My name is Tarik, I graduated with a bachelor of architecture from the country of Jordan, and would like to seek my license in the united states (currently living in Indiana) however I have no idea where to start, I know that every state has its own requirements for licensing, and here is my dilemma, the school I graduated from is not NAAB accredited nor have I worked in Jordan as an architect, I graduated and moved to Indiana, I Only worked as an intern in some company, I do have an NCARB account, I also sent them my original transcripts as required but where do I go from here, should I send my transcripts to be evaluated by NAAB EESA taking into consideration that not all states approve EESA evaluation and it cost $2500, assuming my school does not have the required programs to get the accreditation which means I have to go back to school to complete the Process but I do not have the time to go to school agian only online and I could not find schools that offer online coures for architecture. I am a licensed architect in the country of Jordan but the foreign architect path requires experience to be completed (as mentioned I did not work as an architect, only as an intern). I am currently working at an engineering firm as a project manager/ BIM Designer, and I do know that some states approve (working under a licensed engineer PE as an experience requirement ) but also and intern experience is required IDP, if anyone can help me figure this out I will apricate it, I have no idea where to go from here and what to do.
Thank you in advance.
rcz1001
Aug 1, 21 5:58 pm
Your education is a foreign degree so any recognition through NCARB is going to be via some sort of EESA evaluation. You'll need to complete AXP training hours, address deficiencies in education or you may attend grad school for a NAAB accredited Master's degree. This means you will be needing to attend for 2-3 years as a possibility depending on how the universities evaluate your foreign degree with that of the educational curriculum. You will need to take care of those requirements and then you'll need to complete the ARE. AXP training hours will need to be completed and you'll need to have the required experience which may be more in some states than what NCARB requires. Some states may accept your foreign degree but you may need to get more years of experience working for an architect than that which would be required for those with a NAAB accredited architecture degree.
Non Sequitur
Aug 1, 21 6:40 pm
and, let's not forget, pass all the exams.
rcz1001
Aug 1, 21 9:49 pm
I did say that but thanks for restating the point again. By completing the ARE, I was inferring passing all the exams but yeah..... worth not forgetting and restating. Some steps may need to be done before taking the ARE exams for initial licensure in some states.
tarik khalaf
Aug 2, 21 9:13 pm
Thank you for your response, I'm actually not quite sure that a master's degree is sufficient enough for fulfilling the education requirement, I know that some states do accept a master's degree as a maximum of 1 year experince, I still have a long way to go before thinking about taking the exam but it helps to understand what to do, and another question arises, me working as an architect - not intern- is it considered IDP experience or I actually have to take a step
back
Non Sequitur
Aug 2, 21 11:52 pm
^you're not working as an architect if you do not have a license in the juridiction.
rcz1001
Aug 3, 21 4:10 am
Tarik, don't confuse the 1-year long Masters of Architecture or whatever, as those are not technically NAAB accredited degrees but the 2 or 3+ year track are NAAB accredited. The 2-year track are for those who have a pre-professional bachelors of arts or bachelors of science in Architecture degree (4-year degrees). The 3+ year Master's of Architecture are for students who have a bachelors degree in other fields. Your foreign degree may either land you in the two year or three-plus year M.Arch degree program. The 3+ year track basically is what's in the B.Arch degree minus the general education which you would be assumed to have. (I'm generalizing a bit for some brevity to the post) You could pursue a B.Arch degree and it would take around the same number of credits but may be spread over 5 years. For initial licensure in Indiana, you will need an NAAB accredited degree whether that is the 5-year B.Arch degree or the 2 or 3+ year M.Arch degree. I don't think there is any way around initial licensure (as an in-state licensure candidate) in Indiana given the way the laws/rules are setup in that state.
rcz1001
Aug 3, 21 4:12 am
Each state in the U.S. determines what the qualifications are for licensure as an Architect in each respective state. Some of them do allow alternate paths to licensure. Some don't or it's more of a roundabout process of getting licensed through another state and then getting through under reciprocity.
