This is only for applicants already posses a PE license from other state(s). California requires comity applicants to pass state specific exams: 1) Civil Seismic Principles, 2) Civil Engineering Surveying, and 3) Laws and Rules Exam before the Board issues a license. Below are my application experience in 2022. Hope this helps.
Step 1. Update MyNCESS record.
Step 2. Transfer record and submit application on the California Board.
Step 3. Pass the Law & Rules exam.
Step 4: Registration
Step 5. Pass both state specific exams.
Total cost = $925
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STEP 1. Update Your NCEES Record (2-3 weeks, $175)
The state boards are now verifying applicant's background through NCEES account. Log in to MyNCEES (ww.ncees.org) to complete the following sections:
- Verify Your Education History (~1 week):
- Request electronic official transcripts sent to transcripts@ncees.org (fastest way).
- Verify Your Current License(s) (1-2 weeks):
- Request your licensing board to update and verify your current license(s).
- Complete Your Work Experience (1-2 weeks):
- For each employer, describe your 1) task and duties, and 2) representative projects. Each work experience entry will be reviewed by two NCEES respondents before your direct supervisor verifies it (I only provided my last employment history, having worked there for 7+ years).
- Include relevant project/scope, date, and your role. See here for work experience examples.
- Recommended number of projects to include:
Years of Employment Number of Projects
5 2 - 3
10 4 - 6
20 8 - 12
- Provide 5 Professional References (1-2 weeks):
- All of them must be non-related and know your work.
- 3 of the 5 references must be engineers licensed in the U.S.
- You will click on "Action" and send each reference an email to verify your information and recommend you. I provided 3 references from my last company. The other 2 references from the City of Minneapolis and MnDOT.
- After above sections are complete. Transmit your NCEES records to the California state board. Note down your NCEES transmittal date.
- Make one-time payment of $175.
STEP 2. Apply on BPESLG Connect (~2.5 months to approve, ~$260)
Create an account on the California state board portal (www.connect.bpelsg.ca.gov). After the board approves your application, you will receive Authorization to Test for state specific exams. You will need to prepare the following:
- In the "Qualifications" section, make sure you have your current license # and issued state ready. Enter the NCEES transmittal date here. Answer other questions accordingly.
- Your NCEES Records will take care of most sections here. Note: you can choose to report your work experience and education here instead of going through NCEES. But, you will still have to provide references and send official transcripts to BPESLG. Why bother? --- Select "No" in "Experience;" however, select "Yes" to claim education credits in "Education" section because BPELSG cannot file the NCESS record if there's any contradictions (i.e. NCEES has your transcripts information).
- Fingerprints (~0.5 hour, $85):
- CA residents: Complete Live Scan Form and bring it to a Live Scan Location (I walked in and it took me about half an hour to get my fingerprints scanned. Cost around $85, which includes $49 processing fees plus administration fees at the Live Scan location).
- Non-CA residents: Request fingerprint card here: Fingerprint Card Request Form
- Read here for BPELSG Fingerprinting FAQ.
- Make one-time payment of $175.
- Pass the Law & Rule exam (see next step).
STEP 3. Pass the Law & Rule Exam (~1 hour)
Upon submittal and payment of a complete application, a link to the exam will appear on your BPELSG Connect dashboard. You will have to pass this exam (25 questions, open-book, 2 hours to complete) before the board issue your license. Score a minimum of 70% to pass. Study materials are here:
STEP 4. State Exam Approval (Cost $175+$65 per exam)
When the technical review is completed, you will receive an authorization email to test. You will have to make $175 payment for each exam on the BPELSG website, after which you will receive two separate notifications about your candidate ID, registration links and quarter (e.g. Q3) to sit for the exams through Prometric. This will cost you another $65 registration fee, plus tax, for each exam (around $490 in total). I'd strongly recommend to schedule both exams several weeks apart, allowing yourself to refocus. In my case, I took my CSP exam, then gave myself 3 weeks to study for the CES exam.
STEP 5a. Study for the Civil Seismic Principal (CSP) Exam (Prep time: 5-8 weeks)
I signed up for the Seismic Design Review course by Steven Hiner. The course consisted of 5 lectures and was 7 weeks long (no class on weeks #3 and #6). By the time BPESLG approved my application, I was ready to sit for the exam, only to wait for the next quarter. The seismic exam is rigorous. As Hiner suggests, it is a good idea to practice solving problems in Ibrahim's book too. In hindsight, I felt confident in passing the exam, having scored at least 85% on Hiner's practice exams and 60% on Ibrahim's (out of 55 questions). It took 5 weeks to hear back the results.
STEP 5b. Study for the Civil Engineering Surveying (CES) Exam (Prep time: 3 weeks)
I self studied the surveying exam. The reference books that I found most helpful are Dr. Shahin Mansour and Kirk Torossian's books. The latter is good for an overview of topics and quick lookup for equations during the exam. Reza Mahallati's book helped too, but I found it less organized and harder to follow. You will not need protractor, compass, and ruler for the exam. In my case, 4 weeks to receive results.
Good luck!
