Is my STCW certificate still valid?

Check it against the register of the administration that issued it, not against the date on your copy. If your flag state is one of the eight Docka checks live, enter the certificate number on the free check and read the register's answer as the status. If the register says expired or not found, contact the issuing administration; the paper will not tell you why.

How long is an STCW certificate valid for?

A certificate of competency is revalidated under STCW regulation I/11 at intervals not exceeding five years, so most administrations print a date five years from issue. Basic safety training, advanced fire fighting and survival craft proficiencies need evidence of continued competence every five years under the 2010 Manila amendments. Your flag state's register, not the printed date, says whether yours is current today.

How do I check if an STCW certificate is still valid?

Check the certificate against the issuing flag state's live official register, not against the printed PDF. The date on the document is a claim; the register holds the current status. Docka does this automatically for eight flag-state registers and takes you to the official portal for the rest.

Does the expiry date on the certificate prove it is valid?

No. The printed date can be edited, and a certificate can be suspended or withdrawn before that date without the paper showing it. Only the issuing register reflects the current status.

Is there a free STCW or CoC checker?

Yes, for the seafarer. A seafarer holds and checks their own certificates in Docka at no cost. An agency pays a licence of 300 EUR a month plus 2 EUR for each billable seafarer; the pricing page has the detail.

Which countries can Docka verify a certificate against automatically?

Eight flag-state registers are checked live and automatically: Estonia, Denmark, Cyprus, the United Kingdom, Norway, France, Ukraine's state register and Azerbaijan. Bulgaria is an automatic existence check for documents issued 2017 and later, and other countries are handled as assisted checks on the official portal.

Resources / Guide

How to check if an STCW certificate is still valid

By the Docka team · Reviewed 7 September 2026

Last updated: 7 September 2026

The short answer: do not trust the expiry date printed on the document. Check the certificate against the flag state's live register. The printed date is a claim; the register is the proof.

If it's your own certificate

Two rules set the clock. STCW regulation I/11 requires a master, officer or radio operator to revalidate the certificate of competency at intervals not exceeding five years, by showing continued professional competence to the issuing administration. And under the 2010 Manila amendments, which the IMO's page on the STCW Convention summarises, the basic safety training (A-VI/1), survival craft and rescue boat (A-VI/2) and advanced fire fighting (A-VI/3) proficiencies need evidence of continued competence every five years, usually a refresher course.

The date on your certificate tells you when the administration expected the clock to run out. It does not tell you what the administration's register says today. To know that, find your issuing administration on the registry coverage page, then enter the certificate number on the free certificate check. Docka is free for seafarers. If the fifth anniversary is close, the companion guide on STCW revalidation every five years explains what expires, what needs a refresher and how early you can apply.

A note on electronic certificates. Some administrations print a verification code or a QR code on the certificate; Estonia's Transpordiamet, for example, keys its validity check on a single "Verification code". That code is a shortcut to the same register lookup. It is not proof by itself, because a code can be printed on a forged document as easily as a date can. Scan it, and then read what the register returns.

Why the printed date is not proof

An expiry date on an STCW PDF is typed text. It can be edited, and an out-of-date document can be re-saved to say whatever someone wants it to say. A certificate is a copy. The authority's register is the original record. A date on the copy tells you what the copy says, not what the register currently holds.

A certificate can also be suspended or withdrawn before its printed expiry, and the paper will not show it. So "the date is in the future" and "the certificate is valid right now" are two different statements, and only the register answers the second one.

The reliable check, step by step

Take the certificate number and the holder's details from the document.
Check them against the issuing flag state's official register, not against the PDF.
Read the register's answer as the status, and treat the printed date as unconfirmed until the register agrees.

For eight flag states this check is live and automatic. Docka runs live automatic verification against Estonia, Denmark, Cyprus, the United Kingdom, Norway, France, Ukraine's state register and Azerbaijan.

For Bulgaria, an automatic check confirms the document exists in the official register for certificates issued 2017 and later. That is a presence check, not a validity verdict. For other countries the check is assisted: Docka takes you to the correct official portal and a person completes it.

Each register keys its lookup on different fields printed on the certificate, and you need them exactly as printed. The table of what every live register asks for, with each authority's own portal, is in how seafarer certificate verification actually works, and the tiered list of every register, live, assisted or manual, is on the registry coverage page.

A worked example: a chief officer joining in three weeks

A crewing manager has a British chief officer joining a vessel in three weeks and a scanned Certificate of Competency whose printed expiry is next year. The manager does not decide anything from the scan. She reads the document ID from it, notes the date of birth, and runs the check. Docka sends both to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency's verification service, the same one a person reaches at official portal (coccec.mcga.gov.uk), and records the answer with a timestamp.

