API ICP Exam Delivery After September 2024: What a Field Team Must Plan For
API discontinued remote ProProctor delivery for API 510, 570, 653, 1169 and 1184 starting with the September 2024 exam window. Those five exams are test-centre only at Prometric today. ProProctor still runs for API 571, 577, 580, 936, 982, SIRE, SIEE and SIFE. Plan travel and seat booking for the five core credentials.
Three facts are confirmed on API's own pages. Remote proctored delivery through Prometric's ProProctor application was withdrawn for API 510, 570, 653, 1169 and 1184 effective from the September 2024 exam window, and API's current scheduling page states that those five programmes are not available for remote testing. ProProctor delivery continues for the supplemental and source-inspector programmes: API 571, 577, 580, 936, 982, SIRE, SIEE and SIFE. API's stated reasons were examination security and validity, the controlled and consistent environment a test centre provides, and a stated industry preference for face-to-face proctoring. Everything else a field team plans around — three-week windows, application deadlines roughly nine weeks ahead, first-come seating at Prometric centres, and no retest inside the same window — was already true before the change and is unaffected by it.
Source: API Individual Certification Programs, api.org — ICP examination scheduling page (statement that API 510, 570, 653, 1169 and 1184 are not available for remote testing; remote-eligible list of 571, 577, 580, 936, 982, SIRE, SIEE and SIFE; window-only scheduling, reschedule-within-window rule, first-come seating at 500-plus Prometric locations); ICP schedules and fees page (2026 exam windows, application deadlines, published initial and recertification fees); API 510, 570, 653 and 1169 certification pages (question counts, closed and open book split, sitting duration, three-year term, eligibility); 'Introducing Instant Scoring', ICP notice dated 1 April 2024 (April 2024 start, 24-hour Prometric score reports, three-business-day portal upload, 2-4 week hard copy, no retest in the same window, 5-7 year revalidation exception with approximately ten-week delay); ICP Program Document ICP-PD-102-Inspector, revision date 15 September 2025 (24 CPD hours, 6-year web quiz, 90-day grace period, 12-hour carry-over, contact-time evidence requirements). September 2024 withdrawal announcement as relayed by API training providers including Wilkinson Coutts and Atlas API Training.
| Programme | Delivery today | Exam format published by API | What a field team must plan for |
|---|---|---|---|
| API 510 — Pressure Vessel Inspector | Prometric test centre only; remote withdrawn from the September 2024 window | 170 questions, 140 scored; 110 closed book, 60 open book; 7.5 hours including tutorial and lunch | Travel plus a first-come seat inside a fixed three-week window |
| API 570 — Piping Inspector | Test centre only | 170 questions, 140 scored; 2.75 h closed book, 45 min lunch, 3.75 h open book | Same constraint; commonly taken in the window after API 510 |
| API 653 — Tank Inspector | Test centre only | 170 questions, 140 scored; 110 closed book, 60 open book; 7.5 hours | Same; the 6-year recertification quiz is separate and stays online |
| API 1169 — Pipeline Construction Inspector | Test centre only | 115 questions, 100 scored; 3 hours; no personal reference material permitted | Shorter sitting, identical travel and seating problem for a spread |
| API 1184 — Pipeline Facility Construction | Test centre only | Computer-based at a Prometric centre | Withdrawn from remote delivery alongside API 1169 |
| API 571, 577, 580, 936, 982 | ProProctor remote available, or test centre | Computer-based | Remote sittings still solve the travel problem for these credentials |
| API SIRE, SIEE, SIFE | ProProctor remote available, or test centre | Computer-based | Remote delivery still available for source inspection personnel |
What is confirmed, and what this page will not claim
Confirmed, from API's own pages: remote proctored delivery through Prometric's ProProctor application was discontinued for API 510, 570, 653, 1169 and 1184, with the September 2024 exam window as the starting point. API's current ICP examination scheduling page states that those five programmes are not available for remote testing, and lists API 571, 577, 580, 936, 982, SIRE, SIEE and SIFE as the programmes a candidate can still take remotely. That is the entire scope of the change.
