The IGA understands that there are times when work is scarce, when sickness and injury prevails, when travelling takes a front seat or life takes you down a different path. During these times, paying professional dues could be at the bottom of your list.
No need to worry, we have your back, and have a built in policy to help you through this.
Maintaining your certification with the Interpretive Guides Association has it's benefits and we encourage all our certified guides to pay the yearly dues, but if you can't or don't feel the need today, here is what you need to know:
- You can defer your professional dues 2 years in a row without penalty.
- if you defer for three years or more, you chance loosing your certification and having to re-take any courses and tests you have done in the past.
If you have deferred your professional dues and are ready to join again, here is what you need to do:
Non-payment for less than 3 years
- Pay this year's professional dues.
- Enter 10 hours of professional development that you have completed in the last year on the submit and manage professional development page of the website
Non-payment for more than 3 years and less than 5 years:
- Send in a request to reinstate your certification to executivedirector@interpretiveguides.org.
- In the same email, send in a resume for the time you let your certification lapse, with the following:
- All guiding/educational/interpretive related training and certifications you have completed since leaving the IGA.
- A description of the work you completed during this time (you will need to show that you have worked as a guide, educator and interpreter to be re-instated).
- Any volunteer work you completed in interpretation/education/guiding.
Note: all volunteer and paid interpretation/education/guiding work or training can be from any location in the world.
- Re-take the test specific to your certification and pass with a grade of 70% or higher. All tests are subject to exam fees.
- Pay this year's yearly professional dues.
- Submit 20 hours of professional development that you have completed in the past 2 years.
- Submit a copy of your valid first aid certification based on requirements within your IGA qualification.
Note: Hiking guides must re-take day one of the GM course (Cost = 50% of current courses fees).
Non-payment for more than 5 years:
After 5 or more years, certifications are null and void and you will have to retake and pass any course you want to be certified in.