Virginia Professional Engineer Renewal
Virginia Professional Engineers must complete 16 hours of qualifying continuing education during each two-year license period before renewal.
Authority: Virginia APELSCIDLA Board and Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR) | Reviewed: August 3, 2026
Virginia revised 18VAC10-20-683 effective May 1, 2026. The current rule expressly addresses self-directed assessments, activity documentation, random audits, and a 21-calendar-day audit-response period. Licensees should use the current regulation instead of older summaries.
Core Requirements
| Requirement | Virginia rule |
|---|---|
| Total hours | Complete 16 CE hours during the two-year license period immediately preceding the license expiration date. |
| Qualifying content | The activity must maintain, improve, or expand skills and knowledge relevant to the licensee's area of professional engineering practice. |
| Ethics and HSW | Ethics and public health, safety, and welfare may qualify when demonstrably relevant to the engineer's practice. The current rule does not establish a separate mandatory ethics or HSW-hour minimum. |
| Carryover | CE is valid only for the renewal for which it was earned. Additional hours are not valid for a subsequent renewal. |
| Repeated content | The same content may not be claimed more than once during the two years preceding the license expiration date. |
| Renewal attestation | Professional Engineers must attest that the 16-hour requirement has been completed when renewing or reinstating a license. |
| Course acceptance | The Board evaluates activities according to the criteria in 18VAC10-20-683. The licensee should retain documentation showing that the content, objectives, duration, assessment, and completion evidence satisfy those criteria. |
Course Standards
Activities and Credit
| Activity | Virginia credit rule |
|---|---|
| Contact instruction | Fifty contact minutes equals one CE hour. Shorter segments within one activity may be totaled when computing credit. |
| Self-directed education | The sponsor must provide a concluding assessment verifying that the licensee successfully achieved the activity's stated purpose and objective. |
| College coursework | One semester credit equals 15 CE hours. One quarter credit equals 10 CE hours. |
| Teaching or developing | Initial development, substantial updating, or initial teaching may earn twice the credit awarded to participants. The same offering cannot earn additional teaching credit later. |
| Predetermined credit | The sponsor must determine the hours required to complete the activity. A licensee cannot claim more credit than the amount predetermined by the sponsor. |
| Partial completion | Claim only credit supported by the sponsor's predetermined requirements and successful-completion documentation. |
An Online-PDH course that is relevant to the engineer's practice, states its objectives and credit in advance, includes a final assessment, tracks successful completion, and issues a detailed certificate aligns with Virginia's standards for self-directed CE. Final acceptance remains with the Board.
Records and Audit
Keep records of continuing education used for renewal for three years from the license expiration date associated with that renewal.
The Board may conduct random audits of licensees who have applied for renewal. If selected, the licensee must provide documentation for every activity used for that renewal within 21 calendar days from the date of the audit notice.
Special Circumstances
The 16 CE hours must be completed during the two years immediately before the Board receives the reinstatement application. Those hours are valid only for that reinstatement.
The Board may exempt, waive, or reduce continuing-education requirements in cases of certified illness or undue hardship. A licensee should obtain Board approval rather than assume an exemption applies.
The current CE regulation applies to any renewal or reinstatement and does not state a blanket first-renewal exemption for Professional Engineers.
Use the expiration date shown in the DPOR license record to determine the applicable two-year completion period and renewal deadline.
Official Sources