Why is the expiration date of my certificate received on October 1st, 2023 not two years from my latest exam?

Fortinet calculates the expiration date of all certifications that require two exams using the process described in the following article (please refer to the videos):

Transitioning From NSE 7 to FCSS Certification That Requires Two Proctored Exams 

Five certifications require two exams:

• FCP in Network Security
• FCP in Security Operations
• FCP in Public Cloud Security
• FCSS in Network Security
• FCSS in Secure Access Service Edge

The certification process:

1. Identifies the first time after October 1, 2021, that you completed one of the required exams.
2. Checks whether you completed any of the additional required exams no more than 2 years from the date of the exam you identified in step 1 (before or after).

If you meet both requirements, you receive the certification, with the following considerations: 

• The issue date of the awarded certification is set to the date of the second exam. 
• The expiration date of the awarded certification is set to two years after the issue date.

After that, the certification process continues moving forward in time, using the same logic, to identify whether you have met the two requirements again by completing two different exams. If the certification process finds that you meet these requirements, it extends the expiration date of your certification by two years from the date that you passed the second exam.

Additionally, according to the new recertification policies, if you achieve or recertify your FCX certification, it recertifies all your other Fortinet NSE certifications that are still active to match the expiration date of your FCX certification.

The certification process checks all the exams you completed before October 1, 2023.

That means that depending on which exams you took, and when, the expiration date can be in some cases two years after the date of the exam you took before your last exam. In those cases, your last exam counts toward one of the two requirements to renew the certification. So, you will need to pass one exam only, instead of two, to renew your certification.

Example situation

For example, let’s assume that you have completed the following exams:

• NSE 7 Enterprise Firewall on 1-Jan-2021
• NSE 7 SD-WAN on 1-May-2022
• NSE 7 Enterprise Firewall on 1-Jun-2023

As described in the article, you will receive the FCSS in Network Security certification, and the expiration date will be calculated as follows:

The certification process:

1. Identifies the first time after October 1, 2021, that you completed one of the required exams. In this scenario, the first exam after October 1, 2021, is the NSE 7 SD-WAN exam on 1-May-2022.
2.  Checks whether you completed any of the additional required exams no more than two years before the date of the exam you identified in step 1. In this case, you completed one additional exam (the NSE 7 Enterprise Firewall exam on 1-Jan-2021) less than two years after the SD-WAN exam.

 If you meet both requirements, the process awards you the certification, with the following considerations:

• The issue date of the awarded certification is set to the date of the second exam.
• The expiration date of the awarded certification is set to two years after the issue date.

Because you met both, Fortinet awarded the FCSS in Network Security certification with an issue date of 1-May-2022, and an expiration date of 1-May-2024.

Next, the process will continue moving forward in time, using the same logic, to identify if you meet the two requirements again by completing two different exams. If the process finds that you meet these requirements, the process will extend the expiration date of your certification by two years from the date you passed the second exam.

Continuing with the example, after 1-May-2022, you completed only one FCSS in Network Security exam (the NSE 7 Enterprise Firewall exam on 1-Jun-2023). 

In this scenario, the latest NSE 7 Enterprise Firewall exam counts toward one of the new requirements to renew your FCSS in Network Security certification (because the FCSS in Network Security certification requires two exams to renew). You can take one elective before 1-May-2024 to renew your FCSS certification. Optionally, if you take one elective after the FCSS certification expires, and before 1-Jun-2025 (two years after the last NSE 7 exam), you will be re-awarded the FCSS in Network Security certification.