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Recertification of Professional Certifications

NAI’s professional certifications: Certified Heritage Interpreter (CHI), Certified Interpretive Manager (CIM), Certified Interpretive Planner (CIP), and Certified Interpretive Trainer (CIT).

  • Valid for four years.
  • Your certification(s) is found under My Account and then "Certifications."
  • Recertify up to one year in advance of your current expiration date.
  • Certification valid period is extended 4 years from expiration date.

The Interpretive Guide (CIG) and Interpretive Host (CIH) certificates no longer expire and do not need to be renewed.

For those with Instructor Status (formally CIGT or CIHT sanctions). The renewal is a separate process and you will receive a yearly email with access to the Instructor Update course.

Recertification Criteria

One year before expiration date through six month grace period:

  • $100 and is paid at time of submission
  • Submit documentation for 40 hours of continuing education(CE) earned within your validation period
  • Submit recertification application
  • If continuing education hours are found to be insufficient, NAI will contact you and a full refund will be provided if resolution is not met.

Late Fees

NAI provides the following to accommodate individuals who have exceeded the six month grace period.

  • Six months to two years past expiration
    • $300 reinstatement fee
    • 60 hours of CE’s needed, obtained during certification valid date to current date.
  • More than two years past expiration
    • You will be required to reapply and resubmit your materials for peer review.

When your application and submitted documentation have been reviewed you will receive an email confirming your recertification.

Recertification Application

        

Continuing Education (CE)

NAI Continuing Education

  • Conference, courses, or self-paced training
  • No documentation needed
  • Automatically applied, when application is received
  • Your list is found under My Account and then "Certifications"

Any NAI activities that have happened within the past year may not show up immediately. However, we have records of all NAI-issued CE hours so you do not need to notify us.

Other Organizations Continuing Education

Consider the continuing education opportunity you would like to apply towards recertification. if you can answer yes to the questions below, the hours will most likely apply:

  • Am I the student learning?
  • Does it apply to my job as an interpreter?
  • Will it make my interpretation better?
  • Is it an official training?

Hours

1 hour of train counts as 1 CE
A 3 credit college course counts as 40 CE’s
A 3 day conference counts as 24 CE’s

A maximum of 10 hours of safety courses (CPR, first aid, WFR, rifle safety, fire safety etc) can be applied towards recertification.

Continuing Education That Do Not Qualify

The following do not count as continuing education hour and will not apply towards recertification:

  • Regular job duties or contracted work
  • Planning of events or programs
  • Watching interpretive films
  • Training/experiences that have limited to no relevance to interpretation

Documentation

Continuing education hours obtained outside of NAI must be documented. Must contain:

  • A description of what you attended.
  • The date and times you attended.
  • Proof of attendance (certificate of completion, meeting agenda, etc.)

Formatting and submission

  • .pdf, .doc, or .docx
  • Smaller than .98 MB, which is approximately 10 pages
  • Up to ten groups of documents may be uploaded
  • Submitted with application
  • For every certification

If you cannot provide documentation for a past training, you may use our continuing education form, which requires supervisor verification.

Instructor Status

NAI is transitioning from the terms “CIGT/CIHT sanction" to "instructor status" to avoid confusion with professional designations. You will now have an "instructor status" with a specific course designation, such as "Instructor Status CIG."

It is no longer required to teach two courses to keep Instructor Status active; however, NAI will continue to maintain records of certificate courses taught.

To maintain your instructor status, you must meet two requirements:

  1. Active CIT Certification:
  2. Annual Update Course: This is a free, self-paced course in the Interpreters Learning Center.

At the beginning of each quarter instructors whose status is about to expire will be registered. You will receive an email confirmation. Once you complete the course, the database will automatically record your updated status.

Contact Information

If you have any additional questions, email [email protected] and we will get back to you.

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