---
kind: "section"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 7507"
title: "46"
title_heading: "Shipping"
number: "7507"
heading: "Authority to extend the duration of licenses, certificates of registry, and merchant mariner documents"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/46/7507"
units:
  - "Subtitle II — Vessels and Seamen"
  - "Part E — Merchant Seamen Licenses, Certificates, and Documents"
  - "Chapter 75 — General Procedures for Licensing, Certification, and Documentation"
---

# §7507. Authority to extend the duration of licenses, certificates of registry, and merchant mariner documents

- (a) **Licenses and Certificates of Registry.—** Notwithstanding sections [7106](/usc/46/7106.md) and [7107](/usc/46/7107.md), the [Secretary](/usc/46/2101.md?p=46) of the department in which the [Coast Guard](/usc/46/2101.md?p=2) is operating may—
  - (1) extend for not more than one year an expiring [license](/usc/46/12101.md?p=b-2) or [certificate of registry](/usc/46/12101.md?p=b-1) issued for an individual under [chapter 71](/usc/46/chstII/ptE/ch71.md) if the [Secretary](/usc/46/2101.md?p=46) determines that the extension is required to enable the [Coast Guard](/usc/46/2101.md?p=2) to eliminate a backlog in processing applications for those [licenses](/usc/46/12101.md?p=b-2) or certificates of [registry](/usc/46/12101.md?p=b-1) or in response to a national emergency or natural disaster, as deemed necessary by the [Secretary](/usc/46/2101.md?p=46); or
  - (2) issue for not more than five years an expiring [license](/usc/46/12101.md?p=b-2) or [certificate of registry](/usc/46/12101.md?p=b-1) issued for an individual under [chapter 71](/usc/46/chstII/ptE/ch71.md) for the exclusive purpose of aligning the expiration date of such [license](/usc/46/12101.md?p=b-2) or [certificate of registry](/usc/46/12101.md?p=b-1) with the expiration date of a merchant mariner’s document.
- (b) **Merchant Mariner Documents.—** Notwithstanding [section 7302(g)](/usc/46/7302.md?p=g), the [Secretary](/usc/46/2101.md?p=46) may—
  - (1) extend for not more than one year an expiring merchant mariner’s document issued for an individual under [chapter 73](/usc/46/chstII/ptE/ch73.md) if the [Secretary](/usc/46/2101.md?p=46) determines that the extension is required to enable the [Coast Guard](/usc/46/2101.md?p=2) to eliminate a backlog in processing applications for those merchant mariner documents or in response to a national emergency or natural disaster, as deemed necessary by the [Secretary](/usc/46/2101.md?p=46); or
  - (2) issue for not more than five years an expiring merchant mariner’s document issued for an individual under [chapter 73](/usc/46/chstII/ptE/ch73.md) for the exclusive purpose of aligning the expiration date of such merchant mariner’s document with the expiration date of a [license](/usc/46/12101.md?p=b-2) or [certificate of registry](/usc/46/12101.md?p=b-1).
- (c) **Manner of Extension.—** Any extensions granted under this section may be granted to individual seamen or a specifically identified group of seamen.
- (d) **Renewal.—** With respect to any renewal of an active [merchant mariner credential](/usc/46/2101.md?p=20) issued under this part that is not an extension under subsection [(a)](#a) or [(b)](#b), such credential shall begin the day after the expiration of the active credential of the credential holder.

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 111–281, title VI, § 615(a), Oct. 15, 2010, 124 Stat. 2971; amended Pub. L. 112–213, title III, § 311, Dec. 20, 2012, 126 Stat. 1569; Pub. L. 115–282, title V, § 510(3), (4), Dec. 4, 2018, 132 Stat. 4274; Pub. L. 119–60, div. G, title LXXIII, § 7301(g)(1), Dec. 18, 2025, 139 Stat. 1755.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2025—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 119–60 added subsec. (d).

2018—Subsec. (b)(1). Pub. L. 115–282, § 510(3), substituted “merchant mariner documents” for “licenses or certificates of registry”.

Subsec. (b)(2). Pub. L. 115–282, § 510(4), substituted “license or certificate of registry.” for “merchant mariner’s document.”

2012—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 112–213 substituted “chapter 71” for “chapter 73” in pars. (1) and (2).