How to Get Your P.Eng License in Ontario (PEO): Step-by-Step

Step-by-step: how to get your P.Eng. with PEO

Step 1: Check your academic qualifications

A bachelor's degree from a program accredited by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB) meets PEO's academic requirement directly. If your degree comes from a non-accredited or international program, PEO assesses it and may assign technical exams. Sort this out early, because any exams you are assigned add time to the whole process.

Step 2: Pass the NPPE before you apply

Since October 24, 2025, Ontario's regulation requires you to pass the NPPE before you submit your licence application. You can no longer apply first and write the exam afterwards. The NPPE is a 2.5-hour, 110-question multiple-choice exam on ethics, professional practice, engineering law and professional liability, written online with remote proctoring.

It runs five times a year (the last 2026 sitting is November 2–4; the first in 2027 is January 11–13), and since the June 2026 sitting you also need a phone or tablet as a second camera. After you register, confirm your slot with the proctoring provider, Meazure Learning; PEO marks candidates who do not confirm as withdrawn, and the fee is forfeited. PEO says a pass does not expire, so you can write the NPPE well before your CBA is finished. For other provinces, see NPPE before or after your CBA.

Step 3: Open your application in PEO's portal and start the CBA early

You apply online through PEO's portal, starting with its "Am I ready to apply?" survey. Since July 1, 2026, you can start building your CBA as soon as you open an application, so there is no reason to wait until you reach 24 months of experience. PEO will not pre-review your experience before you submit, so use its CBA Applicant Guide (August 2026) to check your own examples against the competencies.

Step 4: Build at least 24 months of experience after your degree

Ontario's regulation now requires no less than 24 months of engineering experience after your bachelor's degree, and the clock starts on the date the degree is conferred. Co-op terms, internships and other pre-graduation work no longer count toward the 24 months, although you can still use that work as a CBA example if it meets the criteria. Engineering work you did during a master's or PhD may count toward both the minimum and the CBA; the graduate degree itself earns no credit. More detail: PEO's 24-month experience rule and co-op, master's and PhD credit by province.

PEO does not require your experience to be supervised by a P.Eng. What matters is that each competency is backed by a real example of your own work, and that a qualified validator can confirm it.

Step 5: Write your 34 Situation–Action–Outcome examples

PEO uses 34 competencies in seven categories: Technical Competence (10), Communication (3), Project and Financial Management (5), Team Effectiveness (2), Professional Accountability (6), Social, Economic, Environmental and Sustainability (5), and Personal Continuing Professional Development (3). You write one example per competency, in the first person ("I"), using the Situation–Action–Outcome format. You can reuse a project for several competencies, but each write-up has to focus on what that competency asks for.

PEO's August 2026 guide is explicit that examples must not describe hypothetical situations or work done by colleagues or your team. Only your own actions count. If a client is confidential, use a generic identifier such as "ABC Company". PEO's PDF application form allows 300 characters for the Situation, 1,650 for the Action and 300 for the Outcome, and the portal also applies a character limit to each example.

Each example is rated from 0 to 5, and you do not need 4s and 5s. The minimums are:

• category averages of 3 (Technical Competence), 3 (Communication), 2 (Project and Financial Management), 3 (Team Effectiveness), 3 (Professional Accountability), 2 (Social, Economic, Environmental and Sustainability) and 3 (Personal Continuing Professional Development);
• at least 1 on every competency;
• at least 3 on the professional-standards competencies 1.1, 1.6, 1.9, 2.3 and 5.1, and at least 2 on 6.2. These require knowledge of regulations, codes and standards used in Canada or the international equivalent, so experience from any country can meet them.

PEO's assessors make the call: their ratings alone determine whether you are ready for licensure, and your self-ratings and your validators' ratings are supplementary.

AI can help you organize your notes and check your own draft for gaps, but your examples must be your own work and you remain responsible for them. EGBC, EGM, Engineers Nova Scotia and Engineers PEI prohibit using AI (or third parties) to create or embellish examples; APEGS and PEO hold you fully responsible for the accuracy and authenticity of anything AI helped with. CBA Pro is built to stay inside these rules: it doesn't create or embellish examples. It interviews you about your own work and turns your answers into a draft, and you review and own every word.

