Counseling License from California to Maine: Does It Transfer? (2026)
Last verified: 2026-09-27 · source: Maine Board of Counseling Professionals Licensure, Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation (Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, LCPC) ↗
A counseling license transfers from California to Maine by endorsement — there is no automatic reciprocity, but you do not start over. Apply to the Maine Board of Counseling Professionals Licensure, Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation (Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, LCPC), verify your California license, and meet Maine's endorsement requirements. National exam is not retaken. For LCPC endorsement, the other jurisdiction's initial-licensure pathway must require a passing NCMHCE score (Board Rule Ch. 6-A Sec. 2(B)(ii)). No Maine jurisprudence exam is listed..
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Verdict
Licensure by endorsement
Neither state gives you a working compact route here: a state that has enacted the Counseling Compact but is not yet operational behaves like a non-member. The route is endorsement through the Maine Board of Counseling Professionals Licensure, Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation (Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, LCPC): your California license is verified, your NCE or NCMHCE score is credited under Maine's own exam rule, and Maine applies any jurisprudence and background checks it requires. Check which Maine tier corresponds to your California license before you file, because the titles do not map one to one.
What changes, California → Maine
| California (current) | Maine (destination) | |
|---|---|---|
| Counseling Compact status | Licensure by endorsement | Counseling Compact enacted — not yet issuing |
| Application fee | $125 (LPCC License Application fee under the Board's temporary 50% fee reduction for payments made 2026-07-01 through 2030-06-30 (statutory base in BPC 4999.120 is $250; applications paid before 2026-07-01 paid $250). Separate: initial license issuance fee $100 (reduced from $200), California Law and Ethics Exam fee $75 (reduced from $150), fingerprint (Live Scan / DOJ-FBI) fees not reduced and paid separately. California has not enacted the Counseling Compact, so no privilege route exists.) | $200 (license fee listed on the Board's Licensing and Forms page; + $21 criminal history record check fee; non-refundable; biennial renewal $200. Maine is not yet issuing Counseling Compact privileges.) |
| Processing time | the Board's Path A guide gives no timeframe for the licensure application itself; it states only 'allow up to 30 days' for processing the Request for Initial License Issuance after the exam is passed. Board processing-time pages could not be read (bbs.ca.gov refused connections on 2026-09-27). | the Board publishes no processing timeframe; endorsement applications are decided at public Board meetings |
| Licensing authority | California Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS), Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC) | Maine Board of Counseling Professionals Licensure, Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation (Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, LCPC) |
The destination column is what you must satisfy — Maine sets the rules for this move.
Step by step
- Confirm Maine's current requirements on the Maine Board of Counseling Professionals Licensure, Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation (Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, LCPC) website (linked below) — rules change.
- Submit the endorsement application to the Maine Board of Counseling Professionals Licensure, Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation (Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, LCPC) (application linked below).
- Arrange license verification from your current state.
- Hold a valid, active clinical counseling license from a U.S. jurisdiction whose licensing requirements the Board finds substantially equivalent to the Maine LCPC.
- Show the other jurisdiction's pathway requires a 60-semester-hour accredited (or equivalent) counseling master's, NCMHCE passage and supervised clinical experience.
- Be in good standing in every jurisdiction ever licensed: no pending complaint, restriction, surrender or revocation.
- Submit official license verifications for all professional licenses held or ever held.
- Submit the application, the fee, a proposed disclosure statement and a criminal history record check.
- Pay the fees ($200 (license fee listed on the Board's Licensing and Forms page; + $21 criminal history record check fee; non-refundable; biennial renewal $200. Maine is not yet issuing Counseling Compact privileges.)) and allow the Board publishes no processing timeframe; endorsement applications are decided at public Board meetings.
Official links
Related guides
Frequently asked questions
Does Maine accept a California counseling license?
A counseling license transfers from California to Maine by endorsement — there is no automatic reciprocity, but you do not start over. Apply to the Maine Board of Counseling Professionals Licensure, Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation (Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, LCPC), verify your California license, and meet Maine's endorsement requirements. National exam is not retaken. For LCPC endorsement, the other jurisdiction's initial-licensure pathway must require a passing NCMHCE score (Board Rule Ch. 6-A Sec. 2(B)(ii)). No Maine jurisprudence exam is listed..
Do I retake the NCE or NCMHCE moving from California to Maine?
National exam is not retaken. For LCPC endorsement, the other jurisdiction's initial-licensure pathway must require a passing NCMHCE score (Board Rule Ch. 6-A Sec. 2(B)(ii)). No Maine jurisprudence exam is listed.
What does the move cost?
$200 (license fee listed on the Board's Licensing and Forms page; + $21 criminal history record check fee; non-refundable; biennial renewal $200. Maine is not yet issuing Counseling Compact privileges.)
How long will it take?
the Board publishes no processing timeframe; endorsement applications are decided at public Board meetings.
Maine joined the Counseling Compact. Can I use a privilege there?
Not yet. Maine had enacted the compact but was not issuing or accepting privileges as of 2026-09-27, so counseling clients located in Maine takes Maine's own authorization, normally a Maine license.
Sources
Primary sources only — official boards and compact commissions. Data last verified 2026-09-27.
- Maine Board of Counseling Professionals Licensure: Licensing and Forms (LCPC description, exams, fees, endorsement per Rule 6-A) ↗ (accessed 2026-09-27)
- Board Rules Chapter 6-A: Licensure by Endorsement (effective 2023-04-01) ↗ (accessed 2026-09-27)
- 32 M.R.S. §13857: Nonresidents; applicants licensed in another jurisdiction; licensure by endorsement ↗ (accessed 2026-09-27)
- Board minutes 2026-03-23 (LCPC endorsement comparable-jurisdiction vote) ↗ (accessed 2026-09-27)
- California BPC 4999.60 (LPCC licensure for out-of-state licensees, Path A) ↗ (accessed 2026-09-27)
- California BPC 4999.61 (out-of-state education and experience, Path B; clinical exam waiver) ↗ (accessed 2026-09-27)
- California BPC 4999.120 (LPCC statutory fees) ↗ (accessed 2026-09-27)
- BBS Guide to Licensure Requirements, LPCC Out-of-State and Out-of-Country Applicants, rev. 10/2024 (Internet Archive copy of official BBS PDF, captured 2026-04-15) ↗ (accessed 2026-09-27)
- BBS Temporary Fee Reduction FAQ, effective 2026-07-01 (Internet Archive copy of official BBS PDF, captured 2026-05-20) ↗ (accessed 2026-09-27)
- BBS LPCC applicant page (Internet Archive copy, captured 2026-09-03) ↗ (accessed 2026-09-27)
Reviewed by Billy Reiner, Editor · verified against primary sources 2026-09-27
How we verify · All sources · spot an error? [email protected]