This article studies the recognition of newly arrived students (NAS) knowledge in Swedish career guidance. It aims to analyze how career guidance (CG) counsellors at public schools a) describe and assess the already existing knowledge and competences of NAS, and b) express opinions towards their viewpoints on learning, education and work. The article is based on a qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with five CG counsellors. The notion of “recognition” denote both thee valuation of a) knowledge and b) the general attitudes towards educational choosing. The acts of evaluation studied are informal in character, and derive from interviews with CG counsellors. The knowledge of NAS about the labor market and the educational system are considered inadequate, and that their vocational aspirations were held to be erratic, narrow and rigid. Educational preferences and strategies influenced by a collectivistic ethos are regarded as pedagogically and ethically erroneous, and are not recognized.