How to apply for an Electricians' certificate

What you need to do
- Make sure you meet the eligibility requirements.
- Get prepared to take the examination when L&I gives you approval.
See the Electrician Exam page for more exam content outlines and other information to help you prepare.
- Download and complete the application.
- Include these things with your application:
- If you do not have sufficient experience already on file with L&I, you must submit notarized Affidavits of Experience to the department with your application or within 7 days of applying online to complete your application. Mail them to the L&I Electrical Program, PO Box 44460, Olympia WA 98504-4460.
- If applying from one of the reciprocal states, include your certificate number. You may have to mail a copy of your certificate if we cannot easily verify your license online with the other state.
- If qualifying from military experience, please provide a verifiable letter of experience.
- Be prepared to pay the $72.00 fee.
(includes original certificate and application processing fee)
Note: Fees are nonrefundable after certificate
has been issued.
Refund requests before the certificate has been issued must
be made in writing to the department and are subject to a refund-processing
fee of $11.40. Mail to L&I Electrical Program, PO Box 44460, Olympia WA 98504-4460.
- Submit your application, fee, and experience one of the following 3 ways:
What L&I will do
- Verify that the following information is on file with the department:
- All necessary application information.
- Sufficient experience to meet the eligibility requirements.
- Any necessary reciprocal information.
- Within 30 days after we receive the information listed above, L&I will do one of the following:
- Send you approval to schedule and take the examination. Information on how to schedule the exam is included in the approval letter.
- Send your certificate (if you've qualified through a reciprocal agreement with another state);
— OR —
- Notify you of the action taken on your application.
Note: You must keep your electrical training certificate current until you pass the examination. If you take and pass a specialty electrician examination, you will still need to maintain your electrical training certificate if you work
outside the scope of that specialty. (For example: If you have a residential electrician certificate but you want to work
on a commercial job, you must have an electrical training certificate and work under the proper supervision for the commercial job.)
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