Renewing Your Part-66 Licence

Part-66 licence renewal is simpler than most engineers expect, but two separate rules get mixed up: the validity of the licence document, which you renew every five years, and the recency rule that decides whether you may use your privileges. This guide explains both, then walks through renewal with the UK CAA and with an EU member state authority, what happens if a licence expires, how to replace a lost one, and how renewal interacts with adding type ratings or removing limitations.

Part-66 Prep is an independent study aid, not EASA, the UK CAA or any authority. Fees and procedures below were checked in October 2026; confirm them on your authority's pages before you apply. For first-time applications, see how to apply for a Part-66 licence.

How long a Part-66 licence is valid

Point 66.A.40 says the aircraft maintenance licence becomes invalid 5 years after its last issue or change, unless the holder submits it to the issuing authority so the authority can check that the licence matches its records. The same text appears in the EU rule, consolidated in the EASA Easy Access Rules for Continuing Airworthiness, and in the retained UK Part-66 on legislation.gov.uk.

Three consequences follow from that wording:

• The clock restarts on any change. Adding a type rating, a category or removing a limitation reissues the licence, so the five years run from that date.
• Renewal is administrative. You complete the relevant parts of Form 19 and send it with the licence. There are no exams.
• Privileges stop at expiry. Under 66.A.40(c), any certification privilege based on the licence becomes invalid as soon as the licence does. A licence is also only valid once the authority has issued it and you have signed it.

Under EASA rules, a holder working for a Part-145 or Part-CAO organisation whose exposition includes a procedure for it may have the organisation submit the renewal paperwork on their behalf. The UK text keeps the same provision for Part-145 organisations.

Key fact: Your module passes do not expire once they are on a licence. The 10-year rule in 66.A.25 applies to exams and experience before an application for a new licence or category, not to keeping a licence you already hold.

Validity vs privileges: the 6 months in 2 years rule

The licence can be perfectly valid while you are not allowed to use it. Point 66.A.20(b) says you may only exercise your privileges if all of these are true:

1. you comply with the applicable requirements of Part-M, Part-145, Part-ML and Part-CAO
2. in the preceding 2 years you have had 6 months of maintenance experience in line with the privileges of the licence, or you have met the requirements for issuing those privileges
3. you have adequate competence to certify maintenance on the aircraft concerned
4. you can read, write and communicate well enough in the language of the maintenance data and procedures

EASA guidance (GM 66.A.40) states plainly that recency affects the validity of the privileges, not the validity of the licence. The EASA Part-66 FAQs add that the experience should be on the aircraft types concerned or similar ones, covering at least one aircraft type per structure (metal, composite or wood), and that if you lose recency there are ways back, such as repeating type training, a type evaluation with practical assessment, or, for some licences, showing experience over a representative cross section of tasks.

The UK CAA states that renewal is not conditional on recent maintenance experience and that it will not check whether you are in current practice when it renews. Keeping privileges valid is the responsibility of you and the organisation that issues your certification authorisation. In practice, your Part-145 or Part-CAO organisation tracks your recency before it renews your authorisation, so keep your own records too.

	Licence validity	Privileges (recency)
Rule	66.A.40	66.A.20(b)
Period	5 years from last issue or change	Rolling: 6 months' experience in the last 2 years
Who checks	The issuing authority, at renewal	You and your employer, continuously
If not met	Licence invalid until renewed	Licence valid but you may not certify
Fix	Renew (administrative)	Regain experience or meet the issue requirements again

Renewing a UK CAA Part-66 licence

The CAA's renewal page sets out the process (checked October 2026):

1. Wait until 60 days before expiry. You cannot apply earlier for a straight renewal.
2. Complete the aircraft maintenance licence online application on the CAA Customer Portal, creating an account first if needed.
3. Upload proof of identity: a colour selfie holding a valid passport, UK photocard driving licence or MOD 90/100.
4. Pay the fee: £455, with extra for secure courier return or same-day service.
5. Post your original licence to the CAA's engineer licensing team at Crawley, quoting your application reference. Renewal starts only once the original arrives. If you post from outside the UK, declare the package value as zero, not the fee.

A licensing officer assesses the application within 10 working days of receiving the original licence, and the CAA may hold an incomplete application for up to 30 working days. Once you have posted the licence and have confirmation of the application, you may keep exercising its privileges until the expiry date, but not after it. When the renewed licence arrives, sign it before you use it.

Two practical points. If your licence is cut or defaced, the CAA needs a replacement first, at an extra fee. And if you also hold a BCAR Section L national licence, that renewal is a separate application. The CAA also publishes a licence renewal calculator on its UK Part-66 pages.

