licences

Question
how old do you have to be to have a diving licences

Answer
Devon,

Thanks for your inquiry.

First, I must correct your reference to diving "licenses".  It is a very common error, but when you complete SCUBA diving training, you are "certified" to dive under the conditions in which you completed your training.  What you receive from the training agency is a "certification" (commonly called a "C-card").

OK, as for your question, the minimum age for Open Water Diver Certification for the three major Certifying agencies (NAUI, PADI, and SSI) is 15 years of age.  PADI and SSI allow people as young as 10 to take the Open Water course, but those under 15 will receive a "Junior" certification which can be upgraded to full certification at age 15.  The same applies to NAUI except their minimum age is 12.

I recommend that you check out the major agencies' web sites for all the information you need about SCUBA training.

NAUI --  www.naui.com
PADI --  www.padi.com
SSI --   www.ssiusa.com

I hope this helps,

Henry Babcock
AllExperts SCUBA Expert