Is Your EN ISO 9606-1 Certificate Valid Abroad? A Field-by-Field Check for Welders from Slovenia and the Balkans

EN ISO 9606-1 is a harmonised European standard. The current edition is EN ISO 9606-1:2017. Its Annex ZA/ZB map it to EU Directive 2014/68/EU (Pressure Equipment Directive) and 2014/29/EU (Simple Pressure Vessels). Austria's national standards body lists its 2018 adoption as current.

Two conditions still apply. The certificate must be live: within its validity period, with the six-monthly confirmations signed. And an individual employer or site may still add its own entrance test or safety-card requirement. The worksheet below is a decision aid, not a guarantee; a specific employer, site, or certification body may apply additional requirements. This article is general guidance, not legal advice.

Take your certificate in hand. The table shows the five fields you check.

If the job ad does not state the process, base material, thickness, or welding position, ask the agency or employer for those requirements before deciding whether your certificate covers the job.

Under Clause 5, your certificate records essential variables and a range of qualification. Compare those with the process and scope stated in the job. The welding industry practice page explains how Evroproces matches certificate scope to placements.

Your certificate is personal to the welder and valid for two years, with provisions for extension or a three-year cycle where the welder is retested every three years, depending on the application standard and certification body. Under EN ISO 9606-1, a welder qualification must be confirmed every six months by a responsible person in the employer's organisation. Without documented continuity the qualification lapses even before the two-year point.

Check the expiry date first. Then check that the six-monthly confirmations are signed and dated. If either is missing, the certificate may not be live.

If it has lapsed or expired, Clause 9.3 gives three revalidation routes. Options a) and b) are the preferred ones, and option c) was newly introduced in the 2017 edition. WDC describes the three revalidation routes as: retest every three years; extend the two-year validity if you have volumetric testing on two welds in the last six months; and the same-manufacturer route under ISO 3834-2 with documented acceptable weld quality — adding that route 3 is not permitted for PED categories II–IV.

Work through your certificate before applying: if the expiry date has passed or the confirmations are missing, ask your certification body which revalidation route applies; the applicable route depends on the certification body and application standard. The full mechanics are in the ISO 9606-1 revalidation guide.

ISO 3834 is not a certificate you hold. It is a company-level series of quality requirements for fusion welding of metallic materials. It applies to manufacturers in workshops and at field installation sites. When a job ad mentions ISO 3834, it is about the employer's welding quality system, not a document you need to bring. ISO 3834-1 sets the criteria for choosing among three levels: ISO 3834-2 (comprehensive), -3 (standard), and -4 (elementary).

Your own document remains your EN ISO 9606-1 certificate. Do not confuse the two. The employers' guide to EN ISO 9606-1 and ISO 3834 breaks down the difference further.

A valid EN ISO 9606-1 certificate is evidence of your welding qualification. It is not a site-access card, and it is not a promise that an employer will accept you without an entrance test. No single universal list of site cards exists. The specific job ad and site owner set the final rule.

Two common examples. In Sweden, SSG Entre Contractor Safety was renamed in May 2026 from the SSG Entre basic course. It is an online safety course based on SSG 2200, currently required at more than 300 industrial sites. It costs EUR 165 per participant, takes about three hours online, and the pass is valid for three years. In Norway, employers in building and construction must ensure employees hold valid HSE cards (HMS-kort). The duty applies to Norwegian and foreign workers alike, and the site owner may impose stricter requirements than the regulations. Before you target Sweden or Norway, check the Nordic safety card and certificate renewal guide.

An employer may still run its own site or entrance welding test even if your papers are in order. The certificate shows you qualified once; the employer may wish to see it under its own conditions. For Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, or any other destination, send the job ad to the agency and ask which site-access card, induction, ID, or welding test the named site requires before you pay for or book anything.

Evroproces d.o.o. is a Slovenian workforce solutions agency founded in Maribor in 2014, placing skilled professionals such as welders, electricians, locksmiths, pipefitters, and general-labour teams with companies across the EU and EEA. Evroproces never charges a worker a placement fee; its compensation comes from the employer. Evroproces verifies the documents you send as part of its placement service. It does not sell or issue certificates. If anyone asks you to pay for a certificate or registration through an agency, stop and treat it as a warning sign.

We place candidates who already have the right to work in the EU, EEA, or Switzerland, or who hold a valid Slovenian or Croatian residence-and-work permit. This applies regardless of nationality; the company is not able to sponsor new work visas from outside the EU at this time. Check the who we can place page to confirm your permit qualifies. See how Evroproces verifies skilled workers for the full document checks.

Send the following with your CV.

Evroproces does not issue or sell any of these documents; the agency verifies what you already hold. For the complete pre-departure list, see documents workers need before starting an overseas placement.

Send your CV, certificate details, and work permit to Evroproces through the placement application form. Evroproces verifies the documents and does not charge the worker. Your certificate is your own document; you should never pay anyone for it.