Pennsylvania PE license requirements

Every PE candidate in Pennsylvania must be pre-approved by the State Registration Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors and Geologists before registering with NCEES; you apply through the Pennsylvania Licensing System (PALS). There’s no fixed deadline, but applications submitted after July 1 may not be processed in time for fall exam registration. Your experience must be supported by reference forms from the PEs who supervised it.

Sources: Pennsylvania Department of State (application information, engineer licensure guide) and Pearson VUE’s Pennsylvania engineers page, checked October 11, 2026. Confirm fees with the board.

PE exam fee

$400

Paid to NCEES

Pre-approval

Required

Through PALS

Fall exam

July 1

Apply before

Experience

4 years

Typical, per licensing guides

Key details

Item	Pennsylvania
Licensing board	State Registration Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors and Geologists (Department of State)
Before booking the PE	Board approval via PALS, then schedule through NCEES
References	Reference forms from supervising PEs; others may be licensed geologists or land surveyors
Transcripts	ABET engineering transcript sent by your university to st-engineer@pa.gov
Background	Pennsylvania record check (ePATCH)
After passing	Contact the board office; NCEES Record accepted

All states

PE requirements

Official source & community discussion

Pennsylvania DOS: engineer application information (official) → See related questions on Quora →