Once your exam has been taken and graded, and assuming that you succeeded in completing the exam with a passing score, you will receive some documentation, via email, from the GCARC VE Team. This will include a form known as a CSCE (Certificate of Successful Completion of an Examination). Retain that certificate, as it is your proof that you took and passed the exam.
Your exam status and license application will be forwarded to the FCC via the ARRL VEC, which should usually take a single business day. The FCC will begin processing your application upon receiving it. What happens next depends upon the type of application that you submitted via your completed paperwork. There are three basic possibilities:
- your application was for a new, first-time license, which means that it was submitted with only an FRN and no call sign; or
- your application was for a license upgrade, but there is no request for a change of call sign; or
- your application was for a license upgrade, and you also requested a new or different call sign.
In the first instance above, the FCC will process your application, and approval will normally occur with a couple of days after submission. Once approved, which is almost a simple formality, you will receive an email notice of an application fee being due and payable. This fee is $35.00, as defined by Federal regulations.
You will have a ten calendar day period in which to make the payment online for this application fee. If the fee is not paid within the ten calendar day period, the application is suspended and must then be re-submitted for re-processing. As a result, it is in your own best interest to pay the application fee just as soon as the application appears on the FCC CORES website.
Starting the next day after your exam, log into the FCC CORES website (https://apps.fcc.gov/cores/userLogin.do) and check your account to see if the application shows as being in process. If it does, go ahead and make the $35.00 payment at that point instead of waiting for a notice of payment due. By doing so, you will have the payment already on file when the FCC is ready to invoice it, and the issuance of the license will then occur immediately when the payment is matched to the application.
You will then receive an email instruction you as to where and how to download an official copy of your license. Download and store the .PDF file in a safe location on your computer and print a few copies as well for personal use. The FCC will not send anything by postal mail; instead, all communication is done using email.
In the second instance above, there is NO fee to be paid to the FCC, as simple upgrades are not charged a fee. You should simply check the FCC ULS database to see if you license class has been upgraded. If it has been posted, you should download and save a .PDF “Official Copy” of your license for posting in your shack and for keeping in your station records.
In the third instance above, there will be a $35 fee due. While there is no fee for the upgrade, there is a fee for the call sign change. However, in conjunction with the new call sign, you will also be receiving a license renewal, which will then push your license expiration date out to ten years from the new call sign issuance date.
You will have a ten calendar day period in which to make the payment online for this application fee. If the fee is not paid within the ten calendar day period, the application is suspended and must then be re-submitted for re-processing. As a result, it is in your own best interest to pay the application fee just as soon as the application appears on the FCC CORES website.
Starting the next day after your exam, log into the FCC CORES website (https://apps.fcc.gov/cores/userLogin.do) and check your account to see if the application shows as being in process. If it does, go ahead and make the $35.00 payment at that point instead of waiting for a notice of payment due. By doing so, you will have the payment already on file when the FCC is ready to invoice it, and the issuance of the new call sign will then occur immediately when the payment is matched to the application.
Finally, when all is said and done, please visit our Candidate Response page and complete the short survey form found there. This information will go a long way towards improving the test experience that we as a Team can offer to each and every FCC exam candidate. Rest assured that your personal information will never be sold or shared in any way whatsoever.