What is not confirmed, and what this page does not claim: that any of the five will return to remote delivery, that the remote-eligible list is permanent, or that any national or regional exception exists to it. API revalidates each examination programme on a five-to-seven-year cycle, and programme details move with those revalidations. Check the specific programme page on api.org before you book travel, commit a compliance date, or write a certification target into a contract.
One further point is confirmed and frequently missed: the change was to delivery only. Eligibility rules, examination content, question counts, scoring and the three-year certification term were untouched by it. If your team's preparation plan was written before September 2024, the study side of that plan is still correct and only the logistics chapter needs rewriting — a much smaller job than the volume of rumour traffic around this change would suggest to anyone reading forums.
Why API made the change
API gave four reasons publicly through the training providers that relayed the announcement: the need for a reliable and stable internet connection throughout a long remote sitting, technical interruptions and distractions affecting the examination experience, risks to the integrity and security of remotely proctored examinations, and a stated preference within industry for face-to-face proctoring. Employers, regulators and customers were named among those preferring in-person assessment as a more reliable measure of competency.
The security argument carries the most weight for the core five, because those are the credentials that carry signing authority over equipment. API 510, 570 and 653 are ANSI-accredited to ISO/IEC 17024, and accreditation applies sustained pressure on examination security and on demonstrable consistency of conditions between candidates. A test centre delivers a controlled environment identical for everyone sitting it. A remote sitting in a hotel room on a pipeline spread does not, however well the software behaves.
There is a practical read for asset owners here as well. If your corporate certification policy relies on API ICP as the credential carrying disposition authority, the delivery decision strengthens the credential you are relying on rather than weakening it, and that argument belongs in the policy document itself. How it fits into a global mandate is set out in mandating API 510, 570 and 653 across a portfolio.
The window system, not the proctoring, is the real constraint
Remote delivery never removed the window. API ICP core examinations run in fixed three-week testing windows, and a candidate may only schedule inside the window approved on their application. Application deadlines land roughly nine weeks before a window opens. API's published 2026 calendar shows a 31 October 2025 deadline for the 2 to 23 January 2026 API 510 window, 5 December 2025 for the 6 to 27 February API 570 window, 9 January 2026 for the 13 March to 3 April API 653 window, and 6 February 2026 for the 10 April to 1 May API 1169 and 1184 window.
Once scheduled with Prometric, a candidate may reschedule inside the same window but cannot move to a different one. Miss the window entirely and the application has to be resubmitted for a new one. Fail, and no retest is permitted inside the same window — the candidate reschedules for the next one through the standard process. Those three rules govern your calendar far more tightly than the proctoring mode ever did, and they were all in place before September 2024.
The practical effect for a supervisor is a nine-week commitment horizon on every candidate. The decision to certify someone must be made roughly two months before the study period even matters, and the cost of a failed attempt is measured in months rather than weeks. Roster against the published window calendar first and fit training courses around it, never the reverse. Where expiry dates and window dates live in the same system, conflicts surface early — that is the job of a personnel certification tracking register.
Seats, centres and travel
API delivers computer-based examinations through Prometric at more than 500 locations worldwide, and seating is first come, first served. API states plainly that it does not guarantee a candidate a seat at a specific location or on a specific day inside a testing window. With remote delivery gone for the core five, that single sentence is now the binding constraint on a distributed field team rather than the footnote it used to be when ProProctor was an escape hatch.
The operational rule follows directly: book the seat on the day the application is approved, not the week before the window opens. Approval-to-booking latency is the one genuinely controllable variable in this process. Everything else — window dates, application deadlines, retest rules — is fixed by API. A crew supervisor who batches approvals and books late finds the nearest centre full and ends up choosing between a much longer drive and a later window.
Geography decides the cost. A candidate in Houston, Baton Rouge or Edmonton has centres within an hour. A candidate on a remote pipeline spread, an offshore rotation or an overseas assignment is looking at a travel day either side of a 7.5-hour sitting, and rotation schedules rarely align with three-week windows by accident. Cost that travel and the lost rotation slot into the certification decision before you commit, because it usually exceeds the examination fee itself.
