Individual Applicants

Professional Land Surveyor

For information about the NCEES exams please visit the NCEES web site. Upon passing the Fundamentals of Surveying (FS) and Principles and Practice of Surveying (PS) exams, and meeting the education and experience requirements, the applicant will then apply to the North Carolina Board to be seated for the North Carolina State Specific Exam. After passing this exam your license will be issued.

To be eligible for the PLS license in North Carolina, the applicant must:

The state exam is administered four times a year:

Exam Period & Deadline for Completed Application

  • January 22, 2024 / December 1st
  • April 22, 2024 / March 14th
  • July 22, 2024 / May 1st
  • October 21, 2024 / August 1st
  • February 24, 2025 / December 1st
  • May 26, 2025 / April 1st
  • August 25, 2025 / July 1st
  • November 17, 2025 / October 1st

If completing a paper application mail it to the Board office (Do not staple or fold application):

NC Board of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors 4601 Six Forks Road, Suite 310, Raleigh, NC 27609. For questions regarding application status please e-mail sbryant@ncbels.org.

Educational institutions can send transcripts via e-mail to transcripts@ncbels.org.

Military Applicants

All military applicants are required to comply with the licensing requirements of G. S. 89C-13 and Board Rule 21 NCAC 56.0601.

The Department of Veteran Affairs has approved NCEES (The National Council of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors) per Section 21.4268 of Title 38 of the US Code of Federal Regulations, which allows the reimbursement of exam fees for surveyors (and engineers) who are military veterans.  A veteran who takes any of the surveying (or engineering) exams offered by NCEES no matter where they took the exam or their state of residence should complete VA Form 22-0810 Application for Reimbursement of National Exam Fee and submit to the appropriate VA Regional Processing Office listed on page 2 of Form 22-0810.  Help contact information for VA is also included in the instructions of the form.

Effective April 27, 2021, Professional Land Surveyors who are actively serving in the military, and their spouses, will be eligible to transmit their NCEES Record to a member board at no charge when military orders require them to move to a new state. These transmittals will include a military designation in the existing remarks section on the first page to alert member boards as to their military status.

This new option for military families will help them complete the comity application process faster.

Military-related applicants can start the process by emailing military@ncees.org. Information is also available on the NCEES website at ncees.org/records.