, you will receive an e-mail with your file number.
   Keep a record of this number as it will be required for all communications.
   You will also be sent a link to follow your file’s progress;
3. Log in again using the link that you were sent for your file.
   Complete all the fields in this section and then indicate the qualification that you want to have recognised using the drop-down menu. If your qualification is not shown in the list, you can choose the “autre diplôme” (“other qualification”) option.
   Upload the requested documents.
   Submit your request;
4. If your file is incomplete, it will be returned to you and you will receive an e-mail specifying the type of document that is missing. It must then be completed by clicking on the link sent. No documents will be accepted by e-mail or post.

Payment

Please note that new fee will apply from 3 January 2024. Find out more

The ENIC-NARIC France centre will process your request in two stages.

First stage

Once the payment of €20 has been received, the ENIC-NARIC France centre will assess the admissibility of your file.

If your case is declared admissible, it may be assessed by an expert in a second stage. The admissibility of a file should not be considered as a guarantee that a statement of comparability or recognition of the period of studies will be issued following the second stage.

For more information on the admissibility criteria for a file and issuing a statement, go to the general conditions.

Second stage

After receipt of the additional payment of €50, your case will be subject to an expert assessment with a view to issuing a statement of comparability for your qualification or a statement of recognition of the period of studies.

Two methods of payment are available and you should use the same option for both stages:

• By Visa or Mastercard (preferred method of payment for shorter deadlines)
• By bank transfer

Payments by postal order and cheque are not accepted.

Payment can only be made on receipt of an invoice. No refunds can be made even in the case of advance payment.

Your file will be deleted if payment is sent after the due date indicated on the invoice.

For requests made to the Chambres de Métiers et de l’Artisanat (Guild of Trades and Arts, CMA), check the specific processes.

Following up your request and result

You can follow the progress of your file at https://phoenix.france-education-international.fr/dossier/, under the section “le statut de votre demande” (“your file’s status”). When processing requests, you may be asked to provide your original diploma (hard copy). You should send this only if you receive an e-mail from an ENIC-NARIC France centre agent via an official e-mail to the address you indicated in the original requesting e-mail.

Once the expert assessment has been confirmed, a statement of comparability or a statement of recognition of the period of studies will be sent to you electronically (PDF format only).

In some cases, the expert assessment may result in an information letter explaining that a statement cannot be issued. The reasons for refusal will be clarified in the letter (institute or qualification was not recognised, lack of information, etc.).

The ENIC-NARIC France centre undertakes to process files within a reasonable period. The timescales vary depending on the request. If the current request is particularly tricky, the average timescale for processing is around three months.