Instant scoring moved the other end of the timeline
The delivery change takes the attention, but a second 2024 change moved results in the opposite direction and is worth as much to a planner. Starting with the April 2024 examination window, API ICP began providing instant scoring following most computer-based examinations. Candidates receive score reports by email from Prometric within 24 hours of testing, viewable online with the Prometric exam confirmation number, which collapsed what used to be a multi-week wait.
Final results upload to the ICP portal within three business days, and certifications issue for applications with no outstanding deficiencies. Hard-copy certificates post 2 to 4 weeks after final scores are released, once deficiencies are cleared. API rolled instant scoring out programme by programme: API 571, 577, 580, 936 and 1169 in April 2024, API 510 in May, API 570 in June, API 653 alongside TES, SIRE, SIEE, SIFE, AQ1 and AQ2 in July, and API 1184 and 982 in December.
One documented exception is worth planning around. API revalidates each programme on a five-to-seven-year cycle, and at the end of that process a new standard setting fixes the passing score. For that single administration instant scoring is suspended and results take approximately ten weeks after the last day of the testing window. API notifies candidates before an affected window opens. If a candidate's certificate expiry sits close to that date, the ten-week lag is the risk to manage, not the examination.
Recertification timing, which the change did not touch
API 510, 570 and 653 certifications run a three-year term. Recertification requires 24 continuing professional development hours per three-year cycle, continued inspection experience, and an online open-book web quiz every six years. Applications open 90 days before expiry and a 90-day grace period follows. Up to 12 CPD hours carry over into the next period, and no activity shorter than 50 contact minutes counts toward the total at all.
API tightened the CPD evidence requirements in the September 2025 revision of its programme document, and teams collecting evidence loosely will fail against it. Certificates, transcripts or letters from training providers must state the course title, delivery method, dates, instructor or provider, and the number of contact hours or CEUs earned. Documentation without verifiable contact time or an equivalent recognised measurement is not accepted, and a registration confirmation with proof of payment alone is not evidence of attendance.
For a team the consequence is that CPD has to be captured as it happens, with the right fields on the certificate, rather than assembled in the ninety days before expiry from whatever paperwork survives. Method training your technicians attend produces qualifying evidence when the provider documents it correctly, and that documentation discipline is built into how we run corporate NDT training programmes for inspection departments.
The recertification quiz is online, and that matters more than people expect
The six-year web quiz sits outside the ProProctor withdrawal entirely. It is an online open-book quiz taken as part of the recertification process rather than a proctored sitting at a test centre — 25 questions with a four-hour limit on the API 653 programme. A certificate holder in a quiz year does not travel, does not need an approved window, and does not need a Prometric seat. Confusing the quiz with the initial examination is the most common planning error in this area.
That gives a team two very different cost profiles depending on where each holder sits in the cycle. Years one to three of a first term, and every third-year renewal, are paperwork and CPD evidence. Every sixth year adds an online quiz that costs a morning. Only initial certification, and a lapse pushing someone past the grace period into a fresh application, requires the full travel-and-window process with everything that carries.
Build the roster around that distinction. Count how many people face an initial certification against how many are simply recertifying, and the travel line usually shrinks sharply. The candidates who genuinely need a window and a seat are new hires, existing inspectors adding a second equipment class, and anyone who let a certificate run past the grace period. Everyone else recertifies from their desk, provided the CPD evidence was collected correctly along the way.
Fees you can budget from published figures
API publishes its ICP fee schedule openly, which makes the controllable part of the budget straightforward to fix. Initial certification for API 510, 570 and 653 is $875 for API members and $1,125 for non-members. Recertification is $745 and $855 respectively. API 1169 and 1184 are $435 and $580 for initial certification, and $310 and $435 to recertify. Those figures cover examination and certification only, and they are the smallest line in most plans.
The uncontrolled part is everything the withdrawal of remote delivery added: travel to a Prometric centre, one or two nights of accommodation for candidates outside a metropolitan area, and a lost field day either side of a 7.5-hour sitting. For a crew on rotation the real cost is the rotation slot, and it routinely exceeds the fee by a wide margin. Preparation courses from third-party providers sit on top of both, priced independently by each provider.
