To become a licensed land surveyor in Arkansas, you need to complete an approved surveying degree, pass the national Fundamentals of Surveying exam to earn Surveyor Intern status, work three to six years under a licensed professional surveyor, and then pass both the NCEES Principles and Practice of Surveying exam and the Arkansas state-specific exam. Plan on six to nine years from your first college class to a license in your hand. Practicing without that license is illegal in Arkansas.1Code of Arkansas Rules. 17 CAR 285-102 – Practice of Surveying
The Arkansas State Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Professional Surveyors (PELS) runs the process under Title 17, Chapter 48. The Board meets about every other month, so each stage that needs its approval adds time to your calendar.
Step 1: Pick Your Education Pathway
The degree you earn determines how many years of supervised experience you’ll need later. Arkansas recognizes three tracks.
- A Bachelor of Science in surveying, geomatics, geomatics engineering, or spatial information systems from an ABET-accredited or Board-approved program. Three years of experience required after graduation.2Code of Arkansas Rules. 17 CAR 285-305 – Professional Surveyor
- Any four-year baccalaureate degree combined with at least 30 semester hours of Board-approved surveying coursework. At least one of those courses must emphasize the U.S. Public Land Survey System and at least one must emphasize surveying law and professionalism. Three years of experience required.2Code of Arkansas Rules. 17 CAR 285-305 – Professional Surveyor
- An Associate of Science or Associate of Applied Science in surveying or surveying technology from a Board-approved program. Six years of experience required.3Justia. Arkansas Code 17-48-203 – Qualifications – Certification
The associate degree saves two years of school but adds three years of required experience, so the bachelor’s routes get you to full licensure sooner on net.
Step 2: Pass the Fundamentals Exam and Become a Surveyor Intern
Supervised experience doesn’t start counting toward licensure until you hold Surveyor Intern (SI) certification. You qualify for SI by finishing an approved degree and passing the NCEES Fundamentals of Surveying (FS) exam.4Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing. Surveyor Intern (SI) – Licensure Overview
The FS is a computer-based test offered year-round at NCEES testing centers. It covers geodesy, measurement analysis, mapping, and legal principles of land boundaries. The SI application fee is $50, paid to the Board; the FS exam fee goes separately to NCEES.4Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing. Surveyor Intern (SI) – Licensure Overview All fees are non-refundable. Your SI application shows as incomplete until the Board verifies both your education and your FS result.
Step 3: Log Your Supervised Experience
Once you’re an SI, start accumulating the three or six years your pathway requires. The experience must be in responsible charge of land surveying work, performed under a licensed professional surveyor. The Board looks for progressive responsibility across both fieldwork and office work, not just years sitting at a desk running the same calculations.
Keep careful records as you go. When you apply for PS licensure, you’ll be documenting projects, dates, and your specific role, and reconstructing that from memory years later is painful.
Step 4: Apply for Professional Surveyor Licensure
With your experience logged, you submit an application for original PS licensure. The fee is $75.5Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing. Professional Surveyor (PS) – Licensure Overview Your packet needs detailed work experience records and five professional references. Three or more of those references must be currently licensed Professional Engineers or Professional Surveyors who know your work personally and are not related to you or sitting on the Board.6Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing. Online Application Instructions – PE/PS Comity or Original
The Board reviews your transcripts, experience, and references, then votes on whether to approve you to sit for the professional exams. Do not offer, contract for, or start performing surveying services before your license actually issues. The Board treats that as grounds for disciplinary action, and starting your career with a disciplinary record is a bad trade.
Step 5: Pass the PS Exam and the Arkansas State Exam
Full licensure requires two more exams after the Board clears you.
The NCEES Principles and Practice of Surveying exam tests your ability to apply surveying principles to real problems. The fee is $375, paid directly to NCEES.7NCEES. Principles and Practice of Surveying Exam The Arkansas State Specific Exam covers state surveying laws, regulations, and standards of practice. That fee is $100, paid to the Board.8Code of Arkansas Rules. 17 CAR 285-402 – Fees
Totaling everything from the SI application through license issuance, budget around $700 or more in fees across the full process. None of them are refundable.
Already Licensed in Another State? Apply by Comity
If you already hold a PS license somewhere else, you can skip the full original pathway and apply through comity (reciprocity). The comity application fee is $200.5Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing. Professional Surveyor (PS) – Licensure Overview
Your existing license must be in good standing, not suspended or on probation anywhere in the United States. Your education and experience must be substantially similar to Arkansas’s requirements, meaning they match one of the three pathways above. You need to have passed the NCEES PS exam, and you’ll still have to take the Arkansas state-specific exam.2Code of Arkansas Rules. 17 CAR 285-305 – Professional Surveyor An NCEES Council Record speeds things up, because the Board accepts verifications from it directly.
If your original state licensed you under rules looser than Arkansas’s current ones, you can still qualify so long as your credentials met the Arkansas requirements in effect at the time you were originally licensed.2Code of Arkansas Rules. 17 CAR 285-305 – Professional Surveyor
After You’re Licensed
Once your license issues, you can obtain a professional seal bearing your name, license number, and the words “licensed professional surveyor.” Every final drawing, plat, report signature page, and specification cover sheet you prepare or supervise must be dated, signed, and stamped before it leaves your office.9Code of Arkansas Rules. 17 CAR 285-602 – Seals Affixing your seal means accepting full professional responsibility for the work.
Arkansas PS licenses renew every two years for $60. You must report at least 30 Professional Development Hours (PDH) per renewal period, with at least two of those hours focused on Arkansas Standards of Practice No. 1 for Property Boundary Surveys and Plats. Up to 30 excess PDH can carry forward to the next cycle.10Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing. Continuing Education Log of Activities Regular job duties don’t count toward PDH, no matter how technically demanding the project.11NCEES. Continuing Professional Competency Guidelines
If you miss a renewal, your license expires and you can’t legally practice or seal documents. Reinstatement is possible, but the Board decides what to require based on how long you’ve been lapsed: back fees, penalties, proof of continuing education for the missed period, and in long cases, reexamination.12Justia. Arkansas Code 17-48-204 – Inactive Status Renew on time.