If you are a land surveyor who is licensed in another province in Canada and you are looking to be registered in Alberta, the information on this page will guide you through the process and give you everything you need to know.
The Alberta Land Surveyors’ Association (ALSA) and the professional regulatory organizations for land surveying in other Canadian jurisdictions support land surveyors who are already licensed in Canada to work elsewhere in the country. The regulatory bodies signed a
mutual recognition agreement (MRA) in support of this effort.
The different provinces have many standards in common, including threshold levels for competency, initial licensing requirements, and professional standards and ethics. However, it is also recognized there is unique knowledge specific to each regulator’s jurisdiction.
If you hold a license in good standing to practice land surveying in another Canadian jurisdiction and you’d like to be registered as an Alberta Land Surveyor, you must first pass a jurisdictional exam.
Please click here for more information or read on for more details.
Application to Write the Jurisdictional Exam
If you want to write the jurisdictional exam, please submit the following to the Alberta Land Surveyors' Association (ALSA):
Once the ALSA has received your completed application (form, certificate of conduct, and the fee), you are eligible to write the jurisdictional exam.
The ALSA will confirm the date, time, and location to write the jurisdictional exam. The examination does not necessarily need to occur in Alberta. Once your completed application has been received and acknowledged by the ALSA, you have 30 calendar days to write the exam.
Jurisdictional Exam
In the jurisdictional exam, you will be tested on your knowledge of pertinent acts and regulations relating to land surveying in Alberta, and your ability to apply this knowledge.
The ALSA has following core competencies for land surveyor candidates who are currently licensed in other Canadian jurisdictions:
The exam includes questions on evaluating evidence, measurement science, the Alberta Land Surveyors’ Association, and a variety of real world problems. Questions on rights of way, subdivisions, condominiums, real property reports, survey control networks, the DLS township system, unsurveyed territory, wellsites, hybrid cadastre, natural boundaries, traverse problems, and more could also be included on the exam.
The exam will have an emphasis on situations requiring some degree of discretion and professional judgement.
You will have a maximum of four hours to complete the jurisdictional examination. You must receive 75% in order to pass the exam.
The ALSA will make every effort to share the results of your jurisdictional exam within ten business days of the exam being written.
Written examinations will not be returned to individual applicants, posted online, or available in hardcopy format.
Click here for examination procedures and conduct requirements.
Appealing your exam mark
After receiving the results of your exam, you have 30 days to appeal your mark.
The fee for an appeal is $150 plus GST. The appeal results will be provided to you within 30 days of the appeal being received.
Rewriting the Jurisdictional Exam
There is a waiting period before you can rewrite the jurisdictional exam.
| Second Attempt |
Third Attempt |
All Subsequent Attempts |
| Must wait a minimum of thirty calendar days before attempting the jurisdictional exam for a second time. |
Must wait a minimum of ninety calendar days before attempting the jurisdictional exam for a third time. |
Must wait a minimum of one year before attempting the jurisdictional exam again. |
If the Registration Committee of the Alberta Land Surveyors' Association (ALSA) determines that you do not have the required level of jurisdictional knowledge to successfully pass the exam, you may want to gain more experience. The onus is on you to gain the required knowledge by whatever means you choose. The onus is not on the ALSA to define a period or type of training that you should undertake, although the ALSA may make recommendations.
The waiting period requirements are the same for all land surveying professional regulatory organizations in Canada.
Registration as an Alberta Land Surveyor
If you receive 75% or more on the jurisdictional exam, congratulations! You are now eligible to be registered as an Alberta Land Surveyor.
Click here for the steps the applicant now needs to take to become registered as an Alberta Land Surveyor.
Learn about land surveying in Alberta: Become an affiliate member
You are not required to become an affiliate member of the ALSA in order to write the jurisdictional exam.
If you are thinking about becoming a registered land surveyor in Alberta and would like to receive current information from the ALSA, you may wish to become an affiliate member of the ALSA.
To become an affiliate member, please submit the following to the ALSA:
- The application for affiliate membership available online here.
- A Certificate of Conduct from all Canadian associations in which you are currently licensed as a land surveyor. The certificate(s) of conduct must be emailed directly to the ALSA by your home association.
- Currently, the annual fee for affiliate members is $200 plus GST. You must submit the fee with your application. Each year, fees are due by April 30th, and annual renewal invoices will be emailed no later than March 15th.
Your application will be reviewed by the ALSA Registration Committee, and following that review, you will be made an affiliate member of the ALSA. Your application may be refused if your license to practice land surveying in any other Canadian jurisdiction is encumbered or restricted in any way.
If your affiliate membership application is refused, you may appeal the Registration Committee decision to the ALSA Council within 30 days.