Set the budget per candidate rather than per certificate, and include a contingency for one failed attempt, because the retest rule pushes any failure into the next window and the next travel cycle. That single line — a second window budgeted for every group of candidates — is what separates certification plans that land on schedule from the ones that quietly slip a year and surface during an audit.
A planning checklist for a field team
Six steps, in order. Pull the current window calendar and application deadlines for each programme from api.org. Work backwards nine weeks and set the application submission date in your own calendar. Confirm the delivery mode on the specific programme page, because the remote-eligible list moves with revalidations. Identify each candidate's nearest Prometric centre and the travel it requires. Book the seat on the day approval lands. Budget one contingency window for every group of candidates you put forward.
Two additions for a distributed organisation. Hold certificate expiry dates, CPD hours and window dates in one register rather than across site spreadsheets, so a certificate expiring in March and a window closing in January surface as a conflict back in October when there is still time to act. And decide in advance who signs dispositions while a candidate is between certificates, because the code decision does not wait for the examination calendar to catch up.
Where a plant has no certified internal authority to cover that gap, an outsourced route works. API 510 pressure vessel inspector services and API 653 tank inspector services cover the signature while your own people are in the certification pipeline, and an API 510 programme audit identifies the coverage gaps before an auditor does. Atlantis does not deliver API ICP training or examinations; our training work is ASNT method certification and employer programme support.
Are remote-proctored API ICP exams still available for our field personnel?
Not for the core five. API 510, 570, 653, 1169 and 1184 are test-centre only at Prometric, following the withdrawal of ProProctor from the September 2024 exam window. Remote sittings remain available for API 571, 577, 580, 936, 982, SIRE, SIEE and SIFE. Confirm on the specific programme page before booking, because API's remote-eligible list changes with programme revalidations.
What exactly changed after September 2024?
Delivery mode, and nothing else. ProProctor remote proctoring was withdrawn for API 510, 570, 653, 1169 and 1184 beginning with the September 2024 exam window. Eligibility rules, body of knowledge, question counts, scoring and the three-year certification term were untouched. A preparation plan written before the change remains valid; only the travel and scheduling section needs rewriting.
Why did API discontinue remote proctoring for those exams?
API cited the need for a reliable, stable internet connection through a long sitting, technical interruptions and distractions affecting the experience, risks to examination integrity and security, and a stated industry preference for face-to-face proctoring from employers, regulators and customers. A test centre delivers a controlled environment that is consistent between candidates, which matters for an ANSI-accredited scheme.
How far ahead do we need to apply?
Roughly nine weeks. API's published 2026 calendar sets a 31 October 2025 deadline for the 2 to 23 January API 510 window and a 9 January 2026 deadline for the 13 March to 3 April API 653 window, a consistent nine-week lead. Candidates may only test inside the approved window and cannot move to another once scheduled with Prometric.
What happens if a candidate fails?
No retest is permitted inside the same exam window. The candidate reschedules for the next window through the standard application process, which pushes the attempt out by roughly a quarter and repeats the travel. Budget a contingency window for every group of candidates rather than assuming a first-time pass, because the schedule impact of a failure is months.
Does the six-year recertification quiz require a test centre?
No. The web quiz is an online, open-book quiz taken as part of recertification, 25 questions with a four-hour limit on API 653, not a proctored sitting. Holders in a quiz year need no window, no seat and no travel. Only initial certification, a second equipment class, or a lapse past the 90-day grace period sends someone back to a Prometric centre.
Beyond the switch: what API's own data, the calendar and the recertification rules add
The sections above cover what changed in September 2024 and how to plan a test-centre sitting. This section covers what most planning guides leave out. It draws on API's own published statistics on remote testing and pass rates, the 2027 core-exam calendar, the state of the remote-eligible list in late 2026, the online recertification quiz and its one trap, the move to digital certificates, and what the change means for Canadian inspectors heading for a provincial credential. Every figure comes from an API Individual Certification Programs (ICP) publication or another regulator's public document, with the date of that document. We avoid secondhand numbers. Fees are left to API's Schedules and Fees page because they change.