Whatever the register returns is the status. If it confirms the certificate, the document is labelled at the government-verified level, with the timestamp of the query beside it. If it does not recognise the document ID, nothing is rounded up: the manager sees a not-found result, the level stays where it was, and the next call is to the seafarer, then to the administration. The point of the example is what the manager never does: she never reads the date off the PDF and files it as checked.

Stopping a lapse before it sails

Checking once is not the same as staying valid. STCW certificates expire on a rolling basis, and a document that was valid at hire can lapse mid-contract. Docka handles this in two ways: it sends expiry reminders ahead of the date, and it hard-blocks a seafarer the moment a required STCW certificate has lapsed, so an expired credential cannot be quietly carried forward. The reminder is the warning; the hard block is the backstop.

When the register and the paper disagree

The printed date says next year and the register says expired, or not found. That is the moment this guide exists for, and the order of operations matters. First, retype the number. A letter O read as a zero, or a digit dropped from a long certificate number, produces a clean not-found on every register, and it is the first thing to rule out. Second, check that you asked the right register: a flag state endorsement is checked with the flag that issued the endorsement, and the certificate it recognises is checked with the administration that examined the seafarer. Asking the wrong one returns nothing, and nothing looks like a fail.

Third, if the number is right and the register is right and the answer is still expired or not found, stop treating the document as current. Ask the seafarer for the administration's revalidation record or receipt, and put the question to the issuing administration in writing. Docka records the register's answer and the time it was asked; it does not decide who is right. What it will not do is let the printed date stand in for the register's answer on the board.

Keep the evidence together while the disagreement is open: the scan you were sent, a screenshot of the portal answer with its date, and the correspondence exchanged with the seafarer and the administration, in one folder per vacancy, so a superintendent or an auditor can retrace the decision without a phone call. If the outcome is a renewed certificate, run the lookup again against the new number instead of assuming the old record was updated; a fresh timestamp on a fresh number closes the question cleanly. If the outcome is silence, the berth stays unfilled. An unanswered query justifies postponing a joining date, and a printed expiry never justifies advancing one.

How confident is the answer?

Docka labels every document on a four-level ladder, from L0 Self-uploaded, not yet verified to L3 Government-verified, so a "valid" result also says how it was confirmed. The full table, with what each level means, is in how seafarer certificate verification actually works.

Two of the eight deserve a footnote when you read the result. A Cyprus answer comes from a live connection to the ministry's form, and it is that connection you are trusting, not a guaranteed green verdict. The Ukrainian state register reliably covers documents issued 2023 and later, so an older certificate that comes back not found is unresolved, not failed, and the next step is a question to the administration.

Each live register also has its own page, with the authority's name, the fields it takes and the steps to run the same lookup by hand: Estonia, Denmark, Cyprus, United Kingdom, Norway, France, Ukraine (state registry), Azerbaijan.

Frequently asked questions

Is my STCW certificate still valid?: Check it against the register of the administration that issued it, not against the date on your copy. If your flag state is one of the eight Docka checks live, enter the certificate number on the free check and read the register's answer as the status. If the register says expired or not found, contact the issuing administration; the paper will not tell you why.
How long is an STCW certificate valid for?: A certificate of competency is revalidated under STCW regulation I/11 at intervals not exceeding five years, so most administrations print a date five years from issue. Basic safety training, advanced fire fighting and survival craft proficiencies need evidence of continued competence every five years under the 2010 Manila amendments. Your flag state's register, not the printed date, says whether yours is current today.
How do I check if an STCW certificate is still valid?: Check the certificate against the issuing flag state's live official register, not against the printed PDF. The date on the document is a claim; the register holds the current status. Docka does this automatically for eight flag-state registers and takes you to the official portal for the rest.
Does the expiry date on the certificate prove it is valid?: No. The printed date can be edited, and a certificate can be suspended or withdrawn before that date without the paper showing it. Only the issuing register reflects the current status.
What happens when a seafarer's STCW certificate expires?: In Docka, expiry reminders go out ahead of the date, and the system hard-blocks a seafarer the moment a required STCW certificate has lapsed, so an expired credential cannot be carried forward unnoticed.
Is there a free STCW or CoC checker?: Yes, for the seafarer. A seafarer holds and checks their own certificates in Docka at no cost. An agency pays a licence of 300 EUR a month plus 2 EUR for each billable seafarer; the pricing page has the detail.
Which countries can Docka verify a certificate against automatically?: Eight flag-state registers are checked live and automatically: Estonia, Denmark, Cyprus, the United Kingdom, Norway, France, Ukraine's state register and Azerbaijan. Bulgaria is an automatic existence check for documents issued 2017 and later, and other countries are handled as assisted checks on the official portal.

Check a certificate now, free

Enter the certificate number and Docka checks it against the issuing flag state's register.