TOPIC: Questions on PMP renewal & PMI Membership being obtained at the same time

Hello Cornelius

Good day! My PMP certification awaits renewal on 2 Sept 2025. For the 2022-25 cycle, I have attained 60 PDUs (PMI-approved) and I'm attending trainings towards the 20 PDUs that I can carry forward from the existing (final) cycle to the new cycle (Sept 2025-2028). I have the following questions:

1. If I renew the PMP certification early, lets say in Jan 2025, will the new certification cycle be Jan 2025-Jan 2028 or Sept 2025-Sept 2028 ?
2. If I am applying for PMI Membership and PMP renewal by Aug 2025 (at the same time), will the membership be valid for an exact year from the date of the purchase (or would it need to align to the PMP certification cycle in any way) ?
3. Do you foresee any advantages in doing the PMP renewal and membership enrollment at the same time (i.e. few days prior to cert expiry)? I see there is a discount provided by PMI. Other than that, any other advantages you are aware of?

Would be glad to hear your inputs. Thanks again!

Best,
Gopinath

Gopinath,

Unless things have changed, your certification renewal cycle is based on the month you passed the PMP exam and is not necessarily connected with your PMI membership. If you "renew early" your certification renewal dates will NOT change. Example: I passed the PMP exam in October 2019. My cycle is October 2019-October 2023. I have until October 2023 to get in all of my PDUs. If I get them done, say, February 2020, my cycle remains October 2019-2023.

Example 2: I joined PMI as a professional organization in June 2019. I renew every year my membership (separate from the exam cycle) every June.

Hope that helps.

Harry

Thank you so much for your prompt response, Harry!
Do you have any suggestions on point #3 in my post?

Best,
Gopinath

Gopinath,

This only advantage I can see is maybe - and it's a big maybe - is you'll get only have to pay once instead of twice. There won't be any discounts, and it will depend greatly on how PMI does its invoicing and payments. I belong to three professional organizations. Two of them run on a Jan-Dec fiscal year and will pro-rate your first years' dues, then it's Jan-Dec. PMI seems to run on the calendar year as to when you joined. I hold one other professional certification. Its maintenance cycle is a 5-year cycle. Depending on what time of the year you initially certified, you either recert in June or December, and there's no bonus or penalty for doing it early but there sure as heck a penalty for being late!

I really take the view of "It's their organization and they'll run it however they want to" approach.