Wisconsin Industrial Journeyman Electrician License: Requirements, the No-Exam Apprenticeship Route, and How to Apply

Wisconsin Industrial Journeyman Electrician License: Requirements and How to Apply

The Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) issues an Industrial Journeyman Electrician license alongside the general Journeyman Electrician license, and the experience it asks for is industrial electrical work. There are two ways in, and only one of them involves an exam.

Two routes — and one has no exam

• An industrial electrical apprenticeship. If you qualify through an industrial electrical apprenticeship, no exam is required.
• Experience: 1,000 hours a year of industrial electrical work for five years. This route requires the exam.

If you are finishing an industrial apprenticeship, check that route before you book an exam you may not need.

Applying and testing on the experience route

1. Apply through LicensE, DSPS's online licensing system, with your documented industrial experience.
2. Pay the exam fees: $95 to Pearson VUE and $30 to DSPS.
3. Sit the exam at a DSPS paper-exam site or a Pearson VUE computer-based testing center in Wisconsin: 100 questions in 4 hours, open book, 70% to pass. What is on the exam covers the topics.

Wisconsin now tests the 2023 NEC. SPS 316.007 adopted it effective September 1, 2026 (it replaced the 2017 NEC), and DSPS says the trades exam questions reflect the change from October 1, 2026. Prep material that mentions PSI as the testing vendor, or the 2014 or 2017 NEC, is out of date.

Keeping the license

Wisconsin electrical licenses run on four-year terms and expire on June 30. An industrial journeyman needs 18 hours of continuing education each term to renew.

Moving up

If your work goes beyond the plant floor, compare the general Wisconsin Journeyman Electrician requirements and, further on, Wisconsin Master Electrician requirements.

Getting ready

Try our free 10-question practice test on the 2023 NEC, or see the full Wisconsin Industrial Journeyman Electrician exam prep. Every Wisconsin license we cover is on the Wisconsin electrician hub.