How big remote testing became before API withdrew it for the core five
Remote testing was not a small side channel. That is why its withdrawal still causes questions two years later. API's ICP status reports give the history. Remote exams were piloted with the specialised computer-based programmes in November 2020 and opened to all programmes in February 2021. The status report dated 30 October 2023 says API had given more than 5,000 remote exams since 2020, including more than 1,800 in 2023 up to the end of October. API's status report dated April 2024 puts the running total above 7,000.
The same October 2023 report breaks remote volume down by programme for 2020 to October 2023. The core inspector exams led: 1,292 remote API 510 exams, 1,167 for API 570, 906 for API 1169 and 599 for API 653. API 580 was the largest of the programmes that stayed remote, with 795. So the programmes that lost remote delivery were the ones used most remotely. Teams that had come to rely on remote 510 and 570 sittings for people on rotation felt the change most.
The report as of 30 April 2025 records the decision in one line: the remote modality "was suspended for the core programs (API 510, 570, 653, 1169 and 1184) in September 2024 and is currently only offered for specialized and smaller programs." API's exam scheduling page says the same thing today. If an older guide, a recruiter or a forum post tells your candidate they can sit API 510 from home, it predates September 2024.
The statistics also show where the candidates are. Between 2015 and April 2024, the United States accounted for 54,569 API exams and Canada for 10,805, the two largest totals of any country, according to the April 2025 report. For North American employers that is reassuring. Prometric's network is densest where most API candidates already live, and API says its computer-based exams can be taken at more than 500 Prometric locations.
Did test-centre-only delivery change pass rates? API's published numbers
This is the question behind a lot of the rumour traffic: did moving the core exams back into test centres make them harder to pass? API publishes per-window results in its ICP status update reports, so you can look rather than guess. The table below is taken from the report dated 30 April 2025. September 2024 was the first test-centre-only API 510 window, October 2024 the first for API 570, and November 2024 the first for API 653.
| Programme | Last three windows with remote available | First windows test-centre only |
|---|---|---|
| API 510 | September 2023: 64.0%; January 2024: 69.2%; May 2024: 68.5% | September 2024: 65.9%; January 2025: 66.9% |
| API 570 | October 2023: 67.3%; February 2024: 66.0%; June 2024: 68.4% | October 2024: 70.2%; February 2025: 63.7% |
| API 653 | November 2023: 71.5%; March 2024: 69.0%; July 2024: 75.9% | November 2024: 64.9%; March 2025: 62.9% |
Read these with three cautions. First, API reports them per window for all candidates, so first attempts and retakes are mixed together. A window with many retakers can look quite different from one dominated by first-timers. Second, two or three windows are too few to show cause and effect. API 653's two test-centre-only windows were lower than the window before, but API 570's first test-centre-only window was the highest of the six shown. Third, candidate numbers move as well. API 510 had 1,211 candidates in September 2024 and 997 in January 2025.
What the published data does support is narrower and more useful. Pass rates for the core codes stayed broadly in the same range after the change, and in every window roughly a third of candidates did not pass. For a planner that means the delivery mode is not what decides the result. Eligibility, preparation time and choosing the right window decide it. Plan on the assumption that some candidates will need a second window. Under API's rules that is a new application for a later window, not a same-window retest.
The remote-eligible list in late 2026: TES sunset, API 982 added
API's August 2024 notice listed the programmes that kept both remote and in-person delivery: API TES, 982, 571, 577, 580, 936, SIFE, SIRE, SIEE, AQ1 and AQ2. Two later developments change how that list reads today.
- API TES (Tank Entry Supervisor) has been sunset. API sunset the TES programme in December 2025, so it no longer appears among bookable exams even though the 2024 notice still lists it.
- API 982 (refractory inspector) is new. The April 2025 status report says API 982 was introduced in August 2024. It sits on the remote-eligible list alongside API 936.
