Eligibility

CCHI has an online application process that requires an applicant to create a Profile. This Profile remains active as long as the interpreter moves through the certification process and, subsequently, renews their certification.

CCHI requires applicants to upload documentation that evidences their eligibility in an electronic format (as a pdf or jpg file) in the application.

IMPORTANT: If your language is Arabic, Mandarin or Spanish, keep in mind that the oral performance CHI exams are administered only at physical test centers within the USA and Canada.

View the How to Apply PowerPoint (with detailed screenshots of the application ) or listen to the recording of the webinar “#GetCertified with CCHI” (02/23/18).

If you have any questions about your application, contact us by email at apply@cchicertification.org. When necessary, our staff then will schedule a phone call with you.

CCHI is pleased to provide a monthly live meeting Certification Q&A with CCHI Staff every second Friday at 12:30pm Eastern time! Bring your burning questions and certification curiosities and speak with our staff in real time about:

• CCHI’s eligibility requirements, including language proficiency documentation
• Our application process
• Certification renewal process and requirements for Continuing Education

This will be a live Zoom meeting with no registration required. Click below to access the Zoom meeting at the time of the event each month.

In establishing the eligibility criteria, CCHI has taken into account that the purpose of the certification is to attest to the certificant’s knowledge and skills base and judgement ability within the professional ethics’ framework at the entry-level competence, to provide an equitable process for qualifying medical interpreters of any language, and, ultimately, to assure provision of safe and quality healthcare to limited English proficient patients.

CCHI was founded in July 15, 2009 by 13 Commissioners who participated in the work of the National Coalition on Health Care Interpreter Certification (NCC) in 2008-2009. The Coalition was a public forum for the stakeholders to prepare for certification. The work of the Coalition laid the foundation for CCHI’s eligibility requirements, as several CCHI founding Commissioners were involved in the review of the existing prerequisites for interpreter certification in the non-medical interpreting industry sectors in the U.S. and internationally.

During the December 2009 meeting of the Job Task Analysis panelists, the subject matter experts discussed the definition of the minimally competent healthcare interpreter and eligibility criteria outlined by the Coalition. In 2010, the founding Commissioners, representing the main stakeholders of the profession and industry, held several internal meetings to discuss the eligibility requirements and consultations with the Advisory panels.

In 2011, after participating in several panel discussions at interpreter associations’ conferences and holding additional meetings with CCHI’s Advisory panels, the prerequisites were revised, and those edibility criteria are in effect currently.

The Commissioners review the eligibility criteria in-depth on a bi-annual basis and at the time of the JTA study. See the most current JTA report at https://cchicertification.org/about-us/publications/.

In the fall of 2022, CCHI has conducted a national survey “Language Proficiency for Interpreters (LPI)” to solicit input from stakeholders regarding what level of language proficiency in a Language Other Than English (LOTE) for interpreters they consider to be minimally appropriate and what kind of documentation they would consider relevant and appropriate to ascertain a person’s language proficiency in a LOTE.