2019 US Virgin Islands Code
Title 27 - Professions and Occupations
Chapter 8 - Architects, Engineers, and Land Surveyors
§ 283. General requirements for licensing
- No person may be licensed as an engineer, architect, or land surveyor unless such person submits satisfactory proof to the Board that he (1) is at least at the age of twenty-one years; (2) is a citizen of the United States and has been a resident of the Virgin Islands for at least one year previous to the date of application; (3) is of good moral character; and (4) further qualifies under one of the following provisions:
(a) Architect, engineer, or land surveyor: Licensure by Reciprocity. A person holding a valid license or certificate of registration as an architect, engineer, or land surveyor on the basis of comparable requirements, issued to him by a state or territory or the District of Columbia of the United States, or by a foreign country with a national registration board of scope and standing corresponding to the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards and the National Council of State Boards of Engineering Examiners, and who otherwise meets the requirements of this chapter, based on satisfactory proof, may, upon application be registered respectively as an architect, engineer, or land surveyor in the Virgin Islands without further examination. In carrying into effect this subdivision the Board in its discretion may enter into agreements for reciprocity with the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards or the National Council of State Boards of Engineering Examiners and with states under such rules and regulations as the Board may prescribe.
(b) Same: Graduation, experience, and examination. A graduate from an accredited architectural, engineering, or land surveying curriculum of four years or more, approved by the Board as being of satisfactory standing, and with a record of an additional two years or more of specific and active experience in architecture, engineering, or land surveying, shall be admitted to an examination equivalent to that required by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards and the National Council of State Boards of Engineering Examiners in respectively architecture, engineering, or land surveying; Provided, however, That any person who prior to undertaking the curriculum required by this subparagraph, was a bona fide resident of the Virgin Islands and who has the required two years of experience, shall be granted a license for practice as an architect, engineer, or land surveyor, as the case may be, without examination.
(c) Same: Experience and examination. An applicant who has a high school diploma and eight years or more of specific and active experience in architecture, engineering, or land surveying shall be admitted to an examination equivalent to that required by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards and the National Council of State Boards of Engineering Examiners in respectively architecture, engineering, or land surveying.
(d) Same: Long established practice. An applicant with a record of at least twelve years of specific and active practice in architecture, engineering, or land surveying shall be admitted to an eight-hour examination in respectively architecture, engineering, or land surveying.
(e) Engineer-in-training and architect-in-training: Experience and examination. An applicant producing satisfactory evidence to show four or more years of experience in engineering or architectural work shall be admitted to examination for the purpose of testing the applicant's knowledge of fundamental engineering or architectural subjects. The examinations of applicants as engineers-in-training or architects-in-training shall be designed to permit an applicant for licensure as a professional engineer or architect to take his examination in two stages. Satisfactory passing of this portion of the examination shall entitle the applicant to a certificate as an engineer-in-training or as an architect-in-training.
(f) Same: Education. Any person who is a graduate from an accredited engineering or architectural curriculum of four years or more, approved by the Board as being of satisfactory standing, shall be granted a certificate as an engineer-in-training or architect-in-training without examination.
(g) Resident architects, engineers, and land surveyors. Any person
(1) who submits satisfactory proof under oath to the Board that—
(A) he was validly licensed as an architect, engineer, or land surveyor in the Virgin Islands prior to January 1, 1968, or
(B) he was employed by the United States Government or the Government of the Virgin Islands as an architect, engineer, or land surveyor in the Virgin Islands, and
(2) who meets the first three qualifications for licensure under this section, and
(3) who applies in writing to the Board for a license under this subdivision, shall be issued a license as an architect, engineer, or land surveyor, as the case may be, without examination.
