Can a welder continue working while their continuity lapse is being investigated?

No. Once a continuity lapse is confirmed, the welder is no longer qualified for that process and position combination. Production welds made after the lapse date but before documentation was caught may require CWI review and potential disposition.

Does a welder need to repeat every position after a lapse, or only the one that lapsed?

Only the process and position combination that lapsed must be re-qualified. If the welder maintained continuity in 1G flat but not in 3G vertical, they need to re-qualify in 3G vertical — the 1G qualification is unaffected.

Is there a shortcut re-qualification for an experienced welder who just missed the six-month window by a few days?

No. AWS D1.1:2025 does not have a grace period or waiver for near-misses. A lapse is a lapse. The welder must pass a new qualification test meeting the same requirements as the original WPQ.

Who witnesses the re-qualification test?

The CWI or welding inspector designated by the fabricator or contractor. The same witness and documentation requirements that apply to original WPQ tests apply to re-qualification tests.

Welder Re-Qualification After a Continuity Lapse: AWS D1.1:2025

When a welder's AWS D1.1 qualification lapses after six months without use, re-qualification means a new WPQ test. Here is exactly what that test requires and how to document it.

A welder whose qualification has lapsed under the AWS D1.1:2025 six-month continuity rule is no longer qualified to perform production welds in the affected process and position. The qualification did not expire gradually — it lapsed on the day that marks six months since their last verified production weld in that process.

From that day forward, production welds made by that welder in the lapsed process and position have no qualified welder behind them. For a CWI managing a busy shop, discovering a continuity lapse is always unpleasant. The question that follows immediately is: what does it take to get this welder back on the floor?

The answer is straightforward. The welder must pass a new qualification test that meets the same requirements as their original WPQ. There is no shortened test, no experience waiver, and no re-instatement by paperwork alone.

Rule library based on AWS D1.1:2025; verify against your governing edition (the AHJ or contract may specify 2020 or an earlier edition).

What Continuity Actually Tracks

Under AWS D1.1:2025 Clause 6.4.1, a welder's qualification remains active for a given process as long as they have welded in that process within the preceding six months. The code ties continuity to a specific process, not to the welder as a whole. A welder qualified in SMAW, GMAW, and FCAW-G maintains each qualification independently:

Using SMAW every week does not preserve their GMAW qualification.
If they last used GMAW eight months ago, the GMAW qualification has lapsed even if the SMAW qualification is current.

Position qualification works similarly. A welder qualified in 1G (flat), 2G (horizontal), and 3G (vertical) who only uses flat in production will eventually lapse in 2G and 3G while maintaining 1G.

For the shop's qualification matrix to catch this, welder activity records must log process and position, not just a generic "welded this week" notation. Vague records create ambiguity about which qualifications are current. The welder continuity tracking alerts feature in a WPS management system automates this by tracking process-level activity per welder.

The Re-Qualification Test

Re-qualifying after a continuity lapse is not a simplified test. AWS D1.1:2025 requires the welder to demonstrate qualification to the same standard as an initial WPQ.

Test Plate Requirements

The test coupon must be the same type required for the original WPQ — a groove weld plate for a groove-weld qualification, or a T-joint fillet coupon for fillet-weld qualification. The material must be from the same base metal group as the welder's intended work, or a representative material that qualifies the necessary range.

Test plate dimensions match the original WPQ requirements. The welder must complete the coupon in the position being re-qualified. If they are re-qualifying for 3G vertical, the plate is welded vertical. If they are re-qualifying for FCAW-G and were qualified for both 1G and 2G, they must re-test each position that lapsed.

Acceptance Criteria

The completed test plate must pass:

Visual examination — No cracks, no incomplete fusion, undercut within the acceptance limits of AWS D1.1:2025, and surface appearance consistent with the requirements.

Bend tests — For groove weld qualification, face and root bend coupons (or side bends for plate over 3/4 in. thick) must meet the bend test acceptance criteria. No open defects greater than 1/8 in. measured in any direction on the convex surface after bending.