Step 6: Choose and notify your validators

Every example needs a validator who knows the work first-hand. PEO's minimum is one validator in total, with exactly one validator per competency. One person can validate all 34, and you do not need a validator for every employer. The rules on who qualifies:

• Work done in Canada: the validator must have been licensed as a P.Eng. in Canada, and eligible to practise, when the work was carried out. A P.Eng. from any province or territory qualifies.
• Work done outside Canada: the validator should be a senior engineer licensed in that jurisdiction. A US PE can validate US work, but not work done in Canada.
• Relationship: ideally your direct supervisor; managers, mentors, clients or colleagues can also qualify. Family members and relatives are typically not acceptable.

Talk to your validators before you add them, because once PEO notifies them you cannot change your experience information. Each validator rates the examples assigned to them from 0 to 5 and sends the ratings and comments to PEO in confidence, so you will not see them. If a validator declines, you assign a new one to those competencies. For the details, see who can validate your PEO CBA and what to do if there is no P.Eng. at your company.

Step 7: Complete the application and pay the fee

Once you have at least 24 months of eligible experience and your CBA has been completed and validated, you can mark the experience requirement complete. You also confirm your academics, provide ID and complete the good character assessment in the portal. PEO does not ask for separate references, because your validators are the only third-party input. The application fee is $360 plus $46.80 HST; PEO does not publish a separate CBA fee.

Step 8: Submit and wait for the decision

PEO confirms within 10 business days whether your application is complete; if something is missing, you get one 60-day chance to fix it. A complete application is assessed and decided within 90 days.

What happens after you submit

There are two possible outcomes. If you meet the requirements, PEO issues your licence once you pay the registration fee. If not, the Registrar sends a Notice of Proposal to refuse, and you can request a hearing before PEO's Registration Committee. Act quickly and follow the instructions in the notice; this guide to PEO's Notice of Proposal explains the hearing and your other options. If you reapply instead, you pay the full application fee again.

PEO's 2025 Fair Registration Practices Report lists experience as the issue raised most often in internal reviews and appeals, which is one more reason to get the CBA right the first time.

How long it takes

Beyond the experience itself (three to four years on average, by PEO's estimate), timing depends on how quickly you write your examples, how fast your validators respond and whether the NPPE is already done. After you submit, the service standards in Step 8 apply. To follow your file, see what your application status means.

The usual causes of delay are examples that do not show your own role, examples that describe team work, a Canadian-work validator who was not a P.Eng. when the work was done, validators who do not respond, and leaving the NPPE until the end.

Outdated advice to ignore

Many older articles about PEO licensing, including earlier versions of this one, describe rules that no longer apply:

Already licensed in another province?

If you hold a P.Eng. licence from another Canadian regulator, you do not need a CBA. PEO's Canadian P.Eng. mobility route, launched December 16, 2025, decides full-licence applications within 10 business days of a complete application. You provide verification of your existing licence, your academic information, ID and good character. See mobility timelines across Canada.

How PEO compares with other regulators

A licence is valid only in the province or territory that issues it. On paper, PEO's minimums (two years, one validator) are lower than most, but it uses the same 34-competency standard as most other regulators.

For every regulator, see how many validators each association requires and Canadian experience rules by province.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need Canadian experience to get a P.Eng. in Ontario?

No. PEO removed its Canadian experience requirement for all applicants on May 15, 2023, and the regulation text was revoked on November 1, 2023. Experience from any country can count, as long as your examples show the competencies and a qualified validator confirms them.

Do I have to be an EIT before applying to PEO?

No. PEO closed its Engineering Intern (EIT) program to new applicants on May 15, 2023. Council endorsed a new "EIT 2.0" program in June 2025, but it had not launched as of September 2026, and existing EITs may keep their status. See PEO's EIT program in 2026.

Does co-op count toward PEO's 24 months?

Not since July 1, 2026. The 24 months start when your bachelor's degree is conferred, so co-op and other pre-graduation work does not count toward the minimum. You can still use that work as a CBA example if it meets PEO's criteria.

Can one validator cover my whole CBA?

Yes, if that person knows all of the work first-hand. PEO's minimum is one validator, and you cannot assign more than one validator to the same competency.

Official sources

• PEO — Application requirements (updated July 1, 2026)
• PEO — Become a professional engineer (steps, fee and timelines)
• PEO — CBA Applicant Guide (August 2026)
• PEO — CBA Validator Guide (August 2026)
• PEO — CBA experience FAQ
• PEO — National Professional Practice Exam
• Ontario — O. Reg. 126/26 (24-month experience rule, in force July 1, 2026)