CBA

What Happens After You Submit Your CBA? Timelines, Outcomes and Appeals by Regulator

Published September 27, 2026

After you submit your CBA, your validators respond, staff check the file, assessors rate each competency, and a committee, board or registrar decides. As of September 2026, PEO and APEGS publish 90-day timelines, EGBC about six months and APEGA up to six months, and most regulators give you 30 days to ask for a review if the answer is no.

This guide sets out the timeline, the possible outcomes and the review or appeal route at each regulator that uses the CBA, and what to do while you wait. Quebec's OIQ runs a different, supervisor-based program; see how OIQ assesses engineering experience.

At a glance (as of September 2026)

PEO: completeness check within 10 business days, a decision within 90 days, and 30 days after a Notice of Proposal is served to require a hearing.
APEGA: up to 6 months; the Board of Examiners meets monthly except July; reassessment or reconsideration within 90 days ($225 + GST each).
APEGS: a result within 90 days of a complete submission, and one reassessment by a different assessor, ever.
EGBC: about 6 months, then a Reconsideration ($300) or a Review on the Record ($500) within 30 days of a decision.
Everywhere, the assessors' ratings decide, and validator ratings and comments stay confidential.

What happens to your file, step by step

Validation. Each validator rates the examples assigned to them from 0 to 5 and gives overall feedback. Your file isn't complete until they have all responded.
Screening. Staff check that the file is complete and your validators are acceptable. APEGS also runs a quality check and reopens a submission with excessively poor spelling or grammar or too little information.
Assessment. Assessors rate every competency. EGBC, EGM and APEGNB use at least two per file, ideally in your field. APEGS uses a staff assessor and adds at least one volunteer when not everything was validated by a Canadian licensed professional or equivalent.
Decision. A committee, board or registrar decides, sometimes after an interview.
Result. Approval, a request to revise, an assignment such as more experience or seminar units, or a refusal with a route to review or appeal.

Timelines, outcomes and appeals by regulator

Regulator	Published timeline	Possible outcomes	Review or appeal
PEO (Ontario)	Completeness within 10 business days (60 days to fix it once); decision within 90 days	Licence, or a Registrar's Notice of Proposal to refuse, with written reasons	Require a Registration Committee hearing in writing within 30 days after the notice is served; Committee decisions can be appealed to the Divisional Court
APEGA (Alberta)	Introductory letter within 30 days of a complete application; review takes up to 6 months	Approve, defer (more experience or exams, with a deadline) or refuse	Reassessment or reconsideration within 90 days ($225 + GST each); appeal of a refusal
APEGS (Saskatchewan)	Result within 90 days of a complete submission	Acceptable; or, per competency, more information required, not professional level, or not equivalent to Canadian	One reassessment by a different assessor, ever (final); appeal of a refusal to a judge within 30 days
EGBC (British Columbia)	About 6 months from a complete application; interviews take 2–6 months to arrange	Approval, revisions, Working in Canada Seminar units, more experience, interview, exams, English test or rejection	Reconsideration ($300) or Review on the Record ($500) within 30 days
Engineers Geoscientists Manitoba (EGM)	Feedback within 30 days of assignment to an assessor	Requirements met; more information needed; seminar units and/or more experience	Written reconsideration request within 30 days; appeal of a refusal within 30 days
Engineers Nova Scotia	CBA feedback typically within 30 days of assignment; P.Eng. decision within 3 weeks of a complete application	Recommendation to approve, competencies reassigned, more experience or seminar units	Board Assessment Interview by invitation ($350); internal review within 30 days of a decision letter (described for internationally educated applicants)
APEGNB (New Brunswick)	No service standard published	Approval, more information or decline; weak competencies are reopened	Free reassessment of an open file; appeal within 30 days of the decision letter
Engineers PEI	Not published; every applicant is interviewed	Competencies that don't pass go to additional assessors automatically; resubmit, use another example or gain experience	Not published
PEGNL (Newfoundland and Labrador)	8–10 weeks after a complete application, including a validated CBA	Approve, defer (exams, experience or information) or not approve	Board review of a non-approval within 30 days; a deferral can't be appealed
NAPEG and Engineers Yukon	APEGA's Board of Examiners reviews first; NAPEG says at least 6 months; Yukon publishes no timeline	APEGA's appraisal, then the northern regulator decides	NAPEG: appeal to NAPEG Council; Yukon: not published

What the outcome words mean

More information needed. An assessor couldn't rate a competency from what you wrote. It is reopened for you to revise, and at APEGA and APEGS the revised example is validated again.
Competency reassigned for revision. EGBC's and Engineers Nova Scotia's term for the same idea. At EGBC, EGM and Engineers Nova Scotia, a Canadian environment competency below its own minimum must be revised whatever the category average.
Not professional level (APEGS). The work wasn't at the required scope and complexity. You need new experience, and you can't resubmit the same example.
Not equivalent to Canadian (APEGS). A Canadian environment competency failed, and again the same example can't be reused.
Working in Canada Seminar units. An online seminar that EGBC, EGM, Engineers Nova Scotia, APEGNB and PEGNL can assign when a Canadian environment competency scores low but you are otherwise ready. EGBC charges $50 a unit.
Deferral or additional experience. You aren't refused, but you must gain more experience or pass exams and report back by a deadline.
Notice of Proposal (PEO). PEO's formal proposal to refuse, which you can contest at a hearing. See what to do if PEO proposes to refuse your licence.

