 Kelty looked to move away from being a junior side after winning the East Region Super League for the second time in 2017.The club applied for membership to join the SFA and in December 2017 became an SFA full member, making them eligible to enter the Scottish Cup as well as progress higher up the Scottish football league system.After being accepted into and winning the East of Scotland Football League in 2018, Kelty were promoted to the Lowland League (the fifth tier of the Scottish football league system) for the 2018–19 season after a comprehensive 10–0 aggregate win over Threave Rovers in the promotion play-off.