JLC-1
Aug 2, 21 6:05 pm
I don't know what rick said, but he's wrong; you are better off working for a licensed architect for a number of years and then apply to sit the ARE with your experience only, NCARB/EESA isn't open to receive transcripts that are not in English and they require your school to send them directly already translated, do you think your school would do that for you? Try to work for a licensed architect.
tarik khalaf
Aug 2, 21 9:18 pm
I already have done that with NCARB back in 2019, I had my school sending the documents which they have received but I left it at that due to some circumstances. (With Experience only) don't they ask for experience and education, I haven't read that they have an experience the only path, if you are licensed outside the united states and had an experience where you got your license then yes they have that category, unfortunately I have not
rcz1001
Aug 3, 21 3:37 am
JLC-1, I was only saying for the foreign degree to be recognized by NCARB, it would require EESA. That is what NCARB would require. However, Tarik could pursue a Masters of Architecture from a U.S. college/university with a NAAB accredited architecture degree such as a Masters of Architecture (M.Arch degree). This might not require the EESA process but that will be with whatever process the university has for admissions of students with a foreign degree in their master's degree program. It may require a two or three-year or so curriculum. This IS a requirement without exception for initial registration in some states. I have not explicitly looked at Indiana's requirements in relation to the OP's situation to verify their current options in that state or that of the neighboring states for initial licensure as an architect. Yes, the OP could pursue an experience-based path to licensure. However, this path almost certainly will require a long arduous path to licensure. I am not disagreeing with what you said. It should be noted that experience based path to licensure will limit the options of states he can seek reciprocity into. Even the process of getting NCARB Certified may be a challenge. You're first six words of your first sentence disqualifies the rest of your sentence.
rcz1001
Aug 3, 21 4:00 am
I took a look at Indiana's licensing requirements for initial licensing (versus via reciprocity / getting initial licensing in another state), Indiana requires candidates for initial licensure in the state of Indiana to possess a NAAB accredited degree, complete AXP, and pass the ARE. It *MIGHT* be possible for Tarik to get license under experience-only path to licensure in another state that does allow such a path and then get licensed as an out-of-state licensed architect and get reciprocity BUT that may be a very long route to getting licensed where Tarik is currently a resident in. 7+ years of post-licensure experience as a registered architect but I am not familiar with the process so I recommend Tarik getting an NAAB accredited degree if Tarik wants to pursue licensure in Indiana.
DuhaEn
Oct 1, 21 1:56 pm
Hi Tarik, I hope I'm not late in answering your questions.
I had the same case as you and graduated from Jordan too. If you check NCARB's paths to getting licensed for foreigners there's two paths (the foreign educated and foreign licensed) - I followed the Foreign LicensedArchitect path - no EESA evaluation & no NAAB accreditation needed in this path. All you need is a proof that you're licensed in your original country - which in my case was through JEA (Jordanian Engineers Association). I filled the corresponding form NCARB provided and followed the steps, it's much simpler than it looks , and I'm now preparing for my ARE exams!
If you have any questions please let me know!
Good luck!
Khaled Altarifi
Nov 1, 22 5:20 pm
Hello Tarik,
Hope everything went clear with you by now, I would appreciate it if you could help me with the experience you gained about the process, If you please could call me at 715-828-9488, or if you could provide me with contact information to contact you.
Hello,
My name is Tarik, I graduated with a bachelor of architecture from the country of Jordan, and would like to seek my license in the united states (currently living in Indiana) however I have no idea where to start, I know that every state has its own requirements for licensing, and here is my dilemma, the school I graduated from is not NAAB accredited nor have I worked in Jordan as an architect, I graduated and moved to Indiana, I Only worked as an intern in some company, I do have an NCARB account, I also sent them my original transcripts as required but where do I go from here, should I send my transcripts to be evaluated by NAAB EESA taking into consideration that not all states approve EESA evaluation and it cost $2500, assuming my school does not have the required programs to get the accreditation which means I have to go back to school to complete the Process but I do not have the time to go to school agian only online and I could not find schools that offer online coures for architecture. I am a licensed architect in the country of Jordan but the foreign architect path requires experience to be completed (as mentioned I did not work as an architect, only as an intern). I am currently working at an engineering firm as a project manager/ BIM Designer, and I do know that some states approve (working under a licensed engineer PE as an experience requirement ) but also and intern experience is required IDP, if anyone can help me figure this out I will apricate it, I have no idea where to go from here and what to do.
Thank you in advance.
Your education is a foreign degree so any recognition through NCARB is going to be via some sort of EESA evaluation. You'll need to complete AXP training hours, address deficiencies in education or you may attend grad school for a NAAB accredited Master's degree. This means you will be needing to attend for 2-3 years as a possibility depending on how the universities evaluate your foreign degree with that of the educational curriculum. You will need to take care of those requirements and then you'll need to complete the ARE. AXP training hours will need to be completed and you'll need to have the required experience which may be more in some states than what NCARB requires. Some states may accept your foreign degree but you may need to get more years of experience working for an architect than that which would be required for those with a NAAB accredited architecture degree.
and, let's not forget, pass all the exams.
I did say that but thanks for restating the point again. By completing the ARE, I was inferring passing all the exams but yeah..... worth not forgetting and restating. Some steps may need to be done before taking the ARE exams for initial licensure in some states.
