To transfer your current rank in Krav Maga, Shotokan Karate, or Taekwondo to the equivalent GMAU course:

  1. Enroll in and pay for the course on the GMAU website.
  2. Scan a copy of your highest rank certificate.
  3. Create a support ticket in our support portal and attach the electronic copy of your rank certificate to the request.
  4. We'll then charge an $85 USD rank-transfer fee* to the credit card attached to your GMAU account and ask you to record a rank-transfer video, upload it to YouTube as an unlisted video (YouTube Shorts and TikTok videos are not accepted), and send us the URL/address of that YouTube video.
  5. From there, a GMAU instructor will review your video and notify you about the acceptability of your rank-transfer request. And a GMAU rank certificate will be emailed to you.


Please note:


For Krav Maga: Film yourself demonstrating all techniques in the syllabus from white to your current rank; send a message to your instructor with this video link. 


For Shotokan Karate: Film yourself demonstrating all katas in the syllabus up to your current rank.


Please note: To adjust students to our Shotokan program and give them appropriate goals, we do not accept rank transfers at 1st kyu brown or higher. The highest rank you can transfer into GMAU Shotokan is 2nd kyu brown.


For Taekwondo: You must have rank in World Taekwondo (WT) to transfer, and your rank certificate must be dated within the past 5 years. (Due to style differences, we don't accept rank transfers from ITF-style Taekwondo.)


Please note: To avoid students transferring into our Taekwondo program just to test for their black belts, we do not accept transfers at red belt or higher. The highest rank a non-black-belt can be transferred into is brown belt. Black belts with Kukkiwon certification are welcome to transfer into our program with their Dan ranking.


Please watch this video that explains how to properly record a rank-transfer video for our TKD program. You must film a continuous video in which you demonstrate all poomsae in the syllabus up to your current rank -- once from the front and once from the side -- AND demonstrate every kick up to that level -- 5 times on each leg, show the kick from a different angle each and every time.


For other martial-art styles: We do not accept rank-transfer requests for any martial-art styles styles other than Krav Maga, Shotokan Karate, and Taekwondo. We cannot transfer your rank, for example, in Goju Ryu Karate into our Shotokan Karate program. This is because the styles are different.


*The rank-transfer fee covers administration fees and the instructor's time to review your video.