How to Fill Out and Submit the RBT Certification Attestation Form

The RBT Certification Application Attestation form is the document a qualified BCaBA or BCBA signs to confirm you have met the training, competency, and background-check requirements for Registered Behavior Technician certification. You fill in your identifying information, your attesting certificant fills in theirs, both of you sign, and the completed form uploads to your BACB account along with your 40-hour training certificate and Initial Competency Assessment. Get it right the first time: every resubmission restarts the roughly two-week review clock.¹

What the Attestation Form Does

The attestation is a formal confirmation from an attesting certificant that you meet the RBT certification requirements. The form captures identifying information for both you and the attesting certificant, including their printed name and certification number. All applicable fields must be filled in, and both parties sign the document.

The attesting certificant has to be a qualified BACB certificant. In practice, this is typically the same BCaBA or BCBA who oversaw your training or competency assessment, but their role on the attestation is distinct: they are vouching that the full set of eligibility requirements has been met, not just the portion they supervised.

The 90-Day Rule That Trips People Up

The attesting certificant must complete the form within 90 days of when you apply.² If the signature date is older than 90 days by the time you submit payment, the form will not be accepted and you will need a fresh one.

The same 90-day window applies to your Initial Competency Assessment, which cannot be completed more than 90 days before you submit your application payment.³ Line these dates up. If you finished your competency assessment and then spent two months chasing a trainer for signatures, you may find both documents expiring together.

Filling the Form Out Without Getting Rejected

Three things to check before you upload:

Every applicable field is filled in. Unchecked boxes, missing dates, and blank fields are among the most common reasons the BACB sends an application back.
Both signatures are present and dated. The BACB maintains an Acceptable Signatures Policy that governs what counts as valid, so review that policy before signing. A typed name where a signature is required, or a signature style the policy excludes, is enough to trigger a resubmission.
The attesting certificant’s printed name and certification number match their active BACB record.

You confirm your own eligibility separately inside the online application through an Eligibility Affidavit and the Application Processing Agreement; the attestation form does not replace that step.

What Must Travel With the Attestation

The attestation is one of three documents the BACB requires at upload. The other two have their own rules, and the attestation does nothing on its own without them.

Your 40-Hour Training Certificate

You need at least 40 hours of training on the BACB’s required curriculum, delivered over no fewer than 5 days and no more than 180 days.⁴ The certificate of completion must contain a specific statement confirming the training meets the 2026 eligibility requirements and was offered independent of the BACB.² If that exact language is missing, the certificate gets rejected even if the training itself was fine.

A Responsible Trainer who is a BCaBA, BCBA, or BCBA-D with the 8-hour supervision training must have led the course. The trainer cannot be related to you, subordinate to you, or employed by you during the training.⁴

Your Initial Competency Assessment

Use the Initial Competency Assessment form, not the recertification version. These are separate documents, and submitting the wrong one is a frequent reason applications are kicked back. The responsible assessor must be a BCaBA or BCBA with the 8-hour supervision training who is employed at or under contract with the same organization as you and the clients involved in the assessment.³ They sign and date the attestation page once you have demonstrated competence on all tasks.

Baseline Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old, hold a high school diploma or its equivalent, and have passed a criminal background check comparable to those required of home health aides, child care professionals, and teachers in your community.⁵ A BCaBA or BCBA confirms the background check and is responsible for keeping the supporting documentation in case of audit.⁶ Background check costs vary by state, commonly ranging from free to roughly $95, with separate fingerprinting fees depending on the jurisdiction.

How to Upload and Submit

Everything goes through your online BACB account, not a separate portal.⁷ The process:

Log in to your BACB account and open an RBT Certification Application from the RBT tab.
Upload the attestation form, 40-hour training certificate, and completed Initial Competency Assessment. Each section allows only one attachment, so combine multipage documents into a single file before uploading.
Complete the Eligibility Affidavit and agree to the Application Processing Agreement.
Pay the $65 initial certification application fee.

Accepted file types are PDF, JPG, PNG, DOCX, DOC, XLSX, and XLS. Each file can be up to 5 MB, with a maximum of 20 files total.¹ If a document exceeds the size limit, compress or merge it before uploading. The BACB suggests searching “Compress or Merge PDF” in your browser for free tools.

After submission, you can track progress on the BACB’s Application Processing Updates page, which shows the date of applications currently being reviewed.⁸ The standard timeline is about two weeks from the date of your confirmation email.¹ If something is missing or wrong, the board emails your registered address with a request for additional information, and the two-week clock resets when you resubmit.

Approval of your application does not make you an RBT on its own. You still need to pass the RBT exam through Pearson VUE, which carries a separate $45 scheduling fee.⁹¹⁰

Common Reasons Applications Get Sent Back

Review these before you submit:

Incomplete fields, including unchecked boxes, missing dates, or absent signatures on the attestation or competency assessment.
The wrong competency assessment version. The initial form and the recertification form are different documents.
A 40-hour training certificate missing the specific 2026 statement confirming the training meets the eligibility requirement.
Expired timing windows. A competency assessment older than 90 days or an attestation signed more than 90 days before the application date will be refused.

Honesty on the Attestation

The attestation is a sworn statement from both you and your attesting certificant. Providing false information on it, or on any other certification document, can result in disciplinary sanctions up to and including invalidation or revocation of certification, and those sanctions remain public for the maximum duration permitted by law.¹¹ Anyone whose certification is revoked or suspended cannot represent themselves as BACB-credentialed during that period. If a date, hour count, or qualification does not match reality, fix it before signing rather than hoping the audit never comes.

1
Behavior Analyst Certification Board. Application Documentation Resubmissions
2
Behavior Analyst Certification Board. 5 Must-Know RBT Application Tips
3
Behavior Analyst Certification Board. RBT Initial Competency Assessment Packet
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Behavior Analyst Certification Board. RBT 2026 40-Hour Training Requirements and Curriculum Outline
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Behavior Analyst Certification Board. Guidance for Meeting RBT Requirements During the 2026 Transition
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Behavior Analyst Certification Board. Registered Behavior Technician Handbook
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Behavior Analyst Certification Board. Registered Behavior Technician Handbook
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Behavior Analyst Certification Board. Application Processing Updates
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Behavior Analyst Certification Board. Registered Behavior Technician
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Pearson VUE. Behavior Analyst Certification Board
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Behavior Analyst Certification Board. BACB Disciplinary Actions