Entry & progression
The practical lesson. What is actually worth doing, in what order, and what is not worth doing at all.
MCA-trained, wanting to work in the US
Your CoC does not make you an American officer. There is no conversion, no exchange, no recognition of your MCA ticket for service on a US-flagged vessel. You apply as a new applicant.
- Your sea time still counts. It is service, and 46 CFR 10.232 does not require it to have been on US vessels. Document it properly — vessel name, official number, gross tonnage, propulsion, dates, routes.
- Your Basic Training clears first aid and CPR. That is a real saving.
- Your COLREGS knowledge is half the Rules of the Road module. Learn the Inland Rules and the deltas, and you have the other half.
- Everything else you start fresh: TWIC enrolment, CG-719K medical, drug test, CG-719B, fee, exam.
- Watch the tonnage. Your service will be assessed in GRT under the 46 CFR 11.422 formula. A career on 500 GT yachts is a career on roughly 200 GRT vessels.
WARNING — The citizenship wall 46 CFR 11.201(d): no officer endorsement may be issued to a person who is not a US citizen — with a single exception, the OUPV on vessels not documented under US law. So a British mariner can hold an OUPV, endorsed "Limited to Uninspected Vessels Not Documented Under the Laws of the United States." They cannot hold a Master under 100 GRT. That wall is the most important fact in this course for a non-US mariner, and almost nobody is told it until they have paid the fee.
US-trained, wanting to work on MCA-flagged yachts
The mirror image, and the wall runs the other way — though it is a lower one. The MCA does not require British citizenship for a CoC, so the door is open. But your OUPV buys you nothing: it is not an STCW capacity and it does not map onto the MCA ladder at any point.
- Your sea service counts toward MCA requirements, subject to their documentation rules.
- Your BST is STCW Basic Training and is recognised — the convention works both ways.
- You will need to enter the MCA system at the appropriate rung and sit their exams, including the oral — which will be a genuinely new experience.
- Your Rules of the Road is strong. You have been examined on COLREGS at 90 percent with no references, which is a harder standard than most MCA candidates have faced.
The honest summary
| What transfers | What does not |
|---|---|
| STCW Basic Training — both directions | The licence itself. No conversion exists |
| Sea service — as service, properly documented | Tonnage figures — GRT and GT are different numbers |
| COLREGS knowledge | Buoyage colours — Region A vs Region B are reversed |
| Seamanship, which is not national | Citizenship — a non-US citizen is capped at the OUPV |
Two systems, one convention, and one narrow bridge. Cross it knowing what is actually on the far side, and the trip is manageable. Cross it assuming your ticket comes with you, and it is an expensive lesson.