I sent my Basic trading certificate and my VPDSD certificate into the Coast Guard.I am told I’m supposed to receive some stickers in the mail to put into my MMC book. It’s been a month and it still says this. WTF takes so long?
Status Information for INTERNATIONAL ENDORSEMENT MMLD Privacy Information
Mariner Number
Application ID
Credential Status READY TO BE EVALUATED PQEB
Transaction Type RAISES OF GRADE
Status Information Your application for this credential completed initial processing on August 02, 2017 and is currently pending assignment to a Professional Qualifications Evaluator.
No offense but I guess you’ve been living under a rock.
They are short-handed at the NMC, and most transactions take a while. Earlier this year I was adding an endorsement and it took about 4 months to get the sticker in the mail.
A guy I work with submitted a renewal application back in June and it just got assigned to an evaluator last week. He regrets not taking my advice on submitting a couple months sooner, considering how now his document most likely will expire before the renewal is complete.
My application was approved in full after a 9 month wait. USCG NMC is more than short handed. Most of the staff they do have is incompetent with no work ethic. The command is incompetent. NMC is a failed program that needs to be shutdown.
What is the point of having all these USCG staffed REC around the country when it takes 2 months to get “evaluated” at the NMC. The testing could be done by a contractor testing center. The REC can’t even give advice
What REC are you using? Memphis REC has been truly fantastic for as long as I’ve been using them. Always got answers for any questions I had when I went in there and talked to them, and hopefully I won’t get anyone in trouble with this, but they’ve been more helpful with getting NMC’s cranio-rectal insertions fixed than a lot of License Consultants I’ve heard of.
I don’t know if it’s all the REC’s, but Memphis is also good about giving apps a once over before they bounce them up the line to NMC, saving a lot of “Waiting for Information” hits that the other guys don’t care enough to check for. Course, that may be because they still have their former evaluators there, just working in different roles now.
All recs are supposed to be doing that. Whether they are or not is debatable and not all recs have the same work ethic i bet. Giving someome’s app a good look through is supposed to be a key element in this refined, efficient system.
Personally I feel if you have the means to drop off your app in person that’s better than emailing. If a live person is handing them an app face to face I think they may be inclined to be more thorough.
I’ve had friends tell me that they emailed their applications and it took 3-4 weeks to be passed onto the NMC. I’ve always made the trek down to the same REC and handed the paperwork in. I’ve never seen it take more than 2 days to move the paperwork to West Virginia this way.
I can’t say the vetting is any better though. When I submitted my renewal with gap closing certificate for leadership and management training, the woman at the counter asked why I was handing her the cert. When I mentioned the new STCW requirements she stared at me blankly and then just went on with her business. I liked it better when the person I was talking to was an evaluator and knew the regulations from front to back.
If you apply for something simple, it takes two or three months. If you apply for something more complicated, it can take almost a year. It’s faster if you only apply for one endorsement per application. The NMC staff gets confused and overwhelmed if you apply for several endorsements at once.
The big question is why this current system that is no good, when the “old” system allowed one to go in, get evaluated, take test, and walk out with new document(s) in the same day!
The rumors I heard was that people would “REC shop” to find a favorable evaluator, and even some goons were “selling licenses”.
Even if such shenanigans was occurring, why would such USCG admin failure require punishing the mariners who use these licenses for livelihood? From same-day turnaround, to minimum 2 week turnaround…with 6+ weeks being more realistic.
Those shenanigans were occurring… and there were some REC’s that were reportedly easier on OSV folks than they should have been, and the opposite was true in other places. I’m searching the forum to see if the threads go back to pre-NMC days, because I’m willing to bet there’s at least one that involves REC shopping if they do.
I’m almost certain you won’t find anything. gCaptain started at the same time the RECs were being transitioned to NMC. My first experience with gCaptain’s founder involved forum shopping, and his getting a strict per the CFR response from one RECs while co-workers using a different REC were consistently getting favorable evaluations. If I remember right, the office types where he worked were not pleased he chose to use an REC other than the one they had a cozy relationship with.
Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too, but I figured I’d do a check to make sure. @johnny.dollar -basically everything Mr. Cavo said… and then some. I’m sure others can pipe up with horror stories too.
Betcha I can guess the REC that “shall not be named”
The delays at NMC are NOT caused by them doing a good consistent job. The delays are caused by incompetent staff with no maritime knowledge or experience that are too isolated in the mountains of West Virginia from maritime expertise and experience. NMC is also far too insulated from public access and accountability. NMC is a complete failure that needs to be shutdown.
Mariner licensing should be transferred to a new agency. The USCG obviously is not interested in doing it.