Or radiographic examination — RT of the groove weld coupon is an acceptable alternative to bend testing in AWS D1.1. The radiograph must show no cracks, no incomplete fusion, and porosity within the table limits.

Fillet weld re-qualification tests use a break test (macroetch acceptable in many cases) per the applicable WPQ requirements.

What the Test Does NOT Cover

Re-qualification restores the welder's qualification to the range permitted by their new test. It does not automatically restore qualifications beyond that range. If the original WPQ had been established with a large test plate that qualified a broad thickness range and multiple positions, the re-qualification test establishes a new range based on the current coupon.

The qualification range rules under AWS D1.1:2025 Clause 6.3 apply to re-qualification tests exactly as they do to initial tests. A 3G test qualifies for 1G and 3G (not 2G or 4G overhead). An unlimited-thickness groove weld test qualifies for all thicknesses down to 1/8 in. A limited test plate qualifies a narrower range.

If the shop needs the welder to cover the same broad range they held before the lapse, the re-qualification coupon must be designed to achieve that.

Documenting the Re-Qualification

The new qualification test generates a new WPQ record. Do not amend the old WPQ — create a fresh one that stands on its own. The record must include:

Welder name and stamp/ID number
Date of test
Process and filler metal used
Test plate material and thickness
Position welded
WPS used for the test (the qualification test must be performed in accordance with a qualified WPS)
Examination results and the CWI's signature
New effective date (date of the passing test)

Update the shop's qualification matrix to reflect the new certification date and lapse-risk date. The six-month clock starts from the date of the re-qualification test, not from the original certification date.

Handling Production Welds Made During the Lapse

If a continuity lapse is discovered after the fact — the welder continued working past their lapse date without anyone catching it — those production welds were made without a qualified welder. This is a serious nonconformance.

The fabricator's QC plan should define the disposition process. Typical steps:

Identify affected welds. Review the weld traveler or production records to determine which welds were made by the welder after the lapse date. Welder ID stamps on joints or traveler signatures are essential for this.
CWI visual examination. Inspect all affected welds to current visual acceptance criteria. Document findings.
NDE if required. The fabricator, EOR, or owner may require MT, PT, UT, or RT on joints that cannot be adequately evaluated by visual alone, or when the joint type (CJP groove) warrants it.
Accept, repair, or replace. Welds that pass examination can be accepted with documentation of the review. Welds with defects require repair by a qualified welder under a valid WPS, followed by re-examination.
Document the disposition. The nonconformance record, examination results, and acceptance or repair disposition must be retained as part of the quality record for the project.

The fact that the welder re-qualifies later does not retroactively qualify the welds made during the lapse. The disposition of those welds is a separate question.

For an overview of what CWIs need to document on weld travelers, see Weld traveler document production traceability and Welder ID stamp production traceability under AWS D1.1.

Preventing Future Lapses

The most reliable way to avoid continuity lapses is a tracking system that flags each welder's process-level activity before the six-month mark, not after. Manual spreadsheets work for small shops with three or four welders. They become unreliable above ten welders or four active processes.

Automated welder continuity tracking — the kind that alerts the QC manager at four months of inactivity on a process, giving time to schedule a weld before the clock runs out — eliminates the discovery problem. A welder assigned a brief production weld to maintain qualification in an infrequently used process is much cheaper than a re-qualification test and an NCR review of prior production joints.

WPS Welding's welder continuity tracker with alerts handles this tracking automatically, logging process-level activity and sending alerts before the six-month window closes.

Summary

When an AWS D1.1:2025 continuity qualification lapses, re-qualification requires a new WPQ test plate that meets the same requirements as the original — correct process, correct position, full visual and bend or RT examination, witnessed by a CWI, and generating a new WPQ record. There are no shortcuts. The new qualification date resets the six-month clock. Production welds made during the lapse must be separately dispositioned regardless of the welder's eventual re-qualification. A proactive tracking system that catches lapsed qualifications at four months — before the window closes — is far cheaper than the alternative.