For a mechanical-integrity team the practical list is simple. API 571, 577 and 580 are the add-on credentials inspectors most often pursue after a core code, and all three can still be taken remotely. That makes the second credential much easier to fit around a rotation than the first. The ultrasonic examiner qualifications (the QUTE family) were never remote. API delivers them as performance demonstrations in five-day sessions. The April 2025 report also notes that the QUTE programmes were consolidated in 2025 into QUTE (M) and QUTE (PA).
core exam windows and application deadlines
Because a scheduled exam cannot be moved to another window, the calendar matters more than the proctoring mode. API has published its 2027 windows. The table lists the core programmes with the application deadlines shown on API's Schedules and Fees page. Confirm the deadline on api.org before you commit a candidate, because API can adjust dates.
| Programme | 2027 window | Application deadline |
|---|---|---|
| API 510 | 2 to 22 January 2027 | 29 October 2026 |
| API 570 | 29 January to 19 February 2027 | 26 November 2026 |
| API 653 | 12 March to 2 April 2027 | 7 January 2027 |
| API 1169 / 1184 | 9 to 30 April 2027 | See api.org |
| API 510 | 7 to 28 May 2027 | 4 March 2027 |
| API 570 | 4 to 25 June 2027 | 1 April 2027 |
| API 653 | 9 to 30 July 2027 | 6 May 2027 |
| API 1169 / 1184 | 6 to 27 August 2027 | See api.org |
| API 510 | 3 to 24 September 2027 | 2 July 2027 |
| API 570 | 8 to 29 October 2027 | 5 August 2027 |
| API 653 | 5 to 26 November 2027 | 2 September 2027 |
| API 1169 / 1184 | 3 to 24 December 2027 | See api.org |
Two planning points follow. The January 2027 API 510 deadline falls on 29 October 2026, so a supervisor deciding in late autumn whether to put someone forward has very little time. And in 2027 the API 570 window starts at the end of January, closer to the API 510 window than in 2026. A candidate who wants both credentials early in the year can apply for both, but should be honest about whether they can prepare for two calculation-heavy exams a month apart. For the 2026 calendar and how to book, see the API 510, 570 and 653 exam schedule.
The exam material changes as well. The API 510 publications effectivity sheet covering the September 2026, January 2027 and May 2027 exams lists newer editions of several referenced documents, including the 2025 ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code and the 5th edition of API RP 576. Candidates studying from an older code set should download the current effectivity sheet from the API 510 programme page before buying books. API sets what is examinable, and it moves with each cycle.
The recertification quiz is online, but it has a trap that leads back to a test centre
For inspectors who are already certified, the end of remote testing changes less than people fear. API 510, 570 and 653 recertification every three years is based on documented inspection activity (at least 20 percent of time over the cycle), 24 hours of continuing professional development (CPD), and an online open-book quiz every six years, according to the programme pages. No test-centre visit is involved.
There is a catch, and API's API 570 programme page states it directly: failing the web quiz twice means retaking the full exam. Since September 2024 that full exam is only available at a Prometric centre. An inspector who treats the six-year quiz casually can therefore end up back in a test-centre window, on the same calendar and deadline rules as a new candidate. The quiz is 25 questions focused on code changes, with a four-hour limit. Prepare for it by reading what changed in the current editions, not by relying on memory of the edition you first sat.
Two CPD rules are also worth checking before the recertification date. API's inspector recertification programme document (revised September 2025) accepts only CPD evidence showing verifiable instructional contact time or CEUs, and API's CPD guidance does not accept activities related to maintaining an ASNT SNT-TC-1A certification. NDT technicians who also hold an API code certificate should therefore not assume their NDT refresher or recertification hours count toward API CPD. Check API's current programme document, and plan code-related CPD separately.
Digital certificates and verifying a crew's credentials
The other administrative change since 2024 is how certificates exist. API's Program Updates page records that starting in June 2025 ICP began publishing certifications in digital form, and that it was migrating more than 75,000 certifications to the digital platform. Combined with instant scoring, the result is that a candidate who passes at a test centre gets a Prometric score report within 24 hours, the result reaches the ICP portal within three business days, and the credential is digital. There is no longer a wait for a paper certificate before prequalification paperwork can move.
For owners and contractors that also changes verification. Instead of accepting a photocopied certificate in a bid package, check the credential against API's own records. API maintains a public inspector search for this. A certificate that cannot be found there, or whose dates do not match the bid package, is a question to resolve before the inspector signs anything. For how owners set these expectations in contracts, see our API inspector guide.
