How to Verify an API Inspector Certificate (Digital Certificates and the Directory)

To verify an API inspector certificate, look the person up in API's free Inspector Status Verification search by last name or certification ID and confirm the name, program and active status match what the contractor sent you. API has issued all Individual Certification Program (ICP) certifications in digital format since June 2025, so a PDF or screenshot is a claim, not proof. The API lookup is the check that counts; record its result in the pre-qualification file.

This guide is written for owner/users, inspection managers, contractor-safety and procurement teams who need to confirm that an API 510, API 570, API 653 or other ICP certification is genuine and current before a person works on their equipment. It also covers how API's candidate portal works for inspectors managing their own recertification, and where verifying API credentials stops and verifying NDE personnel certification begins. All tool descriptions are from API's public ICP pages at the time of writing; API updates its systems, so check the linked api.org pages if anything looks different.

The two public API tools and what each one is for

API's "Find an Inspector" page offers two free tools, and they answer different questions.

For verifying a contractor's inspector, Inspector Status Verification is the right tool. It lets you search for one person and confirm whether their certifications are active. The ICP Directory is a list built for locating certified people, and API states it is not intended for commercial use. Neither tool replaces the other: a person who opted for limited listing, or whose record has a data error, may be easier to confirm with the certification ID and a direct question to API.

API notes that its database may contain inadvertent mistakes, and asks users who find a discrepancy to contact the Individual Certification Programs. A mismatch is a reason to ask, not automatically a reason to reject.

When API moved to digital certificates, and what changed

API announced in May 2025 that, starting in June 2025, it would publish certifications in an online digital format. On June 10, 2025, API reported that more than 75,000 certifications were migrating to the new digital platform, and that certificate holders would receive an email explaining how to view and share their credentials. API's policies page now states that, as of June 2025, ICP issues all certifications in a digital format.

For an inspector, the practical changes are:

• A newly certified or recertified inspector receives an email with a link to access the certificate and share it.
• The certificate is also available at any time through the ICP Portal, where a "View Certificate" option sits on the dashboard.
• Paper is optional. An inspector can order a hard copy through the portal by paying API's published shipping fee.
• Digital badges can be shared on professional profiles and in email signatures.

For a verifier, the change means paper is no longer the primary record. A contractor who sends a PDF, a phone photo of a printed certificate or a shared badge has sent you a representation of the credential. The authoritative status is the one API shows in its own verification tool, and that is what your file should evidence.

A pre-qualification verification workflow

A repeatable process takes a few minutes per person and closes most of the gaps that cause audit findings.

1. Ask for the right data, not just a document. Request the inspector's full legal name, API certification ID, each program held (for example API 510, 570, 653, 571, 577) and the expiry date the inspector believes applies. Ask for the shared digital credential link as well as any PDF.
2. Look the person up independently. Open Inspector Status Verification from api.org yourself rather than following a link supplied in an email. Search by certification ID first, then by last name to catch number transcription errors.
3. Match every field. Name, certification ID, program and status should agree with what the contractor supplied. A different program than claimed, such as API 570 presented as API 510, is a scope problem even if the person is genuinely certified.
4. Check the dates against the work. Certifications run on three-year terms. Compare the expiry with the planned work window, not just today's date; a certificate that lapses mid-turnaround needs a plan.
5. Handle grace-period cases deliberately. API notes that certified inspectors may be between certifications during a 90-day grace period while they submit and clear recertification information. Decide in your procedure how you treat that case, and ask API's ICP staff when an expiry date is unclear.
6. Record the evidence. Save a dated screenshot or printout of the API result with the verifier's name in the pre-qualification file. Many programs repeat the check at mobilisation.
7. Confirm scope and jurisdiction separately. A valid API certificate shows the person passed API's requirements. Whether that person may act as your authorized inspector also depends on your inspection program, the employer's status as an authorized inspection agency under the code, and any jurisdictional rule.

Spotting problems with a certificate a contractor sends

Most issues are mundane rather than fraudulent, but each one needs resolving before the person works.