Thank you for your response, I'm actually not quite sure that a master's degree is sufficient enough for fulfilling the education requirement, I know that some states do accept a master's degree as a maximum of 1 year experince, I still have a long way to go before thinking about taking the exam but it helps to understand what to do, and another question arises, me working as an architect - not intern- is it considered IDP experience or I actually have to take a step back
^you're not working as an architect if you do not have a license in the juridiction.
Tarik, don't confuse the 1-year long Masters of Architecture or whatever, as those are not technically NAAB accredited degrees but the 2 or 3+ year track are NAAB accredited. The 2-year track are for those who have a pre-professional bachelors of arts or bachelors of science in Architecture degree (4-year degrees). The 3+ year Master's of Architecture are for students who have a bachelors degree in other fields. Your foreign degree may either land you in the two year or three-plus year M.Arch degree program. The 3+ year track basically is what's in the B.Arch degree minus the general education which you would be assumed to have. (I'm generalizing a bit for some brevity to the post) You could pursue a B.Arch degree and it would take around the same number of credits but may be spread over 5 years. For initial licensure in Indiana, you will need an NAAB accredited degree whether that is the 5-year B.Arch degree or the 2 or 3+ year M.Arch degree. I don't think there is any way around initial licensure (as an in-state licensure candidate) in Indiana given the way the laws/rules are setup in that state.
Each state in the U.S. determines what the qualifications are for licensure as an Architect in each respective state. Some of them do allow alternate paths to licensure. Some don't or it's more of a roundabout process of getting licensed through another state and then getting through under reciprocity.
I don't know what rick said, but he's wrong; you are better off working for a licensed architect for a number of years and then apply to sit the ARE with your experience only, NCARB/EESA isn't open to receive transcripts that are not in English and they require your school to send them directly already translated, do you think your school would do that for you? Try to work for a licensed architect.
I already have done that with NCARB back in 2019, I had my school sending the documents which they have received but I left it at that due to some circumstances. (With Experience only) don't they ask for experience and education, I haven't read that they have an experience the only path, if you are licensed outside the united states and had an experience where you got your license then yes they have that category, unfortunately I have not
JLC-1, I was only saying for the foreign degree to be recognized by NCARB, it would require EESA. That is what NCARB would require. However, Tarik could pursue a Masters of Architecture from a U.S. college/university with a NAAB accredited architecture degree such as a Masters of Architecture (M.Arch degree). This might not require the EESA process but that will be with whatever process the university has for admissions of students with a foreign degree in their master's degree program. It may require a two or three-year or so curriculum. This IS a requirement without exception for initial registration in some states. I have not explicitly looked at Indiana's requirements in relation to the OP's situation to verify their current options in that state or that of the neighboring states for initial licensure as an architect. Yes, the OP could pursue an experience-based path to licensure. However, this path almost certainly will require a long arduous path to licensure. I am not disagreeing with what you said. It should be noted that experience based path to licensure will limit the options of states he can seek reciprocity into. Even the process of getting NCARB Certified may be a challenge. You're first six words of your first sentence disqualifies the rest of your sentence.
I took a look at Indiana's licensing requirements for initial licensing (versus via reciprocity / getting initial licensing in another state), Indiana requires candidates for initial licensure in the state of Indiana to possess a NAAB accredited degree, complete AXP, and pass the ARE. It *MIGHT* be possible for Tarik to get license under experience-only path to licensure in another state that does allow such a path and then get licensed as an out-of-state licensed architect and get reciprocity BUT that may be a very long route to getting licensed where Tarik is currently a resident in. 7+ years of post-licensure experience as a registered architect but I am not familiar with the process so I recommend Tarik getting an NAAB accredited degree if Tarik wants to pursue licensure in Indiana.
Hi Tarik, I hope I'm not late in answering your questions.
I had the same case as you and graduated from Jordan too. If you check NCARB's paths to getting licensed for foreigners there's two paths (the foreign educated and foreign licensed) - I followed the Foreign Licensed Architect path - no EESA evaluation & no NAAB accreditation needed in this path. All you need is a proof that you're licensed in your original country - which in my case was through JEA (Jordanian Engineers Association). I filled the corresponding form NCARB provided and followed the steps, it's much simpler than it looks , and I'm now preparing for my ARE exams!
If you have any questions please let me know!
Good luck!
Hello Tarik,
Hope everything went clear with you by now, I would appreciate it if you could help me with the experience you gained about the process, If you please could call me at 715-828-9488, or if you could provide me with contact information to contact you.
I really appreciate it.
Thanks!