On February 24, 2020, the re certification policy of CCIE Examination was changed.
The changes include:
Re certification is required every three years
Pause is no longer an option
Candidates can pass the exam, get points or a combination of the two for re certification
Eligible CE credits will be increased from 100 to 120
The upper limit of continuing education points for Cisco Live activities and content writing has been removed, such as writing exam items. Any CCIE Active or CCIE honorary retiree who has been CCIE active or retired for 20 consecutive years will receive CCIE lifetime reputation benefits – no additional pension renewal fee.
As of February 24, 2020, the following re certification policies remain in effect:
Active CCIE status shows that you are committed to maintaining expert knowledge in industries that are critical to the success of almost every organization. CCIE is encouraged to continuously expand its technical knowledge, and re certification is required every two years. If you do not complete the re certification by the deadline, your CCIE certification will be suspended, and you and your employer will lose the benefits related to your expert status. Before you become inactive, you will have a year to restore your CCIE state and have to restart the authentication process.
Re certification deadline
CCIE Certification must be re certified every two years
You can check the re certification deadline online at any time (login) in the authentication status
Subsequent re certification deadlines are always based on your original certification date, not the time of your last re certification exam
Candidates must take CCIE test for the first time within 18 months after passing the CCIE written test. Those who fail must try the test again within 12 months after the last test so that the written test is still valid. If the examinee fails to pass the experimental examination within three years after passing the written examination, he/she must take the written examination again before taking the experimental examination again.
Re certification details
To remain active, CCIE can use one of the following options to re authenticate flexibly every 24 months prior to the expiry date of certification:
Credits required through Cisco continuing education program
Pass any existing CCIE written test or CCIE experiment test
Pass the current CCDE written test or the current CCDE practice test
Extend lower certification through Cisco Certified Architect (CCAr) interviews and CCAr Board reviews
CCIE authentication automatically extends other Cisco certifications, such as CCNP or CCNA.
Candidates can only apply for the the written examination once passed through the Cisco continuing education program or get required credits for re certification every 24 months.
Candidates have to wait 15 calendar days between written tests
It is the responsibility of certification candidates to track their certification expiration date. Please plan your re certification accordingly. If your CCIE re certification request is not completed on or before the certification expiration date, your CCIE certification will be suspended for one year. Candidates have one year to pass the required written examination to re certify CCIE certification. If the candidate does not re certify before the one-year deadline, your employer will be informed. Suspended candidates have one year to pass the required written examination or practical laboratory to re certify their CCIE certification, and then their expert level certification will be permanently suspended. Inactive CCIE professionals lose all benefits and have to pass CCIE written and laboratory tests again.
Implementation or re certification of CCIE will automatically extend your valid admission, assistant, professional or other expert level or expert certification until the expiration date of the latest CCIE, CCDE or CCAR certification is reached.
Be sure to use the same ID number you assigned to the original qualification test to ensure that your personal data is updated accurately. If you have any questions about which ID number to use, please contact CCIE to have support.
