Registration FAQs

You do not have to be living or working in British Columbia or Canada to apply or be registered with the College.

The College cannot advise you on which registrant category to apply for; however, several resources are available to help determine which category best aligns with your qualifications. Registrant categories are the different registration classes offered by the College (for example, Registered Professional Biologist (RPBio), Registered Biology Technologist (RBTech), and Applied Biology Technician (ABT)).

General information is available on the College’s Registration Application Overview webpage, including application checklists for each registrant category and stream. More specific information on requirements and application streams are found in the Credentialing Standard. You may also use the free online Applicant Self-Assessment Tool (ASAT) to do a self-evaluation that compares your education and experience against the College’s requirements.

To ensure all applicants are treated consistently and fairly, the College does not review or assess credentials (e.g., courses, work experience, professional work products) before an application is submitted.

Detailed information on the application process is found here. Application processing timelines can vary, with updates provided on the College’s website. Please note, the timeline is based on the application being completed (i.e., all information has been received, including transcripts, references and lead author reports – if applicable), NOT when an application is submitted.

Yes; however, once your application has been submitted, you must contact the College Registrar’s Office at registrar_office@cab-bc.org to make changes or add any documents to your application.

There is no requirement to become an in Training registrant (e.g., Biologist in Training, RBTech in Training or ABT in Training) prior to becoming a practicing registrant (e.g. RPBio, RBTech or ABT).

From an applicant’s perspective, the benefit of being an in Training registrant is that when you apply to reclassify for the associated practicing registrant category (e.g. BIT to RPBio, RBTech in Training to RBTech or ABT in training to ABT), only your work experience, professional practice competencies, and reference are assessed. You will not need to re-submit proof of education or complete the mandatory training again.

For employers and clients, an in Training designation demonstrates that you have met the academic requirements, and are working to obtain the practicing designation. It also shows that you are an accountable professional, bound by a code of ethics and professional conduct.

If your institution/program is not on the accredited list, you can still apply through the non-accredited stream for the registrant category of interest to you. College-accredited programs have met the education requirements set by the College in the Credentialing Standard – for a specific registrant category and timeframe. A signed agreement exists between the College and the educational institution.

The College only reviews grades to confirm that all courses required by the College have been completed and passed.

The Credentialing Standard provides detailed course requirements for each registrant category, and Appendix B provides descriptions of each course requirement.

You can do a self-evaluation of all your requirements for the category you wish to apply for using the College’s free online Applicant Self-Assessment Tool (ASAT) or by using the application checklists on the College’s Registration Application Overview webpage.

Yes, as long as the course includes a majority (>50%) of biological concepts, theory, or practice.

No. Education requirements must be met through courses that appear on an official transcript, were completed for full credit, and received a passing grade.

You must have completed the required education and have proof of education completed before applying. See ‘I’ve finished all the coursework to apply, do I have to wait until convocation?’.

There is some flexibility for RPBio and BIT applicants to resolve course deficiencies with additional experience or a graduate degree, and some application streams for the RBTech and ABT designations do not require a diploma, certificate or course work. See the Credentialing Standard for details.

Applicants have two options:

• After convocation: Request that your educational institution send the College an official transcript that includes your degree name and the graduation/awarded/conferred date.

OR

• Before convocation: Request that your educational institution send the College an official transcript (it will not include the degree awarded date) and a letter of completion. Please email the Registrar’s Office (registrar_office@cab-bc.org) for complete instructions.

The College allows limited flexibility for RPBio and BIT applicants who may be missing some course requirements but have additional experience (see the Credentialing Standard for more information).  Applicants for other registration categories cannot substitute experience for any portion of the educational requirements.

If you graduated from a College-accredited program, you only need to provide your transcript.

If you graduated from a non-accredited program, in addition to providing your transcript, you must enter course titles manually in your application and provide course descriptions (highly recommended but not mandatory) in English or French. This information is used by the College to verify that required courses have been successfully completed.

The College has options for applicants who do not have a degree or diploma, including:

• Registered Biology Technologist (RBTech) – stream 3, which requires completion of 20 post-secondary courses and at least three years of experience.
• Applied Biology Technician (ABT) – streams 1 & 2 require completion of 200 hours of course work, and stream 3 does not require formal training for applicants with more than three years of experience.
• Applied Biology-Limited Licensee (AB-LL) category, which allows applicants with over five years of experience to demonstrate their competence in a specified area.

See the Credentialing Standard for additional information and requirements.

Up to one year of pre-graduation (from your qualifying degree) experience may count for all RPBio applicants, and RBTech Stream 1 and 2 applicants.

A qualifying degree for RPBios is a Bachelor’s degree and for RBTechs is a Diploma or Bachelor’s.

The College accepts a variety of PWPs. Requirements and examples of accepted PWPs are found in the College’s Credentialing Standard. It is important that your PWP demonstrate the regulated definition of practice of applied biology as set out in the Applied Biology Regulation.

You must submit the full report (not just the parts you wrote), and the lead author (if not yourself) will receive a link via the application portal to corroborate your contribution.

PWPs are not required to include statistical analysis or numerical data. 

The contents of applications, including PWPs, are confidential and only shared with the members of the application processing team for the purposes of evaluating and processing the application. These individuals have all signed the College’s confidentiality agreement. Documents are stored securely on the College’s application portal.

You may submit a version with sensitive/confidential sections redacted, provided there is enough information for assessors to evaluate the report.

If the College receives a Freedom of Information request, prior to releasing any information we would consult with you regarding any business sensitive information and apply the exception for disclosure harmful to business interests of a third party under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act as appropriate.

Yes, Professional Biologists (P.Biols) in good standing with ASPB can apply to be an RPBio with the College using the labour mobility application stream.

You will need to start an application in the College’s registrant portal and follow the steps provided. All applicants must pay the application fee, complete the College’s online mandatory training courses and pay annual registration dues prior to receiving registration with the College. Information regarding ASPB and College registration can be found in the Registration Via Labour Mobility in and Outside of Canada section of our website.

You are only able to complete the mandatory training once your application has been approved to prevent you from incurring additional costs if your application is rejected. Mandatory courses are self-paced and take approximately six hours in total to complete. See Mandatory Training on the application overview page for more information.