§ 12.02-3 - Where documents are issued.

(a) Merchant mariner's documents may be issued to qualified applicants at the National Maritime Center or at any Regional Examination Center during usual business hours.

(b)(1) Coast Guard Merchant Marine Details abroad are authorized to conduct examinations for upgrading of seamen, but are not prepared to conduct the physical examination where required. Merchant Marine Details will therefore not issue regular certificates, but temporary permits in lieu thereof. Merchant Marine Details will instruct the recipient of each temporary permit to present it to the Officer in Charge, Marine Inspection, upon arrival in the first port in the United States in which a Marine Inspection Office is located in order to exchange it for a permanent certificate.

(2) The temporary permit shall be accepted in a Marine Inspection Office as proof that the bearer has complied with the rules and regulations governing the issuance of certificates, except as noted in the body of the temporary permit. The requirements noted in the exceptions will be complied with as in the case of other applicants.

(3) The written examinations are forwarded to the Commanding Officer, National Maritime Center by Merchant Marine Details. Any Marine Inspection Office at which an applicant with a temporary permit appears may request and obtain the examination in the case from the Commanding Officer, National Maritime Center. Any Marine Inspection Office which doubts the propriety of issuing a permanent certificate in lieu of a temporary permit which has been issued by a foreign Merchant Marine Detail shall inform the Commanding Officer, National Maritime Center fully as to the circumstances.