An international movement is underway to promote the recognition of prior learning (RPL) as a means of social justice, especially for disadvantaged populations. This article examines the duration of the RPL pathway towards the upper secondary VET diploma from a social justice perspective. Grounded in the Sen's capability approach (CA) and using survival analysis with administrative data, the results show that, under certain conditions, the RPL helps promote access to an upper secondary vocational education and training (VET) diploma, especially for experienced workers without a diploma. Indeed, some personal (e.g. immigration status) and social conversion factors (e.g. involvement of employers in the RPL pathway) are associated with the time until graduation through RPL. The discussion highlights the relevance of using survival analysis when examining the association between conversion factors and the RPL pathway. The conclusion sheds light on the relevance of incorporating a temporal dimension when analysing pathway in RPL and under CA framework.