HEC Equivalence Certificate for a Pakistani Degree: Apply Online, Rs 2,000 Fee, Verify the Letter

You apply for HEC equivalence of a Pakistani university degree only online, on eservices.hec.gov.pk, after the degree is attested by HEC, and the fee for a Bachelor's or old Master's (up to 16 years of education) is Rs 2,000, paid through 1-Link with a consumer ID the portal generates. The equivalence letter is issued on the portal and anyone can verify it on HEC's local equivalence verification page.

HEC stopped taking paper applications for Pakistani degrees on 11 November 2021. People still lose weeks by applying before attestation, or by paying and not confirming the payment on the dashboard. We read HEC's local equivalence pages and its fee notification on 24 October 2026. Here is the full process, the step most people miss, and how an employer checks your letter.

HEC issues equivalence for Pakistani degrees only through eservices.hec.gov.pk

HEC's equivalence page says that from 11 November 2021 it accepts equivalence applications for degrees from Pakistani universities and degree awarding institutions only on its online portal. No manual application is accepted. The same account is used for degree attestation.

An equivalence letter is different from attestation. Attestation confirms your degree is genuine. Equivalence states what the degree counts as, for example how many years of education it represents, when an employer, a public service commission or a university's rules do not list your degree by name. If you only need proof that the degree is real, the HEC degree attestation process is what you need, not this one.

Get every degree attested by HEC before you apply

HEC's local equivalence page says applicants must first have their educational documents attested by HEC, from the Bachelor's degree up to the terminal qualification. Only then should they submit the equivalence application. This order is the first thing to get right.

Transcripts are a partial exception. HEC says transcript attestation is mandatory only if the degree itself is not attested. In that case the applicant gets a provisional equivalence letter rather than a final one. So attest the degree, not just the marks sheet, if you want a final letter.

Use only hec.gov.pk and eservices.hec.gov.pk. Lookalike sites charge "processing fees" for attestation and equivalence, and the warning signs are explained in how to spot a fake HEC attestation portal.

The fee is Rs 2,000 per degree, paid through 1-Link

HEC's notification of 11 July 2019 set the equivalence fee for local Bachelor's and old Master's degrees, up to 16 years of education, at Rs 2,000 per degree from 1 August 2019. The portal generates a 1-Link consumer ID, which you pay through any banking channel that accepts 1-Link payments.

The 2019 notification covers only degrees up to 16 years. It does not list a fee for MS, MPhil or PhD equivalence, so the amount for those is whatever the portal shows when it generates your consumer ID. We found no later fee notice on the HEC pages we read.

Apply in seven steps, and confirm the payment on "Task Assigned to Me"

The process is all on the portal. After paying, you must verify the transaction through the "Task Assigned to Me" option on the dashboard. HEC says the application is officially submitted for scrutiny only once this step is done.

1. Log in to eservices.hec.gov.pk with the account you used for attestation.
2. Check that every degree from your Bachelor's upward shows as attested.
3. Start an equivalence application and fill each step of the form.
4. Upload your documents, including the back side of each degree where HEC's attestation stamp sits. Use "Add Another File" for supporting papers.
5. Note the 1-Link consumer ID the system generates and pay the fee.
6. Go to "Task Assigned to Me" on the main dashboard and verify the transaction.
7. Wait for scrutiny. When approved, download the letter from the "approved" button on your dashboard.

Step 6 is the one people skip. Paying the consumer ID is not enough. Until you verify it on the dashboard, the file does not reach the equivalence team.

A revision request comes back to the same "Task Assigned to Me" tab

If documents are missing or the equivalence team needs clarification, HEC sends a revision request to the applicant. You fix it and resubmit through "Task Assigned to Me" on the dashboard. The page does not set a deadline for responding, so answer quickly.

Check the portal every few days after you apply rather than waiting for an email. A file sitting on a revision request does not move. For general questions, HEC points applicants to its online help desk at onlinehelp.hec.gov.pk, and its UAN is (051) 111-119-432.

If a revision cycle goes on with no clear reason, keep screenshots of each request and reply, then raise it through the HEC student grievance portal.

Employers verify the equivalence letter online, not by stamp

HEC's letter is system-generated. HEC says it can be verified on its website at the local equivalence verification page on eservices.hec.gov.pk. So an employer or public service commission can confirm the letter without calling HEC.

That also means you should keep the downloaded PDF exactly as issued. Do not edit, crop or re-type it. If you need it for a pay allowance, for example the MPhil allowance for federal employees with an equivalent degree, attach the letter and the verification link together.

Common questions

How much is the HEC equivalence fee for a Pakistani degree?

Rs 2,000 per degree for a Bachelor's or old Master's of up to 16 years, under HEC's notification effective 1 August 2019.

Can I apply for HEC equivalence without attestation?

No. HEC says documents from the Bachelor's up to the final qualification must be attested first. A degree without attestation gets only a provisional letter.

How do I check an HEC equivalence certificate?

On eservices.hec.gov.pk, using the local equivalence verification page HEC links from its equivalence procedure.

I paid the fee but my application shows not submitted. Why?

You probably have not verified the payment under "Task Assigned to Me" on the dashboard. HEC submits the file for scrutiny only after that step.

Can I send a paper application for equivalence to HEC?

Not for a Pakistani university degree. HEC stopped accepting manual applications on 11 November 2021.

Is the process different for foreign degrees and madrassa sanads?

Yes. Foreign degrees have their own HEC procedure, explained in HEC equivalence of a foreign degree, and sanads follow the Deeni Asnad equivalence process.

How we verified this

What we checked, where we read it, and what we could not confirm.

We read HEC's Equivalence of Pakistani Degrees page, its equivalence introduction and procedure pages, and its fee notification of 11 July 2019 on 24 October 2026. The HEC site refused our direct requests, so we read the pages through a rendering service and downloaded the PDF directly. HEC does not publish a processing time, and the fee for MS, MPhil and PhD equivalence was not on any page we read.