When Joe Chess Player finally gets his rating above 2300, does he apply to FIDE and then, later, get like a certificate or something? Or does he just say to himself, “I’m over 2300, I guess I can start calling myself a ‘Master’ now”)?
This is how it worked in the late 1980’s (the most recent information I have): a USCF national master (which requires a 2200 USCF rating) gets a certificate from the federation. It looks sort of like a diploma, with some nice calligraphy.
The application for FIDE master, which requires a 2300 FIDE (international) rating, is, in the USA at least, handled by the national federation. They cover any application fees (as long as your dues are paid up), and from FIDE you get a tie pin that depicts a gold (colored) knight (i.e., horse’s head) with FIDE MASTER written underneath.
USCF ratings tend to be slightly inflated compared to FIDE, and in any case the master requirement is 100 points lower. So generally a FIDE master will have been calling himself a master for some time already. It is rare to find someone who carries the certificate around (or who wears the tie pin), but ratings can be looked up online, and even before these modern days, there was a USCF rating list published every two months showing who was what.
I got FIDE Master a long time ago (when you still had to achieve it by tournament performance, rather than achieve 2300.)
I had to pay FIDE something (about 50 Swiss francs I think) and I may have got a certificate (but certainly not a tie-pin.)
As AppallingGael says, you can look players up on the FIDE rating list to see their titles, rating history and world ranking.
I’m currently ranked 14,428 (but I haven’t played any chess for several years.)
In chess problem solving, I have achieved Grandmaster. (This involved olny tournament performances.)
I didn’t get a certificate, but there are only 33 of us -with the title - so that’s something. (Of course there are way more players than solvers!)