Canada: in Alberta the test-centre exam is only the first step
For Canadian inspectors the API exam often leads to a provincial credential. In Alberta, ABSA's AB-526 (In-Service Pressure Equipment Inspector Certification Requirements, Edition 3 Revision 3, issued 17 January 2025) sets the route. For the pressure vessels and pressure piping certificate, a candidate must hold an API 510 certificate or show they passed the API 510 exam within the previous five years. For the piping-only certificate, API 570 plays the same role, and a National Board in-service route also exists. ABSA then runs its own exam: 100 multiple-choice questions in three hours, with a 70 percent pass mark, using official hard-copy references only. AB-526 explains that the ABSA exam does not repeat the technical content of the API or National Board bodies of knowledge. It tests Alberta legislation and ABSA requirements.
So for an Alberta candidate the end of remote API testing adds a Prometric trip to a two-exam path. The five-year validity of the API exam result for ABSA purposes gives some slack, though. A candidate can pass API 510 in one year and sit the ABSA exam later, as long as it is within the five-year window. Other provinces have their own requirements. Confirm with the regulator where the equipment is located.
Where NDT certification fits for the same field crews
Most crews that include API inspectors also include the technicians who produce the thickness readings, scans and indications those inspectors evaluate. Their credential is different. NDT personnel are qualified and certified by their employer to a written practice under ASNT SNT-TC-1A, or through ASNT's central programmes. That certification is not affected by any API delivery change, and API certification does not replace it. Under SNT-TC-1A, a Level II sets up and calibrates equipment, interprets and evaluates results against the applicable code or specification, and reports them, within one NDT method.
Atlantis NDT does not offer API 510, 570 or 653 training, exam preparation or proctoring. For those, apply to API ICP directly. What we offer is the complementary path. We provide ASNT SNT-TC-1A NDT training self-paced online or onsite (NDT Level II training, ASNT Level III, ASNT certification paths), and more than 1,000 technicians have been trained. We also perform NDE for in-service equipment, with results delivered to the owner's API-certified inspector, who remains the inspector of record (see API 510 NDE support). Ask for an ASNT NDT training plan for your crew. We reply within one business day.
Did pass rates drop after API moved 510, 570 and 653 back to test centres?
Not in a consistent way. API's report dated 30 April 2025 shows API 510 at 65.9 percent (September 2024) and 66.9 percent (January 2025), API 570 at 70.2 and 63.7 percent, and API 653 at 64.9 and 62.9 percent in their first test-centre-only windows. Those are all-candidate figures and too few windows to show cause and effect.
Is the TES exam still on the remote list?
API sunset the TES programme in December 2025, so it is no longer bookable even though API's 2024 notice listed it. API 982, introduced in August 2024, is on the remote-eligible list.
Can failing the recertification web quiz send me back to a Prometric centre?
Yes. API's API 570 programme page says failing the web quiz twice requires retaking the full exam, and the full core exams are test-centre only.
Do ASNT NDT training hours count toward API CPD?
Do not assume so. API's CPD guidance excludes activities related to maintaining ASNT SNT-TC-1A certification and, since September 2025, requires verifiable contact time or CEUs. Check API's current programme document.
When is the first API 510 window of 2027?
2 to 22 January 2027, with an application deadline of 29 October 2026, according to API's Schedules and Fees page. Confirm on api.org before applying.
Need NDE data for an API inspector while your crew works through its certifications? Request an inspection quote, or plan ASNT Level II training for your technicians.
Sources for this section: API ICP Status Update reports dated 30 October 2023 and 30 April 2025 (api.org); API ICP Program Updates (29 August 2024; June 2025 digital credential notices); API ICP Examinations and Schedules and Fees pages; API 510 and API 570 programme pages; ABSA AB-526 Edition 3 Revision 3 (absa.ca). Checked 4 October 2026.
Practise before the exam
Written papers test what you know; employers and practical examinations test what you can do with a probe in your hand. Use the free practice tests to find your gaps, then practise the technique.