Rolling renewal when you change the licence

Because any change restarts the five-year period, the CAA charges a rolling renewal fee when it reissues a licence to add a type rating or remove limitations, worked out from your current expiry date (shown on the licence). The Scheme of Charges (ORS5) describes the renewal fee as prorated when a licence is reissued early. So if you add a type rating a year before expiry, you pay the type rating fee (£183 as of October 2026) plus a part-renewal charge, and the licence comes back with a fresh five years. The type ratings guide and the licence cost guide cover those fees.

Renewing an EASA Part-66 licence

Under EASA rules, renewal goes to the authority that issued your licence, not to EASA and not to whichever authority is nearest. You complete the relevant parts of EASA Form 19 and submit it with your copy of the licence, in the way that authority requires, and pay its fee.

As one checked example, the Irish Aviation Authority has handled all Part-66 applications, including renewals, through its MySRS online system since 5 August 2024. It issues licences electronically, lists EASA Form 19 as the form for issue, renewal and amendment, and refers applicants to its schedule of charges for fees (IAA licensing pages, checked October 2026). Other authorities use their own portals or paper forms. We do not quote EU fees or processing times we have not checked.

If you have moved country within the EU, your licence still belongs to the authority that issued it until you formally change the issuing state, which is a separate application with its own requirements.

If your licence has expired

The moment the licence expires, your certification privileges end (66.A.40(c)). Do not sign certificates of release to service, and tell your organisation so it can stop your certification authorisation being used until the licence is renewed.

The rule text does not say an expired licence is lost for good. It describes renewal as the holder submitting the licence so the authority can verify its records, and the CAA's replacement page tells holders of an expired licence to renew it first. Your basic module passes and existing ratings are recorded by the authority. What expiry does cost you is time without privileges, and possibly a gap in recency if it runs on. If your licence has been expired for a long time, contact your authority before applying, because it may ask for more evidence. The experience requirements guide explains how recency is evidenced.

Replacing a lost, stolen or damaged licence

The CAA's replacement process (checked October 2026):

• Lost: a letter saying so and/or a police report.
• Stolen: the crime reference number and the police force it was reported to.
• Damaged or needing changes: post the licence back to the CAA.
• Fee: £63, plus optional courier or same-day service.
• Expired as well: renew instead of replacing.

Applications go through the Customer Portal and are assessed within 10 working days. Name changes need proof such as a marriage certificate or deed poll. EU authorities run their own replacement processes, usually through the same Form 19 or portal.

Renewal and your certification authorisation

Your licence is only half of what lets you sign for work. The other half is the certification authorisation issued by your maintenance organisation under its Part-145 or Part-CAO approval, which lists the aircraft and tasks you may release. The authorisation depends on the licence: when the licence expires, an authorisation based on it cannot be used, even if its own expiry date is later.

Organisations normally check three things before they renew an authorisation: that your licence is valid and covers the scope, that you meet the 6 months in 2 years recency rule for that scope, and that your continuation training (human factors, procedures and type updates) is current. So the licence renewal date and the authorisation renewal date are worth lining up, and your quality department will usually ask for a copy of the renewed licence as soon as it arrives.

Changing your details between renewals

You do not need to wait for renewal to update the licence. In the UK, a change of name, nationality or address goes through the CAA's "change your details" service on the Customer Portal, with documentary proof such as a marriage certificate, decree or deed poll for a name change. Because a change reissues the licence, check whether a rolling renewal charge applies when you apply.

Employers and authorities sometimes need to confirm a licence is genuine. The CAA runs a UK Part-66 licence verification service for that purpose, listed with its other UK Part-66 services. Note that since 30 September 2024 the CAA no longer sends licence verification letters to the US FAA.

Keeping your licence current: a checklist

1. Put the expiry date in your calendar with a reminder 60 days before, which is when UK renewals open.
2. Keep a personal logbook of tasks, aircraft and dates even after you are licensed. It is your evidence of recency, and of experience if you later add a category.
3. Check your organisation's procedure. Some Part-145 and Part-CAO organisations submit renewals for their staff; others leave it to you.
4. Time changes sensibly. Adding a type rating restarts the five-year period, with a rolling renewal charge in the UK.
5. Hold two licences? Track both. A UK licence and an EASA licence each have their own expiry date and authority. The UK and EASA licence conversion guide explains dual licences.
6. Planning to add a category? That needs new module passes within the 10-year window; see the licence categories hub and the free licence categories note.

What to do next

If you are renewing, gather your licence, ID and the fee, and apply from 60 days before expiry. If you are adding a category or moving to a new one, the renewal date is a natural moment to plan it: check which extra modules you need on the become an aircraft engineer hub, then practise them on the free papers. If you are adding avionics to a B1 licence, start with the free B2 diagnostic, then the free Module 13 paper 1 and Module 14 quick practice, the two modules a B1 holder does not already have.