You submit it inside your BACB portal account, under the Applications tab, and it only unlocks within 45 days of your recertification date. It also won't let you submit until every CEU you need is already entered, so the CEU tab comes first. Have your certificates ready, pay the fee, and answer the health and conduct disclosure honestly. Approval updates your certification date and mails a new certificate within 4-6 weeks.
When does the recertification application open?
Your BACB portal account unlocks the recertification application within 45 days of your recertification date, not sooner. That's the whole window: forty-five days to review your information, pay the fee, and answer the disclosure question. Miss it and you're not automatically expired that day, but you do lose the cushion. The handbook is direct about the stakes: you must complete your application on or before your recertification date to avoid a lapse in your certification and late fees. Mark the date on your calendar the moment the window opens, not the week before it closes.
What has to be in your account before you can submit?
The portal won't let the application through until you've entered enough CEUs to meet the requirement, full stop. That's the mechanism: recertification is self-report, so the account has to show 32 CEUs logged before it opens the door, 4 of them ethics, 3 of them supervision if you supervised an RBT, BCaBA or trainee at any point in the cycle. If you're still short, stop reading this page and go log the certificates you already have. The application itself is quick. Getting the CEU tab to say 32 is the actual project.
Where in your account, and what are you attesting to?
Once the window opens, go to the Applications tab and start the recertification application. Review your contact information and mailing address while you're in there; that's where your new certificate gets mailed if you're approved. Partway through, the application asks whether you have a physical or mental health condition, a substance use disorder, or an investigation or disciplinary action that could affect your ability to practice safely.
Answer it truthfully. Say yes and you'll also need to file an Ethics Self-Reporting Statement, and your application sits on hold until BACB staff reviews it. Then you attest that your CEUs are accurate. The BACB doesn't check every entry up front; it audits a sample after the fact, so keep every certificate you used to log a CEU.
What's the fee, and what happens after you submit?
The recertification application fee is $215 if you're a BCBA, $290 if you hold the BCBA-D. Applications are processed in the order they're received, so submitting on day one of your window doesn't buy you a faster answer, just a longer cushion if something needs fixing. If your CEU entries get pulled for audit, expect an email asking for documentation. Miss that email or come up short on paperwork and your certification expires, so check the inbox you gave the BACB and keep it current.
Get approved and two things happen: your certification date rolls forward two years from your last recertification date, and a new certificate goes out by mail within 4-6 weeks, depending on the postal service. Nothing about your CE requirement resets early. You can't start banking CEUs for the next cycle until the new cycle actually starts, even if you submitted your application weeks before your old date.
What happens if you miss your recertification date?
Your certification goes inactive the day you miss it. That means no billing, no practicing, no supervising and no calling yourself a BCBA until it's fixed. If you finished all your CEUs but just didn't get the application in, you get 30 days from your recertification date to reinstate and pay a $50 late fee. Miss that 30-day window too and the certification is gone: you'd have to reapply and meet whatever eligibility rules are current at that point, not the ones you certified under originally.
What should you check before you hit submit?
Pull every CE certificate you're counting toward this cycle and check four things on each one: the ACE provider number is on it (Special Learning's is OP-14-2437, and any provider you used should show its own), the category is marked correctly if it's ethics or supervision, the completion date falls inside your current cycle and not the one before it, and the hours match what you logged in your BACB account. If you supervised anyone this cycle, confirm your 3 supervision CEUs are in there separately from your 4 ethics CEUs; they don't substitute for each other. Do this before you open the application, not while it's sitting on hold.
Frequently Asked Questions
When can I submit my BCBA recertification application?
Your BACB portal account opens the recertification application within 45 days of your recertification date, not before. You'll find it under the Applications tab once the window opens. Complete it on or before your recertification date; going past that date puts your certification into inactive status, plus a late fee if you're inside the 30-day reinstatement period.
Why won't the BACB portal let me submit yet?
The portal will let you start a recertification application inside your 45-day window, but it won't let you submit it until you've entered enough CEUs in your account to meet the requirement. That's the self-report system doing its job: it wants your logged total in place before the paperwork moves forward. Log every outstanding certificate first, then go back to the Applications tab and finish it.
How much does the recertification application cost?
The application fee is $215 if you're a BCBA and $290 if you hold the BCBA-D. If you miss your recertification date but finished your CEUs on time, you get a 30-day reinstatement window for an extra $50 late fee. After that window closes, the fee structure doesn't matter anymore because you'd need to reapply from scratch.
What happens if my CEUs get audited?
The BACB doesn't verify every CEU when you enter it. It audits a sample instead, and if yours gets pulled, expect an email asking for documentation. That's why every certificate matters, not just the ones for ethics and supervision: you attest to the whole 32, and any of it can get checked.
What if I miss my recertification date entirely?
Your certification goes inactive that day and you can't bill, practice, supervise or call yourself a BCBA. If you'd finished your CEUs, you get 30 days to reinstate and pay a $50 late fee. Miss that window too and you lose the certification outright, which means reapplying under whatever eligibility rules are current then.
Can I pause my certification instead of letting it lapse?
Voluntary inactive status exists for exactly this. You can request it if you're within your cycle and have completed your CE prorated to the month, and once granted, you can stay inactive for up to four years. The handbook governs the conditions to return, so read that section before you request it rather than guessing at the timeline.
Get your ethics and supervision hours logged before you touch the application
Video CE Library 1 is $199 for 32.5 CE hours - 25 general, 4 ethics, 3.5 supervision - and $199 divided by 32.5 works out to $6.12 per CEU. It carries 4 ethics and 3.5 supervision hours; check those two lines against what your BACB account shows before you buy.
See Video CE Library 1 →Disclaimer: This guide is for informational purposes only. BACB renewal requirements are set and enforced by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB); always consult BACB.com for the current requirements. Special Learning is a BACB ACE Provider (OP-14-2437). Authorization as an ACE Provider does not imply endorsement or approval of the ACE event content by the BACB.