How the checker works
Each education choice maps to one minimum experience figure for each level. The checker adds your years and months, subtracts that from the minimum, and gives the shortfall. If the shortfall is zero, you appear eligible on the date you counted to. If you are still in a qualifying role, the date is that day plus the shortfall in calendar months. A day of month that does not exist in the target month moves to its last day, so 31 January plus one month is 28 or 29 February.
- CWI (Welding Inspector level in B5.1): five years with a high school diploma or equivalent (clause 6.2). Less schooling raises the minimum (clause 6.2.1). Relevant post-secondary education cuts it year for year, to a cap set by the type of education, with four years as the most (clause 6.2.2).
- CAWI (Associate Welding Inspector level in B5.1): two years with a high school diploma or equivalent (clause 6.1). Clause 6.1.1 gives fixed alternatives instead of year-for-year credit, down to six months after two years of relevant post-secondary education.
- For trade, vocational, engineering or technical courses, enter the completed coursework in years. CWI credit is that amount in whole months, capped for the course type. For CAWI, two or more completed years in a relevant post-secondary program uses the six-month alternative.
Minimum experience by education choice
Calculated by this tool from clause 6 for each option in the form, with no course credit beyond the cap. Course rows show the CWI minimum at full credit and the CAWI minimum below two completed years.
| Education choice | CWI minimum | CAWI minimum |
|---|---|---|
| Less than an eighth-grade level of schooling | 12 years (6.2.1(2)) | 6 years (6.1.1(2)) |
| Eighth-grade level of schooling | 9 years (6.2.1(1)) | 4 years (6.1.1(1)) |
| Eighth grade plus at least one year of vocational welding training | 9 years (6.2.1(1)) | 3 years (6.1.1(3)) |
| High school diploma or state or military-approved equivalent (e.g. GED) | 5 years (6.2) | 2 years (6.1) |
| High school plus completed trade or vocational courses in a welding curriculum | 4 years (6.2.2(4)) | 2 years (6.1) |
| High school plus completed engineering or technical courses toward a qualifying degree | 3 years (6.2.2(3)) | 2 years (6.1) |
| Associate or higher degree in welding, engineering technology, engineering or a physical science | 2 years (6.2.2(2)) | 6 months (6.1.1(4)) |
| Bachelor's or higher degree in welding engineering or welding engineering technology | 1 year (6.2.2(1)) | 6 months (6.1.1(4)) |
Worked examples
- High school diploma, 3 years 0 months of qualifying work counted to 20 October 2026, still working. CWI needs 60 months, so 24 are still needed: appears eligible from 20 October 2028. CAWI needs 24 months: appears eligible now.
- High school plus half a year of completed welding trade courses, 4 years 5 months counted to 20 October 2026. CWI credit is 6 months, so the minimum is 54 months and one more month is needed: 20 November 2026.
- Bachelor's degree in welding engineering, 6 months of qualifying work counted to 20 October 2026. CWI needs 12 months, from 20 April 2027. CAWI needs 6 months: appears eligible now.
- Eighth-grade schooling, 5 years counted to 31 January 2026, not currently working in a qualifying role. CWI needs 9 years and CAWI 4 years: CAWI appears eligible now; CWI has 4 years still to earn, with no date until qualifying work resumes.
These are original examples, not exam questions or AWS rulings.
What counts as qualifying experience
Clause 6.5 asks for verifiable experience in a job directly related to weldments made to national or international standards, with direct involvement in at least one of its listed activities for CAWI or CWI. In summary, the activities cover developing procedures and acceptance criteria, controlling base and filler metals, working as a welder, welding operator or tack welder, finding and measuring discontinuities by visual or other NDE to a written procedure, repair welding, qualifying welders or procedures, applying welding codes, weld quality control, and teaching welding. Read the clause itself in the free B5.1:2025 PDF before you count a role.
Clause 6.4 requires verifiable records of education and employment. AWS uses its Employment Verification Form and, where needed, an Additional Qualifying Work Experience Form. This checker assumes full-time work; ask AWS how part-time or mixed duties are counted before you rely on a date.
Assumptions and differences between sources
- Clause 6.2.2(2) credits an associate or higher degree with up to three years, so the CWI minimum is two years. The AWS CWI page gave the same two years on 20 Oct 2026. QC1:2016-AMD1 clause 5.1 sends CWI applicants to B5.1 for these figures, and the checker follows the 2025 edition. The clause covers welding or non-welding technology, engineering or the physical sciences, and the AWS page says welding or non-welding related engineering technology, engineering or a physical science. The checker uses the narrower page wording: welding, engineering technology, engineering or a physical science. If your degree is in another technology field, choose high school and ask AWS.
- Eighth grade plus a vocational welding year shortens only the CAWI minimum (clause 6.1.1). Clause 6.2.1 lists no matching CWI alternative, so the checker applies the eighth-grade CWI minimum (inferred).
- Treating two years of completed trade or vocational welding courses as post-secondary education for the CAWI six-month route is our reading of clause 6.1.1. AWS decides whether a program counts.
- The AWS CAWI page cites B5.1:2013-AMD1 while the CWI page links B5.1:2025. On 20 Oct 2026, the experience figures on both AWS pages matched clause 6 of the 2025 edition.
- Per the AWS CAWI page, a CAWI is valid for three years and cannot be renewed. Plan the move to CWI as your experience grows.
- Clause 7.1 also sets a near-vision requirement. A passing vision test on the AWS form is needed at either level.
Next steps: read how to become a CWI for the application timeline and costs, and the CWI Part B exam guide for the practical part.