To add to Lawrence's informative post...there isn't anything stopping you from writing your own pre-qualified WPSs to work and test from. One that we use for welder performance quals here is a 1" B-U4a in the 2G position for FCAW and SMAW. It is simple to cut the coupons up on our saw, fit the coupons to gether, have the welder weld them up, cut the coupons and bend them per Section 4, evaluate them, and write up the certification papers.
I will retest anyone coming in the door regardless of how many papers they carry(that is because of an expensive lesson learned the hard way), but it is nice to see that you might not be wasting your time testing a applicant, because they have papers saying that they have passed the test, at some time, in the past.