Limited Licensing in New Brunswick

A limited license is designed for an individual with the necessary skills, education, and experience to independently practise some engineering or geoscience tasks within a clearly-defined and narrow scope that would be defined and regulated by APEGNB.    

Limited Licenses present an opportunity to recognize those that have achieved a level of expertise and could be trusted to safely carry out specific engineering or geoscience work in a carefully limited and regulated scope.

A limited license is designed for someone with the skills and background necessary to safely practice a certain portion of the work done by a Professional Engineer or Geoscientist and maintain good standing with APEGNB. This definition is intentionally broad, but the task force expects technologists, newcomers with certain foreign credentials and experience, and professionals with other expertise to be interested in this designation. 

The importance of having a single body regulating engineering work in a jurisdiction is becoming clear, especially as limited licensure is becoming increasingly common.

Having a single regulatory and discipline body apply a common set of principles to all individuals carrying out engineering and geoscience work is the best way to uphold high standards, maintain clear distinctions between the work of professionals and limited licensees and ultimately protect the public interest.

New Brunswick has fallen behind most Canadian associations, which have already introduced a form of a limited license. The limited license is the best way to provide a safe, well-regulated option for people with advanced skills and experience in a more narrow scope than professional engineers or geoscientsts do.

Not explicitly, but a limited license is expected to improve the ability of qualified newcomers to use their skills to contribute to New Brunswick’s economy.

Anyone found by APEGNB’s board of admissions to have the appropriate education, experience and other qualifications.

APEGNB is proposing two categories through which an applicant would have the necessary experience and academic background:

Academic

Category 1:

• Bachelors of Science degree
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, geoscience or related science.

Category 2:

• Engineering or Geoscience Technology Diploma from nationally-accredited program or equivalent
• Three years of full-time engineering-related courses from a CEAB-accredited program

Experience

Category 1

• 5 Years of supervised engineering or geoscience work experience 

Category 2

• 8 Years of supervised engineering or geoscience work experience 

Applicants must:

• show proof of Canadian Citizenship or Permanent Residency status or work permit
• have worked in a Canadian environment;
• and/or demonstratable mastery of Canadian competencies (CBA)

Limited license experience can count toward a future professional designation, but there remain significant academic and experience requirements a limited licensee will require before becoming a professional.

APEGNB is working closely with the members of the Board of Admissions Committee to determine the best process and timeline to implement this addition.

APEGNB expects to receive applications in early 2024.

Limited licensees are expected to make up only a fraction of the overall APEGNB membership.

Engineers Geoscientists Manitoba reports about one per cent of its members are limited licensees, more than five years after a limited license was introduced in that province.

This concept is about allowing certain individuals with a clear expertise in a very specific area, to obtain this license and have their work regulated to the same high standards professional engineers and geoscientists must uphold.

Yes. Like licensees (non-New Brunswick residents), limited licensees must re-apply annually.

In largely the same way professional engineers and geoscientists are by APEGNB’s Board of Admissions.

Limited licensees will be held to the same professional standards and subject to the same level of review as professional registrants.

The same as other members.

APEGNB envisions a similar amount of work by staff and committees to properly regulate limited licensees as is required for regular members, and fees will reflect that.

It’s similar, and APEGNB envisions a similar outcome: well-rounded teams whose skills and experience complement each other to achieve high-quality, well-regulated work.

It should be noted this dynamic already exists across New Brunswick between engineers and technologists.

No.

There are certainly technologists in the province who will be able to qualify, but the proposed qualifications are based on minimum levels of relevant engineering or geoscience experience, relevant educational experience, and other requirements.