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Resources
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These guides explain how to check an STCW certificate against the register of the authority that issued it, and what the answer does and does not prove. They are written for three readers: the crewing manager with a crew change this month, the seafarer checking their own status, and the inspector or auditor who wants the register's answer, not the PDF.
If you have never run a registry check, read the first guide first. It sets out the one idea everything else depends on: a certificate is a copy, the authority's register is the original, and verification means comparing the two. It also carries the full trust-level table, L0 to L3, that every other page on this site links to instead of copying.
A seafarer with a certificate in hand should go straight to the guide on checking whether an STCW certificate is still valid, and then to the revalidation guide if the fifth anniversary is near. An agency that receives scanned documents from people it has not met should read the forged-and-recycled guide before it reads anything else, because the mistake it describes is the expensive one. The certificate-types guide and the by-rank checklist are reference pages: open them when a document name is unfamiliar or when a crew file is being built. The Port State Control guide is for the week before an inspection.
What the guides do not do: they do not tell you whether a particular seafarer is fit for a particular post, they do not compute revalidation eligibility, and they do not restate the STCW regulation text. Where a rule matters, the guide names the regulation and links the primary document, and the reader checks the flag state's own notice.
Reviewed by the Docka team
Every guide is written and reviewed by the people who build Docka's registry connectors, and each one carries a "Last updated" date. We re-read a guide when a register changes its form, its coverage or its portal address, and when a cited primary document is revised; the current review date across these pages is 7 September 2026. Registry names, portal links and lookup fields on these pages are generated from the same data the product runs on, so they change when the code does. If you find a statement that the linked source does not support, tell us through the contact page and we will correct it.
Guide 1
Why reading a PDF is not verification, what a primary-source check against a flag-state register does, the difference between confirming a document exists and confirming it is valid, and the full L0 to L3 trust-level table.
Who should read this: Start here if you are new to registry checks: crewing managers, compliance officers and anyone who has to explain a result to an inspector.
Guide 2
The expiry date printed on an STCW PDF is a claim, not proof. How to check a certificate's real status against the live flag-state register, what each of the eight live registers asks for, and what to do if the certificate is your own.
Who should read this: Seafarers checking their own certificate, and agencies with a contract starting soon.
Guide 3
A forged certificate passes a human eye but not the issuing register, and a recycled one is a real number on the wrong person. How both get caught with a primary-source check and a cross-seafarer duplicate-number check.
Who should read this: Crewing desks that receive scanned certificates from applicants they have not met.
Guide 4
Certificate of competency, certificate of proficiency, flag state endorsement, GMDSS certificate and the ENG 1 medical: what each document proves, who issues it, and how to verify it.
Who should read this: Anyone new to crewing paperwork, and seafarers asked for a document they have not heard of.
Guide 5
Which certificates a crewing agency should hold on file for each rank, from master to cadet, in Docka's document set, with a printable checklist.
Who should read this: Crewing managers building or auditing a crew file.
Guide 6
How PSC inspectors check crew certificates, the Paris MoU and Tokyo MoU deficiency codes, what can warrant a detention, and how to prepare the crew file before the inspector boards.
Who should read this: Masters, designated persons ashore and agencies preparing a vessel for inspection.
Guide 7
STCW regulation I/11 revalidation at intervals not exceeding five years: which certificates are revalidated, which need a refresher, what expired means to a register, and how to check yours.
Who should read this: Seafarers with a fifth anniversary coming up, and the agencies that keep their files.