If you completed your education internationally, here is the process to follow in order to join OACETT and complete the certification process.
Good Character Policy
To earn the right to use the OACETT protected titles C.Tech. or C.E.T., engineering technology and applied science professionals must meet specific requirements. These minimum requirements for certification with OACETT are:
- Graduation from an equivalent program to a 2-year or 3-year Ontario post-secondary engineering technology or applied science program.1
- Minimum two years of appropriate level experience (technician or technologist)
- A facility with the working language of the discipline and a facility with the standards, codes and practices of the discipline in which certification is being sought. Normally this will be proven by successfully completing the Internationally Educated Professional Practice Exam or working in Canada for one year.
- Demonstrated English language proficiency of a minimum of Level 7 for all skills (listening, reading, writing and speaking) on the Canadian Language Benchmarks, Canada's national language proficiency framework.
- Successful completion of the OACETT Internationally Educated Professional Practice Examination (IEPPE).
- Successful completion of a Technology Proposal and Report (TR). (C.E.T. only)
- Minimum 18 years old and of good character.
- Completion of the certification requirements within three or six years from date of file review, depending on whether you have been assigned further academic competencies to complete. You will be given a completion date as a result of your File Review.
Consult the OACETT
Fee Schedule for the applicable fees for the type of application you are completing and for the annual dues. If you have any questions about which fees and dues apply to you, please call our office (416-621-9621).
To support new Canadians establishing themselves professionally in Canada, OACETT created the
New Canadian Application Offer. If you apply for OACETT membership
within one year of arriving in Canada, you are eligible to have your application fee waived, saving you over $250.
Download the
Application.
Submit your application to OACETT. Be sure to include the following:
- Photocopy of your Canadian birth certificate, Canadian Permanent Resident Card (front & back) or Record of Landing - Form IMM 1000 (front & back).
- Arrange for your school to send your official post-secondary transcript (including proof of graduation status and subjects and marks) by mail directly to OACETT. If your school is unable to send the official transcripts directly to OACETT then you must take your original to a Notary Public and ask them to make you a notarized copy. Submit the notarized copy to OACETT and retain the original for your records. Many law offices can provide notary services. If your documents are not in English they will need to be translated. See the Translating Transcripts section below.
- Proof of English language proficiency.
- Copy of a detailed job description (current or previous), signed by your supervisor.
- Copy of a detailed resume.
- Names and email addresses of three professional references who can comment on your work. List them on your application form. If possible, one should be your current supervisor.
- Application fee.
- The Institute of Engineering Technology of Ontario (IETO), OACETT's certification and registration division, reviews your application. IETO notifies you by email within four to six weeks if you are eligible and if so, registers you as an Associate member while you work towards certification. At this time you will be invoiced for your annual membership dues.
If you are a Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident of Canada, to prove legal name, submit a photocopy of ONE of the following items listed below from 1 to 5. If you are adopting a spousal name, you must submit a Marriage Certificate plus one of the items from 1 to 5. Please note that we do not accept a driver's licence or health card as proof of legal name.
- Valid Canadian Passport.
- Canadian Birth Certificate.
- Canadian Citizenship Identification. Note that both sides of the wallet-sized Canadian Citizenship ID card or the citizenship certificate issued after February 1, 2012 are required. Those who obtained Canadian Citizenship prior to February 15, 1977, must submit a copy of the document issued (other than the wallet card) at the time by Citizenship Canada.
- Permanent Resident Card from the government of Canada or IMM 1000, IMM 5292 or IMM 5688 Form.
- Official Canadian Name Change Certificate
If you are not a Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident of Canada, to prove legal name, submit a photocopy of the identification page from your valid passport and ONE of the following items listed below, from the Canadian government.
- Valid Temporary Residence Visa
- Valid Study Permit
- Valid Work Permit
If you cannot provide proof of legal name documents at the time of your application, they will be required before certification is granted.
Please contact us at certify@oacett.org if you need assistance on providing any of the proof of legal name documents listed.
It is your ongoing responsibility to keep OACETT informed of any changes to your legal name or status in Canada while you are a member.
Good Character Policy
To maintain the high ethical standards of the engineering technology and applied science profession, OACETT requires that all members be of good character. To confirm good character, all applicants to OACETT must declare as part of their application that they fall within OACETT's requirements for good character. To review the requirements and the rest of the good character policy, click
here.
- Have a Notary Public make copies of your original documents and notarize the copies.
- Send the notarized copies to a certified member of the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Ontario (ATIO) or other equivalent Canadian association of certified translators for translation into English.
- Ask the translator to certify that they have produced a true and accurate translation and affix their official stamp. The translator must attach the notarized documents in the original language to the certified translation.
