I, on the other hand, am sick and tired of the immigration authorities questioning my degree from the UK and refusing to confirm that it is equivalent to a US degree. Hardly third-world.
But in any case, your problem is solved very easily- by firing people. At a previous job we hired a guy with a Masters from a college in New Jersey (I forget which, sadly). He was useless. We fired him. Education can get you in the door, but it can't keep you in the room.
The problem with this is that hiring immigrants is more expensive and time-consuming because of the process you have to go through. Although it sounds backwards, if it was easier to hire immigrants it would be easier to fire them when they aren't as good as they say they are.
Also, once again this is a problem for temp visas with their complex and expensive sponsorship deals; if you just give a green card to any high-skilled worker, if he is incompetent because his education was much below American standards, the guy is fired after the first month, problem solved. (I would support some scheme where such a new GC holder is denied social security benefits in the first X years of residence or Y years of actual employment and tax paying.)
Why do you need "absolute certainty"