It is a relief to get some of those costs waived, as it is difficult enough being a refugee to rebuild your life and to keep up with dily life expenses.

- ECE® Aid recipient from Syria

Part of the success of ECE® Aid is dependent on our trusted participating organizations and institutions. Please read about a recent recipient from Syria that contacted one of our ECE® Aid participants, Refugees to College, to receive a fee waiver:

"I am a dentist from Syria. I recently moved to the U.S. (in 2017) through the refugee program. My goal is to practice dentistry here in the U.S., so I started to go through the licensing process, which required me to have my credentials evaluated by ECE. I found out that refugees can apply for a fee waiver, so I went through the ECE® Aid webpage and found a list of nonprofit organizations that would facilitate issuing this waiver. The organization I contacted was Refugees to College. They were very nice and very helpful. I explained to them my situation and they were very eager to provide assistance. They contacted ECE on my behalf and a week later asked me to submit my application where they had arranged with ECE for my fee to be waived. I'm grateful for ECE® Aid for introducing me to Refugees to College, as they are still assisting me with other aspects of the licensing process beyond the ECE® application. I have since then received my ECE® evaluation report, and I'm getting ready to take the board exam. Getting licensed to practice dentistry is a long process that will take me about three years and will require various applications and fees for different agencies. It is a relief to get some of those costs waived, as it is difficult enough being a refugee to rebuild your life and to keep up with daily expenses, let alone the added expense of licensing application fees." - ECE® Aid recipient from Syria

You can learn more about our participating organizations and institutions at ECE® Aid participating institutions.

~Update~

Back in 2017, we provided an ECE® Aid fee waiver to this gentleman from Syria who is now going through the rigorous process of getting licensed in the U.S. as a medical professional.

In addition to completing the National Board Dental Exams and language proficiency tests, he has applied to multiple universities. Each application comes with its own associated fees; however, because of the generosity of our donors, we have at least been able to waive the fee each time he orders a copy of the ECE® foreign credential evaluation report to be sent to a prospective university.

He is tenacious, and we have no doubt he will obtain his dream job! Two years ago, when we explained to him that ECE does not provide free reports directly to individuals, he decided to reach out to one of our trusted agencies himself. ECE selects experienced nonprofit organizations and educational institutions to distribute fee waiver vouchers to qualifying individuals. Refugees to College issued an ECE® Aid voucher to him, and he began the process of getting an evaluation.

We can't wait to get the update that he is practicing dentistry, and when we do, we will be sure to tell you all about it!