- Send the translated documents you received from the certified translator and the notarized copies of the original language documents to us. You must send the original translation. We will not accept a copy of the translated document even if you have the copy notarized.
As a first step you must select the discipline in which you are going to apply for certification. The following are your choices:
- Bioscience
- Building
- Chemical
- Civil
- Computer
- Electrical
- Electronics
- Environmental
- Geological
- Geomatics
- Industrial
- Instrumentation
- Mechanical
- Mining
- Resources
All applicants must demonstrate English language proficiency equivalent to a Level 7 for all skills (listening, reading, writing and speaking) on the Canadian Language Benchmarks, Canada's national language proficiency framework.
Note: The level of English proficiency required for immigration into Canada is not sufficient for certification.
Internationally-educated applicants may meet the English language proficiency requirement in one of two ways.
1. Provide official results on a recognized standardized English language proficiency test accepted at a Canadian public community college or institute, as outlined below. As proof of your English language proficiency you must submit an official or notarized copy of your test results with your application, or as soon as possible thereafter. Your test results can be no more than two years old.
Scores on any of the following recognized standardized English language proficiency tests will be accepted:
- IELTS Academic: 6.0 overall, with no less than 5.5 on each band (listening, reading, speaking, writing). Only the academic exam is acceptable, scores from the general exam will not be accepted
- TOEFL iBT: 80 overall, with no less than 20 on each of the skills (listening, reading, speaking, writing)
- CAEL: 60 overall, with no less than 50 on each band (listening, reading, speaking, writing)
- PTE: 58 overall
Scores on the following standardized English language proficiency tests will NOT be accepted: IELTS General, paper-based TOEFL, computer-based TOEFL, CELPIP, CLBA, CLBPT, MELAB, CPE, CAE, FCE and TOEIC.
2. Provide evidence of graduation from a program equivalent to a 2-year or 3-year Ontario post-secondary engineering technology or applied science program, administered and instructed in English, in one of the following countries: American Samoa, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Botswana, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Falkland Islands, Fiji, Gambia, Ghana, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guam, Guyana, Ireland, Isle of Man, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Micronesia, Monserrat, Namibia, Nauru, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Pitcairn, Saint Chad, Saint Christopher, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts-Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent & The Grenadines, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States of America, Vanuatu, US Virgin Islands, Wake and Midway Islands, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
It is recommended that you complete the proof of English language proficiency before you write the IEPPE (see below).
Your job description and resume are used to confirm your minimum of two years work experience. Submit a job description of your current role with your current employer. If you have not been with your current employer for at least two years, you may provide job descriptions from former employers as well. See the
Job Description Guidelines. Please follow the guidelines as closely as possible. If you’re not currently working, or not working in your discipline, refer to the guidelines for further information.
Experience with co-ops, internships, or other similar programs can be counted towards the two year minimum. Up to one year of experience may be credited if: you attended a nationally accredited program, or your supervisor during the placement was a certified member of OACETT or a licensed professional such as a P.Eng. If your co-op experience does not match either of those requirements, it will be counted at 50% of the time worked, up to a maximum of 6 months. You must submit a job description for co-op just like any other employer. If you supervisor was a certified member of OACETT or a licensed professional, have them include their membership number and license number (if applicable) alongside their signature on your job description.
Your application also includes a current resume. See the
Resume Guidelines. Please follow the guidelines as closely as possible.
OACETT uses professional reference questionnaires along with your job description and resume to assess your experience for the technician or technologist category.
List the name and addresses of your references in the space provided on the application form. Give the names of at least three persons (preferably your current and past supervisor, engineering technologists, technicians, professional engineers or other professionals) who have a good knowledge of your capabilities and work experience. If you are self-employed, you may use clients as references.
References cannot be provided by those who are related to you by birth or marriage.
OACETT will send a confidential reference questionnaire to each of your references. We must receive at least two completed questionnaires in order to move your application forward to the Admissions Committee. The application must be complete with all other required documentation as listed on the application.
When your application is complete IETO's Admissions Committee will evaluate your academics and work experience with an Academic Review and an Experience Review. The file review takes 16 weeks after we receive all the documentation listed above. It's important not to let your membership lapse during the process.
In the Academic Review IETO will evaluate your education in relation to a 2-year (typically technician) or 3-year (typically technologist), Ontario post-secondary engineering technology or applied science program. If required, missing academics will be assigned.
In the Experience Review IETO will evaluate your work experience in the field or discipline of engineering technology or applied science in which you are seeking registration. You must have at least two years of experience. View the
Profiles of a Technician or Technologist for further information regarding certification-level experience.
