How do you become an underwater welder in Europe?

“Underwater welder” is not a single course — it is a diving qualification and a welding qualification, combined and formally tested. In practice that means two stages: first you become a certified professional diver, then you add a hyperbaric welder qualification (LK) on top of that. How long the second stage takes depends almost entirely on how much welding experience you already bring.

The route in three steps

1. Become a certified professional diver

In the Netherlands this runs through NDC-RI-registered training: choose a diving scope, pass an occupational diving medical, then combine online theory with practical weeks on campus, and finish with an independent national exam and NDC-RI registration.

For underwater welding specifically, admission requires one of the civil diving certificates — B30 (surface-supplied equipment to 30 metres), B50R (to 50 metres without a wet bell) or B50 (to 50 metres), the most demanding civil diving category — rather than an entry-level recreational scope.

See the professional diver route on bc-opleidingen.nl

2. Bring — or build — a welding foundation

Basic welding experience is recommended before starting the hyperbaric qualification track. If you don’t have it yet, that is not a dead end: the extended track starts from scratch and builds the necessary foundational surface-welding skills before moving into the underwater programme.

3. Complete the hyperbaric welder qualification (LK)

With a recognised diving certificate and a valid occupational diving medical in hand, the qualification itself — theory, practical training in the dive basin, and the welder qualification test — is examined under DNV oversight, to EN ISO 15618-1 (the internationally applied standard for hyperbaric wet welding) or AWS D3.6M, the American underwater welding code, whichever a client or project specifies.

Holding a non-Dutch diving certificate — HSE, ADAS, DCBC or another national scheme — is not a blocker: it is assessed individually. See international admission, travel and visa information if you would be travelling in from outside the Netherlands.

Who can start directly

Your welding background decides which track fits, not the other way round:

You already have welding experience

5-day qualification track

Certified professional divers who already have welding experience — or who want to add a formal underwater welder qualification to their skill set — go straight into the standard track: hyperbaric wet welding theory, daily practical training in the dive basin, and the welder qualification test (LK).

You can prove prior welding skill

3-day qualification track

If you can demonstrate previously acquired welding skill through earlier diplomas or certificates, the two days of dry (surface) welding training are skipped, shortening the qualification track.

You have little or no welding background

11-day extended track

Divers with little or no welding experience start with two days of foundational surface welding — technique, electrode handling, welding positions and recognising weld defects — before the full hyperbaric wet welding programme and the qualification test.

See tracks, admission and current pricing for the full detail on each track, or what training and qualification cost.