• Name mismatch. Married names, transliterations and middle names cause most lookup failures. API's policies describe a name-change process through ID documents sent to API, so a person whose legal name changed should be able to update the record.
• Program mismatch. The document shows one program; API shows another, or shows the program as no longer active.
• Expired or lapsed status. The certificate looks current but API shows otherwise, often because recertification was not completed.
• Altered documents. Mismatched fonts, edited dates or an old certificate design presented as new. API updated its certificate design in 2020 and moved to digital issue in 2025; the design itself does not determine validity, which is why the database check matters.
• No independent record at all. If neither the certification ID nor the name returns a record, ask the contractor to resolve it with API before mobilisation.

When the result is ambiguous, API's ICP staff are the authority. API's Find an Inspector page lists a phone line for expiration-date questions, and the verification tool lists a contact for database discrepancies.

How the candidate portal works for inspectors and their employers

The ICP Portal is the inspector's own account with API. It holds applications, exam registrations and history, certifications and recertification submissions. API launched a new login system on November 15, 2024, stating that account, exam and application information was retained, and refreshed the portal's design in July 2025 while keeping functionality the same.

From an employer's point of view, the important features sit with the individual:

• Certificates. Each inspector can view and share their digital certificate and order a hard copy from the dashboard.
• Recertification. Recertification for API 510, 570 and 653 is submitted by the individual every three years, with evidence of inspection work during the period and continuing professional development (CPD) documentation, plus an online open-book quiz every six years for the programs where API requires it.
• CPD evidence. Since September 2025, API accepts CPD documents only if they show verifiable instructional contact time or CEUs, with course title, provider and dates. Certificates that state CPD hours without contact time are not accepted.
• Exam results. API introduced instant scoring for most computer-based exams from the April 2024 window, with final results posted to the portal within a few business days.

API's public pages do not describe an employer dashboard that lets a company see a whole team's accounts. Employers that need to track a team typically keep their own register of each inspector's programs, certification IDs, expiry dates and recertification status, verified against API's public tool, and remind individuals to start recertification well before the expiry date. Our guide to API ICP recertification covers that cycle in more detail.

Why verification matters under PSM, client audits and contracts

For covered processes, OSHA's Process Safety Management standard expects inspection and testing to follow recognised and generally accepted good engineering practice and expects employers to document it. API 510, 570 and 653 make the authorized inspector central to in-service inspection, so an auditor reviewing a mechanical integrity program will usually ask how the owner knows its inspectors were certified at the time they signed. A copy of a certificate answers half of that question; a dated verification record answers the other half.

Contracts make the same point from the commercial side. Many owners specify required API certifications in contractor RFPs and pre-qualification questionnaires; see our guide to requiring API certifications in contractor RFPs and the overview of certifications operators require. A verification step written into the procedure turns that requirement into something enforceable.

In Canada, provincial regulators add their own layer. In Alberta, for example, ABSA certifies in-service pressure equipment inspectors under its own requirements, and an API certificate alone is not the ABSA credential. Confirm the provincial requirement with the regulator before accepting an API certificate as sufficient for regulated work.

Verifying NDE personnel is a different check

API certifications cover inspectors. The technicians who perform ultrasonic thickness surveys, radiography, magnetic particle, penetrant or phased array examinations on the same job are usually certified under an employer's written practice to ASNT SNT-TC-1A, and API's tools will not show them. Verifying them means asking the NDE contractor for its written practice, each technician's certification records by method and level, vision examination records and the Level III responsible for the program. For ASNT-issued certifications such as ASNT NDT Level III, use ASNT's own channels.

Writing certificate verification into your procedure

Verification works best when it is a written step with an owner, not a favour someone does when they remember. A short section in the contractor-management or inspection-program procedure is usually enough, and it gives auditors a clear trail.