You must be able to demonstrate a facility with the working language, standards, codes and practices of your engineering technology or applied science discipline before certification is granted. This is normally achieved by working in Canada for at least one of the two years of required experience or by successfuly writing the IEPPE.
If you meet minimum education standards, then once your application is processed, IETO will register you as an Associate member. Associate membership is a temporary category you occupy while working towards certification. Once you submit all your documents and your file review is complete, you will be emailed a personalized report of the steps needed to certify. You may need to complete additional academics and/or work experience, but in most cases, only the standard certification requirements are needed. Most Associate members can attain certification within one year if applying with the required academics and experience already.
Nevertheless, you must certify within three years of your file review, or if further academics are necessary, you have six years to certify. For more information on certification timelines, click
here.
To become certified as either a technician or a technologist, associate members must write and pass the Internationally Educated Professional Practice Examination
(IEPPE). Writing the IEPPE enables you to meet the high professional standards set by OACETT in the area of ethics and responsibility to the public and your employer. You may write the IEPPE any time after you join as an Associate member. The IEPPE enables covers material on Law, Ethics and Professional Practice as well as content in Legislation and Professional Practice, Workplace Culture and Health and Safety. In addition to demonstrating your understanding of law, ethics and practice, the IEPPE demonstrates your understanding of the Canadian workplace.
Technology Report (C.E.T. only)
To become certified as a C.E.T. you will need to write a
Technology Report (TR). The TR assesses your ability to describe and examine in detail an engineering technology or applied science problem. You must submit a proposal for approval before submitting the completed TR. The report topic should be discipline appropriate, and if possible, related to your work experience. You may complete this requirement any time after you become an Associate member unless you have further technologist-level academics to complete. If so, the academics should be completed first. Occasionally the TR is waived based on higher academics or graduation from an IETO-recognized nationally accredited program. We will notify you if this is the case in the report we issue after your file review.
Members who have been assigned one or more academic/subject competencies in order to achieve certification can apply to OACETT to write technical exams instead of taking courses through various community colleges, institutions or through online learning.
To apply for a technical exam(s), log into your OACETT portal and navigate to My Membership> Certification Details> Select your application from the presented list> Select Academics from the left-hand menu. Scroll down the page to the Academic Results from File Review section. There you can complete and pay for a technical exam application.
Your assigned academics may not appear in the portal yet if your file was reviewed before February 2021. If that is the case, or you have questions, please email us at certify@oacett.org.
Technical exams are non-refundable. To see the lastest pricing, click
here.
A guide will be prepared listing the texts that you are required to study. Once you are ready to write the exam, contact OACETT and a date, time and location will be set up. To accommodate our members, you can write either at the OACETT office or with an invigilator, at any time throughout the year.
If you choose to write with an invigilator, the invigilator must be a professional such as a C.E.T., Professional Engineer, or Chartered Accountant. You will be required to supply the contact information for the invigilator so that the exam and instructions can be forwarded to them.
For information on technical exams, contact OACETT at (416) 621-9621 or at certify@oacett.org.
In keeping with Fair Registration practices, OACETT has defined certain acceptable alternatives for members. For example, when members are unable to provide original transcripts, we will accept a notarized copy when the notarization is completed by a Lawyer, Notary Public or Commissioner of Oaths. See our complete
Table of Acceptable Certification Requirement Alternatives.
If you do not have the full academics for the certification level you are seeking, the admissions committee will assign the missing academic competency(ies) for you to complete. Typically, members take either college courses or OACETT technical exams to achieve this. Another option is available if you have significant technology or applied science experience of more than 10 years and have acquired the necessary learning in a way other than through formal post-secondary courses: Prior Learning Assessment Recognition (PLAR).
PLAR is a process which identifies, assesses and recognizes what a person knows and can do and is based on the premise that significant learning takes place outside of formal academic settings such as work, seminars, volunteer work, community service or self-study. It is not an experience review and credit is only given for learning that can be demonstrated and verified.
PLAR can help you get credit for prior learning so it does not need to be relearned in a formal classroom. It is focused on what you know and you must prepare evidence that the learning has taken place.
After being identified by our admissions committee as a PLAR candidate, you would have the option of preparing and submitting a PLAR Portfolio instead of the more traditional route of taking college courses or technical exams.
A portfolio is a collection of materials prepared to document and validate a request for recognition of previously acquired learning allowing you to identify and prove your knowledge and skills relative to the missing, required academic competency(ies). PLAR cannot be used to replace mandatory courses such as road construction designation and refresher courses, or the certification requirements for the Professional Practice Exam or Technology Report.
The current fee for a portfolio submission and assessment is $406.85. You must submit the portfolio within one year from time of application. Portfolio assessments take approximately 8 weeks.
