Licensure
All jurisdictions require individuals to be licensed/registered before they may call themselves architects and before they are allowed to contract and provide architectural services. Once an architect has his or her license, he or she must then take steps every year or every other year to maintain licensure, usually through continued education.
When it comes to many different professions, local, State and federal agencies usually don’t agree on many things as a whole. But when it comes to the licensure procedures for architects, everyone, including parts of Canada is in sync. For architects, obtaining a license is a long-term goal. Generally, from beginning to end it takes approximately 9 years for a person who is interested in architecture, to actually becoming an architect. The licensure procedure begins with the first day of school. Curriculum that is covered on the first day is covered in the Architect Registration Exam, or A.R.E. Once a student graduates with his or her B Arch or M Arch degree, he or she must then complete at least 3 years of internship. Depending on the licensure jurisdiction, an intern may or may not begin taking the exam while still interning.
The ARE is broken into seven divisions. Each division must be completed and passed in order to pass the exam. Candidates become eligible to sit for the test after proving experience and education requirements are met. Each candidate is given 5 years to complete the test, and if one of the divisions is failed, a test taker must wait 6 months before being eligible to take it again.
Unlike with other professional licenses, there are no national requirements. Instead, each jurisdiction (all U.S. States and Territories) sets its own requirements for licensure. These rules and regulations are subject to change without notice, so it’s important to check with your local architecture board of registration to verify the requirements.
To check your jurisdictions requirement list, click here.
http://www.ncarb.org/Getting-an-Initial-License/Registration-Board-Requirements.aspx
Maintaining Your License
Not all jurisdictions require continued education to maintain licensure, however, most of these jurisdictions are expected to adopt mandatory continuing education requirements. Of the jurisdictions that do have requirements, individual rules and regulations vary, yet involve a number of continued education hours needed every year or biennially. Continued education hours can be accumulated by attending events, seminars, conferences, workshops, university classes, or through other sources such as self-study.
To see a complete list of continued education hours needed for each jurisdiction, please click here.
It’s important that an architect stays up-to-date on building codes, zoning laws, construction materials, health issues, design techniques, and more. Continued education courses can do just that for any architect.
Licensure Overview
License and architecture status are granted as soon as all educational, experience and examination requirements are met. To obtain your license you need to do three things, in order they are:
1. Earn your degree
2. Complete an internship
3. Pass the ARE
