Renewal Requirements

Professional Mariner Forum
1

My license expired last June and this March I sent in my application to renew. I sent my application to Charlotte and after 2 days of not hearing anything I emailed them to confirm that they had received it which they stated that they had.
30 days later I contacted the NMC about the status and they said that Charlotte claimed they never received it. I emailed them the conformation letter and to their credit they had me send my application directly to them and said they would put it in the que where it would had been. I am thinking this is great.

Then they send my application to the REC Juneau AK. WTF. I next get a letter from Juneau saying because I put SR on my application that I had to send proof that I went to court to have my name changed.

So I sent them this.

The Jr. and Sr . does not go on identification such as driver’s license, etc. It is used as a clarifying tool, to indicate to the recipients of signed documents that there are two of you, and that background information should be cross-checked against a secondary identified such as SSN.

Because I thought this still might be too much for them to comprehend I resent my package with the SR removed. After a week of waiting for the letter that the application Status link said was coming, it never did, my application was forwarded to the NMC for evaluation.
Now the NMC says I have to take my Master 200T and ROR open book test.
I am within the year so why do I have to test.

For my International they want, Advanced Firefighting Certificate, Basic Training Certificate, Lifeboatman/PSC, and Radar Certificate. I understand my Sea Service letter doesn’t have the Radar statement but why the other certificates.

2

Those are the requirements for renewal if you don’t have one year of sea service in the past 5 years. It has nothing to do with your application being within one year of expiration, see 46 CFR 10.227(e(1)(ii). If it had been more than one year, you would need to take the entire exam, closed-book, at an REC, see 46 CFR 10.227(i).

Those are all renewal requirements for STCW (“international”). They became effective January 1, 2017.

See:
46 CFR 11.303(b) [Advanced Firefighting]
46 CFR 11.302(b) and 46 CFR 12.602(b) [Basic Training]
46 CFR 12.613(b) [Proficiency in Survival Craft]

3

Knew Cavo would have the correct answer to your question.

4

Thank you , I have a year of Sea time

5

I know, he is the CFR God. However I do have over a year of Sea time which they must have recognized as the tests are open book

6

If you have one year in the past 5 years, you shouldn’t need the open book test. Contact NMC and ask why they said you needed the test. If that doesn’t get results, ask for the to RECONSIDER (use that word) their decision. This starts the appeal process.

Also, if you gave the one year in five, you might be able to take shorter REVALIDATION courses to renew the STCW. You would be able to take Basic Training Revalidation and Advanced Firefighting Revalidation, and wouldn’t need anything else for Proficiency in Survival Craft. If you do NOT have the one year in five, you would need longer REFRESHER courses for Advanced FF, BT, and PSC. I would try to ask NMC if they agree you can take the revalidation courses. You don’t want to spend time and money on revalidation courses if NMC won’t accept them.

7

Thank you so much for that

8

They just sent me this response, however my sea service letter states that I was in accordance with the CFR 46 10.209 C6 (i)(ii) as well as the Safe Operations Manual
of Hornbeck Offshore Services. participating in safety drills weeklY. I thought this covered this. Thanks again

I see that you Chatted with a customer service agent today who advised that the letters were mailed to you 15-JUN-2020. The letter regarding sea service and courses states the following:

To qualify for renewal of your STCW, you must submit either: *An
approved Basic Training (BT) refresher course dated within the last five (5)
years; or, *Approved BT courses dated within the last five (5) years; which
include, Personal Survival Techniques, Fire Prevention and Fire Fighting,
Elementary First Aid, and Personal Safety and Social Responsibility. Please
provide a BT refresher course or BT courses as listed above. If you do not wish
to renew your STCW at this time, please send a statement to amend your
application. Reference(s): 46 CFR 11.302; 46 CFR 12.602; NVIC 8-14

To qualify for renewal of STCW VI/3 Advanced Fire-fighting, you
must submit either: * an approved Advanced fire-fighting refresher course dated
within the last five (5) years; or, * the original Advanced fire-fighting course
dated within the last five (5) years. If you do not wish to renew your STCW at
this time, please send a statement to amend your application. Reference(s): 46
CFR 11.303; NVIC 09-14

To qualify for renewal of your Proficiency in Survival Craft (PSC)
rating, you must provide either: *An approved PSC course dated within the last
five (5) years; or, *An approved PSC refresher course dated within the last five
(5) years. If you do not wish to renew your STCW endorsement as PSC at this
time, please send a statement to amend your application. Reference(s): 46 CFR
12.613; NVIC 4-14

To qualify for renewal of Radar Observer, you must submit the
following: *Approved original, refresher, or recertification radar certificate
dated within the last five (5) years; or, *Proof of employment as a qualified
instructor who has taught an approved or accepted radar course at least twice
within the last five (5) years; or, *360 days of service in a position that
routinely uses radar for navigation and collision avoidance within the last five
(5) years. Please provide 360 additional days or approved radar course as listed
above. If you do not want Radar Observer endorsed on your credential, please
submit a statement to change your application. Reference(s): 46 CFR 11.480(d);
Policy Letter 03-19

Please email any response with attachments to iasknmc@uscg.mil

9

That letter says the same thing I told you week ago.

If they have recanted their assertion that you need the open-book, at-home renewal exam, it means that you have the one year of service in the past five years, and should be able to take the shorter REVALIDATION courses I described previously. But again, try to confirm that with the NMC before committing time and money to those courses.

10

Yes, you pretty much laid it out.