Reviews and appeals: the details that matter

PEO. The Registrar must give written reasons with a Notice of Proposal (Professional Engineers Act, s. 19(1)). You are entitled to a hearing if you require one by written notice within 30 days after the notice is served (s. 19(3)). The Registration Committee then schedules it within 30 days (s. 19(5)), and its decision can be appealed to the Divisional Court (s. 31(1)). Reapplying means paying the full fee again.

APEGA. A reassessment is for information or documents that should have been in your original application. A reconsideration is for an error by the Board of Examiners or an unfair process; disagreeing with the decision isn't enough. Both must be requested within 90 days of the decision letter. After a refusal you can also appeal, and the appeal is heard in a court-like setting. Validator forms are released to you only if you are refused and request that appeal (a Section 32 appeal).

APEGS. The usual route is to revise and resubmit the failed competencies. If you think a rating is unfair, you can ask for specific competencies to be reassessed by a different assessor, but only once, however many times you submit, and the result is final. A refusal of membership or licence can be appealed to a judge within 30 days under The Engineering and Geoscience Professions Act.

EGBC. Within 30 days of a Credentials Committee decision, you can ask for a Reconsideration by the committee ($300; new evidence can follow within 60 days) or a Review on the Record by the Registrar ($500; final). If a reconsideration doesn't give you what you asked for, it goes to the Registration Fairness Panel, which advises.

EGM, APEGNB and PEGNL. EGM takes written reconsideration requests within 30 days, and a refusal can be appealed to its Appeal Committee within 30 days. APEGNB appeals go within 30 days, from the Internship Committee to the Board of Admissions and from the Board to Council. At PEGNL only a non-approval can go to the Board for review, within 30 days.

How assessors score your file

Every competency is rated from 0 to 5. Level 3 means ready to take on professional responsibility, and you aren't expected to reach 4 or 5. Under the 34-competency framework, each category must meet its minimum average (3, 3, 2, 3, 3, 2 and 3 for categories 1 to 7), each Canadian environment competency must meet its own minimum (3 for 1.1, 1.6, 1.9, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 and 5.1, and 2 for 6.2), and no competency should be 0. PEO uses the same category averages, with its own minimums on six "professional standards competencies" (1.1, 1.6, 1.9, 2.3 and 5.1 at 3; 6.2 at 2).

APEGA's framework has 22 competencies in six categories, with averages of 3, 3, 2, 3, 3 and 2 and the same eight Canadian environment competencies since July 18, 2026. Validator ratings are inputs; the assessors' ratings decide. More in how the CBA scoring scale works.

What to do while you wait

Answer requests quickly. APEGA withdraws applications whose validator and reference forms miss its 90-day deadline, EGBC deactivates an application after a year of inactivity, and APEGNB closes a file if supporting documents aren't received within a year.
Keep your email address current. EGBC's interview policy, for example, treats a decision as received on the date it is emailed.
Get ready to talk about your examples. Engineers PEI interviews every applicant, and EGBC and Engineers Nova Scotia interview by invitation.
Diary the review deadline the day a decision arrives. It is 30 days at most regulators and 90 days for APEGA's reassessment or reconsideration.
Read the reasons before you choose a route. If an example was unclear, revise it. If the experience isn't there yet, gain it first; rewording won't create it.

For what the portal labels mean in the meantime, see what your application status means.

⚠️ CBA Rejected? You're Not Alone

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Frequently asked questions

How long after I submit my CBA will I hear back?

It depends on the regulator. PEO and APEGS publish 90 days from a complete file, PEGNL 8 to 10 weeks, EGBC about six months and APEGA up to six months. EGM and Engineers Nova Scotia give feedback about 30 days after an assessor is assigned, while APEGNB and Engineers PEI publish no timeline.

Will I see my validators' ratings?

No. Validator ratings and comments are confidential at every regulator that uses the CBA. APEGA releases validator forms only if your application is refused and you request a Section 32 appeal.

Is an interview a bad sign?

Not necessarily. Engineers PEI interviews every applicant. EGBC uses interviews for several purposes, including experience reviews when assessors' or validators' comments raise questions, and "Looking to Exempt" interviews about confirmatory exams.

Can I ask for a different assessor?

At APEGS, yes, once: the competencies you name are reassessed by a different assessor, and that result is final. Elsewhere the routes are formal reviews, such as APEGA's reassessment and reconsideration or EGBC's Reconsideration and Review on the Record.