Registration Process
Multiple Registration and Corporate
Registration
This application package is for engineers registered/licensed elsewhere in Canada and the U.S.A. who wish to practice in Alberta. Geoscientists are not yet covered under the Inter-Association Mobility Agreement (IMA) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
APEGGA is a signatory to both the IMA and NAFTA, which are designed to facilitate the mobility of engineers within Canada and North America. Mobility can be facilitated by improving and/or reducing the documentation required and the registration process. APEGGA has made changes in both areas. Registration fees and annual dues for foreign applicants have also been reduced to the same level as Canadian applicants.
Authority for registration is vested in the Board of Examiners whose membership consists of professional engineers, geologists and geophysicists and public members. It recognizes the decisions made by other jurisdictions but
1) retains the authority to review and approve all applications in Alberta. Staff has, however, been given more authority to recommend registration to the Board for those applicants already registered elsewhere in Canada and the USA and;
2) retains the authority to investigate any application in further depth where it appears the application has been approved under a different set of conditions than those that would have been in place in APEGGA at the time of the applicant’s initial registration and;
3) where the applicant has been previously assigned one or more requirements by the Board, and, in the process of becoming registered by another Association, those requirements have not been satisfied by the other Association, the Board will normally require that they be satisfied before approving the application.
Board members serve as either academic examiners or experience examiners. The academic and experience examiners meet monthly with a public member to consider applications. The experience examiners meet every 2 months as a group to discuss complex cases. At least twice yearly this same group of academic and experience examiners, reinforced with additional professionals and public members, meets to discuss policy issues.
PROCESS
1) All applicants must submit:
- the Application for Registration, including a resume (see Registration Criteria et al.)
- registration fees (see Schedule). Do not submit annual dues. You will be invoiced for annual dues once your application is approved.
- either the Application to Write the National Professional Practice
Examination (NPPE) plus the National Professional Practice Examination Literature Order
Form,
or the Act, Regulations and By-laws Confirmation
(see Registration Criteria et al. - Knowledge of Law and Ethics)
The following applicants must also submit transcripts:
- Canadian and US applicants registered elsewhere in Canada who have unaccredited degrees. Copies are acceptable subject to a registered elsewhere association having received original transcripts directly from your academic institution.
- US applicants not registered elsewhere in Canada. Official transcripts directly from your academic institution or the NCEES Record are acceptable. When copies only are supplied or when APEGGA staff takes true copies (T-copies) of what appears to be originals supplied by the applicant, if confirmatory examinations are assessed, the freedom in the choice of examinations will generally be eliminated, e.g. an applicant from a school on the foreign degree list who would be assessed his choice of 2 from Group A plus 1 from Group B, may have his examinations specified. The academic examiner may specify the particular professional examinations from Group A and B that the candidate is to write. Usually, of the three examinations specified, two are in the candidate's area of practice and one is in an allied area.
2) Upon receipt of the documentation above, APEGGA will acknowledge receipt of it in writing.
3) APEGGA will then obtain:
Copies of these questionnaires are included in this package for information only.
4) When the documentation is complete the application is referred to the Director, Registration. He may refer the application directly to the Board with a recommendation to register, thereby avoiding an independent academic and experience review, if he is satisfied that the applicant meets the criteria for registration.
Files are couriered to both academic and experience examiners twice per month for their review.
5) The Board of Examiners reviews the recommendations of the Director, Academic Examiners and Experience Examiners and makes its decision.
6) You are advised of the Board’s decision in writing.
7) If applicable, two weeks after the NPPE deadline, you will be sent further information on the time, location and the admission slip for the examination.
Normally, this process will take from 2 weeks to 2 months from receipt of all documentation. If time is of the essence, a Temporary Letter of Authority may be requested. It is valid for three months and may be issued, prior to Board approval, if satisfactory confirmation is received from the home association AND the applicant has an accredited degree or the applicant has an unaccredited degree but is registered in another Canadian jurisdiction. Until a professional stamp is issued you may affix a copy of the Temporary Letter to your drawings as confirmation that approval is pending.
MULTIPLE REGISTRATION
APEGGA grants multiple registration in engineering, geology and geophysics. You may qualify in more than one by being academically and experientially qualified in each. A General Application for Registration is available from either the Edmonton or Calgary office.
CORPORATE REGISTRATION
A partnership, corporation, firm or association of persons wishing to practice engineering, geology or geophysics in Alberta must be issued a corporate license by APEGGA, commonly referred to as a Permit to Practice. An application package for a Permit to Practice is also available from either the Edmonton or Calgary office. In the interest of time, a Permit to Practice may be issued on the basis of a Temporary Letter of Authority which has been issued to the member who will be taking responsibility for the practice of the profession in the firm.
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