For further information and our detailed PLAR Portfolio Guidelines, please contact contact OACETT at (416) 621-9621 or at info@oacett.org.
When you have met all the certification requirements identified in your File Review Report, including the PPE and the Technology Report (if required) you will receive a letter from the Registrar informing you of your new status as a certified OACETT member. At this time, you may begin to use your new OACETT title. We will send your certificate, new membership card and publish your name in The Ontario Technologist magazine.
You will be eligible for all benefits reserved for certified members, which besides the right to use one of the protected titles and designations, C.E.T. or C.Tech., allows you to purchase a technology ring and certified member identification stamp.
Second File Review
If you are in disagreement with the level of education or experience that was determined by the Admissions Committee through the file review process, you may request a 2nd File Review. Before doing so, ensure that you are fully aware of the job description documents that were sent to OACETT, and which the experience review was based upon. If your job description or role has changed since that time, then this is not a 2nd File Review, but is a review of new experience. You can request this by submitting an updated or new job description and supporting reference through your OACETT portal account. Complete the
Request for a Second File Review stating why you are asking for your file to be re-reviewed. Attach any supplementary documentation that would support your request.
Requests are not accepted over the phone or without the completed form and cannot be discussed with anyone other than the member making the request. A response will be provided 8 weeks after the completed form is received.
If you have NEW information for the Admissions Committee to assess, do not use the Second File Review form. Contact Hala Maski, Admissions Coordinator at hmaski@oacett.org for an upgrade or reclassification review.
Certification Appeal
If you do not agree with the results of the 2nd File Review regarding your certification level you may appeal to the Registrar in writing within 30 days of the 2nd File Review decision.
The Board of the Institute of Engineering Technology of Ontario (IETO), OACETT’s certification and registration arm will appoint a Certification Appeals Committee to hear the case. The appeal will be heard within 90 days from receipt of the notice of the appeal or the date that the member indicates that all relevant documentation has been submitted. Certification requirements including the passing of the Professional Practice Exam/Internationally Educated Professional Practice Exam, mandatory road construction designations and refresher courses and experience requirements are not appealable.
The decision of the Certification Appeals Committee will be binding on both the member and the IETO Board. If the appeal is successful, the appeal fee will be refunded.
If you have questions, or would like to begin appeal proceedings, contact the Office of the Registrar at 416-621-9621 or email
adsouza@oacett.org.
Documents sent to OACETT in support of an application become the property of OACETT. Members or their appointed designate may access their own records, upon completion of the
Access to Records form and payment of the
current fee which includes up to six photocopies/scans (pages) of documents that they have provided to OACETT. All records except information from references and the names of the Admissions Committee file reviewers are available to view. Records are made available either in person by pre-arranged appointment, mail or email.
Many of the requirements for OACETT membership and certification can be completed prior to your arrival in Canada, including the requirements for the IEPPE and Technology Report. This will speed up the process for completing certification. To keep your membership with OACETT active prior to your arrival in Canada you must pay your annual membership dues.
When you arrive in Ontario, to prove your legal name, submit a photocopy of the identification page from your valid passport and one of the following items from the Canadian government: a valid Temporary Resident Visa, a valid Study Permit or a valid Work Permit. Also once you arrive, update your profile on our website, making sure that we have the correct contact information for you.
Fair Registration Practices
Registration Practices Reports have been prepared for the Office of the Fairness Commissioner in compliance with the Fair Access to Regulated Professions and Compulsory Trades Act, 2006 (FARPACTA). You can read the reports by clicking
here.
To assist our internationally educated members, OACETT has compiled information highlighting some of the many
resources available to help with employment and skills development.
If you did not graduate from a post-secondary engineering or applied science technology program you may still qualify for Associate membership. A minimum of one-year post-secondary technology academics is required for Associate status. A combination of relevant academics and significant technology experience greater than ten years may also qualify you for the Associate level. We will advise you of your acceptance after our Admissions Committee has reviewed your application. If accepted as an Associate, an academic upgrading program will be assigned. All Associate members must reach certification within 3 or 6 years depending on whether additional academics are required. The academics assigned will be similar to completing the missing college program, so you should be committed to achieving certification. Members typically fulfill the outstanding academics by taking college courses or OACETT technical exams which are self-study. Associates may also be interested in Prior Learning Assessment Recognition. If you do not yet have the required academics for certification, we recommend completing a self-assessment against the National Technology Benchmarks prior to application. This will give you a better indication of the competencies required to achieve certification in your discipline at either the technician or technologist level. If you would like to try a self-assessment, please visit the Technology Registrations Canada (TRC) website. To see the relationship between self-assessment and PLAR, please click