The Application Process

To be eligible for a near coastal certificate you must be:

• at least 16 years old on the certificate issue date
• able to speak, read and understand English
• medically fit for the duties required

You must see a medical practitioner to check that you are medically fit for working at sea. They will assess you in line with AMSA’s medical requirements.

If you have colour deficient vision, any Master, Coxswain, or GPH certificates will be restricted to working only in daylight hours.

Training course

You must complete a specific course to train for each certificate. These courses are offered by registered training organisations (RTOs).

For some certificates, you will also need to pass an AMSA-mandated practical assessment (AMPA) at the RTO.

Find out which course you need to complete.

First aid

You must complete first aid training to apply for any certificate. We accept a ‘Provide first aid’ (HLTAID011) certificate, or equivalent.

Marine radio certificate

For some near coastal certificates of competency you will need a marine radio operator certificate. Information on how to obtain these is available from the Office of Maritime Communications.

Find out which marine radio certificate you need.

Sea service is your experience working on vessels. Sea service is counted in days, and you need a set number of days on certain types of vessels to get each certificate. This is referred to by AMSA as qualifying sea service.

Find out how to record your sea service.

Task books

You can choose to complete a task book to reduce the amount of qualifying sea service required for a certificate.

A task book is a book of practical tasks related to the certificate you’re training for. To complete a task book, a supervisor must sign you off as competent in each skill.

Read more about task books.

After you complete your medical, all training and sea service, you are ready to apply.

Apply online with myAMSA.

You must pass an oral examination to obtain any of these certificates:

• Master <45m

For this qualification, during the course we will explain the AMSA mandated Oral Examination. Depending upon AMSA assessor availability an AMSA examiner may be available immediately after the course or we will explain how to book in with AMSA for your final Oral Examination