A practical procedure section answers six questions:

• Who verifies. Name the role, for example the inspection supervisor or the contractor-safety coordinator, and a backup. The person who requests the contractor should not be the only check.
• When. At pre-qualification, at contract award if that is later, at mobilisation, and whenever an expiry date falls inside the planned work window.
• Which credentials. List the API programs required for each role (for example API 510 for the vessel inspector of record, API 570 for piping, API 653 for tanks) and the NDE certifications required for technicians by method and level.
• Which source. API's own verification tool for ICP credentials, the employer's written practice records for NDE technicians, and the regulator's records for provincial or jurisdictional credentials.
• What evidence is kept. A dated record of the lookup, the verifier's name and the result, filed with the contractor's pre-qualification package and retained for the life of the inspection records it supports.
• What happens on a failure. The person does not work in the credentialed role until the discrepancy is resolved with the contractor and, where needed, with API. Grace-period cases follow a defined rule rather than an individual judgement on the day.

Two refinements help larger owners. First, keep a single register of every inspector's programs, certification IDs and expiry dates across all contractors, so a lapse surfaces before the shutdown rather than during it. Second, link the register to the inspection records: when an inspector signs a report, the report file should show that the signer's certification was active on that date. That link is what an auditor tests when sampling old reports, and it is far easier to build as you go than to reconstruct after a finding.

The same discipline applies in reverse to your own inspectors. Remind them to begin recertification well ahead of expiry, keep CPD evidence in the form API now accepts, and confirm their record in API's tool after recertification is processed, so your register and API's database agree.

How Atlantis supports this

Atlantis performs NDE for owners and their API inspectors: UT thickness and CML surveys, corrosion mapping, PAUT, TOFD, MT, PT, VT, ET and tank-floor MFL, carried out by ASNT-certified technicians under ASNT Level III oversight, with results delivered to the owner's API inspector of record. Our technicians' certification records are maintained under a written practice and are available for client pre-qualification. Atlantis is not an authorized inspection agency and does not provide API certification training. See inspection services, API 510 inspection support and written practice development, or request NDE support with a reply within 24 hours.

Frequently asked questions

When did API move to digital certificates for ICP inspectors?

API began publishing digital certifications in June 2025 and reported migrating more than 75,000 certifications to its digital platform. As of June 2025, ICP issues all certifications in digital format.

How do we verify a digital certificate is authentic when a contractor sends one as part of pre-qual?

Do not rely on the file or link alone. Look the person up yourself in API's Inspector Status Verification by certification ID and name, match name, program and status, check the expiry against the work window, and save the dated result.

What is inspector.api.org?

It is associated with API's Individual Certification Programs portal, where candidates manage applications, exams, certificates and recertification. For public verification, start from API's Find an Inspector page on api.org.

How does the candidate portal work for tracking recertifications, CEU credits and exam history across a team?

The portal is individual: each inspector sees their own certificates, exams, applications and recertification. API's public pages do not describe a team view, so employers usually keep their own register and verify it against API's public tool.

Can I verify an API certificate by certification number?

Yes. Inspector Status Verification accepts a certification ID or a last name.

What if the inspector is in the 90-day grace period?

API notes that inspectors may be between certifications during a 90-day grace period while recertification is processed. Decide how your procedure treats this and confirm with API's ICP staff when in doubt.

Is a hard-copy API certificate still issued?

Only on request. Inspectors can order a hard copy through the ICP Portal for a shipping fee published by API.

Does a valid API 510 certificate make someone our authorized inspector?

Not on its own. The authorized inspector role also depends on the employing organization's status as an authorized inspection agency under the code, your program and any jurisdictional requirement.

Do API's tools show offshore safety orientation credentials?

No. Safety-orientation credentials used for offshore work, such as SafeGulf or IADC RigPass, are separate programs and are verified through their own issuers, not API's ICP verification tool.

How often should we re-verify?

At pre-qualification and again at mobilisation is a common practice, plus whenever an expiry date falls inside the work window.

Need certified NDE technicians whose records stand up to pre-qualification? Ask for our technician certification package, compare credentials in the API inspector guide, or get an inspection quote.