Counseling License from Florida to Alaska: Does It Transfer? (2026)
Last verified: 2026-09-27 · source: Alaska Board of Professional Counselors (Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing), Licensed Professional Counselor ↗
A counseling license transfers from Florida to Alaska by endorsement — there is no automatic reciprocity, but you do not start over. Apply to the Alaska Board of Professional Counselors (Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing), Licensed Professional Counselor, verify your Florida license, and meet Alaska's endorsement requirements. National exam is not retaken. For licensure by credentials, the Board checks that the applicant's licensing state requires a nationally recognized counselor exam; the Alaska exam rule (12 AAC 62.110) accepts the NCE or NCMHCE. No NBCC score transfer is listed among the required credentials documents. No state jurisprudence exam; the applicant certifies having reviewed AS 08.29 and 12 AAC 62..
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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 Alaska Board of Professional Counselors (Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing), Licensed Professional Counselor: your Florida license is verified, your NCE or NCMHCE score is credited under Alaska's own exam rule, and Alaska applies any jurisprudence and background checks it requires. Check which Alaska tier corresponds to your Florida license before you file, because the titles do not map one to one.
What changes, Florida → Alaska
| Florida (current) | Alaska (destination) | |
|---|---|---|
| Counseling Compact status | Counseling Compact enacted — not yet issuing | Licensure by endorsement |
| Application fee | $100 ($100 non-refundable application fee; the endorsement application also collects a $75 initial licensure fee + $5 unlicensed activity fee at submission ($180 total, $80 refundable if denied or withdrawn), per the Board's LMHC page and form DH-MQA 5048. Livescan fingerprinting paid separately to the vendor; NBCC score-report fee separate. Florida is not an operational compact state, so no privilege fee applies.) | $200 (nonrefundable application fee per the License by Credentials instructions (form 08-4911, rev. 2026-08-21); the $270 initial license fee is also due with the application ($470 total). Name-based criminal-record report fees are paid to the Alaska Department of Public Safety and the home-state agency. No fingerprint check is required. Alaska is not a Counseling Compact state, so it has no privilege fee.) |
| Processing time | the Board states only that Florida law requires an initial application to be reviewed within 30 days and that a license issues within 7 days after all documentation is received (s. 456.0145(2)(e)); no end-to-end processing range is published | the Division says only that 'the average processing time varies by program' and that applications are reviewed in order of receipt; no numeric timeframe is published |
| Licensing authority | Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy, and Mental Health Counseling (Florida Department of Health), Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) | Alaska Board of Professional Counselors (Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing), Licensed Professional Counselor |
The destination column is what you must satisfy — Alaska sets the rules for this move.
Step by step
- Confirm Alaska's current requirements on the Alaska Board of Professional Counselors (Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing), Licensed Professional Counselor website (linked below) — rules change.
- Submit the endorsement application to the Alaska Board of Professional Counselors (Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing), Licensed Professional Counselor (application linked below).
- Arrange license verification from your current state.
- Hold a current professional counselor license from a jurisdiction whose requirements the Board finds substantially the same or higher (60 graduate semester hours in counseling, a national exam, and 3,000 supervised hours over at least 24 months).
- Submit a copy of the current licensing statutes and regulations of the jurisdiction where you are licensed.
- Have every jurisdiction where you have held a counseling, psychology, marital and family therapy or social work license send verification, including any disciplinary action.
- Submit a name-based Alaska criminal justice report, plus an equivalent report from your state of residence if not Alaska.
- Pay the fees ($200 (nonrefundable application fee per the License by Credentials instructions (form 08-4911, rev. 2026-08-21); the $270 initial license fee is also due with the application ($470 total). Name-based criminal-record report fees are paid to the Alaska Department of Public Safety and the home-state agency. No fingerprint check is required. Alaska is not a Counseling Compact state, so it has no privilege fee.)) and allow the Division says only that 'the average processing time varies by program' and that applications are reviewed in order of receipt; no numeric timeframe is published.
Official links
Related guides
Frequently asked questions
Does Alaska accept a Florida counseling license?
A counseling license transfers from Florida to Alaska by endorsement — there is no automatic reciprocity, but you do not start over. Apply to the Alaska Board of Professional Counselors (Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing), Licensed Professional Counselor, verify your Florida license, and meet Alaska's endorsement requirements. National exam is not retaken. For licensure by credentials, the Board checks that the applicant's licensing state requires a nationally recognized counselor exam; the Alaska exam rule (12 AAC 62.110) accepts the NCE or NCMHCE. No NBCC score transfer is listed among the required credentials documents. No state jurisprudence exam; the applicant certifies having reviewed AS 08.29 and 12 AAC 62..
Do I retake the NCE or NCMHCE moving from Florida to Alaska?
National exam is not retaken. For licensure by credentials, the Board checks that the applicant's licensing state requires a nationally recognized counselor exam; the Alaska exam rule (12 AAC 62.110) accepts the NCE or NCMHCE. No NBCC score transfer is listed among the required credentials documents. No state jurisprudence exam; the applicant certifies having reviewed AS 08.29 and 12 AAC 62.
What does the move cost?
$200 (nonrefundable application fee per the License by Credentials instructions (form 08-4911, rev. 2026-08-21); the $270 initial license fee is also due with the application ($470 total). Name-based criminal-record report fees are paid to the Alaska Department of Public Safety and the home-state agency. No fingerprint check is required. Alaska is not a Counseling Compact state, so it has no privilege fee.)
How long will it take?
the Division says only that 'the average processing time varies by program' and that applications are reviewed in order of receipt; no numeric timeframe is published.
Sources
Primary sources only — official boards and compact commissions. Data last verified 2026-09-27.
- Alaska Board of Professional Counselors: License by Credentials application and instructions (form 08-4911, rev. 2026-08-21; fees, eligibility screen, background report) ↗ (accessed 2026-09-27)
- Alaska Professional Counselors Statutes and Regulations compilation, August 2026 (AS 08.29.110, 08.29.120; 12 AAC 62.110, 62.130, 62.135) ↗ (accessed 2026-09-27)
- Florida 491 Board: Licensed Mental Health Counselor (License by MOBILE Endorsement requirements, courses, fees, processing) ↗ (accessed 2026-09-27)
- Florida 491 Board: Application for Licensure by Endorsement, DH-MQA 5048 (rev. 2/2024; fee breakdown, course and score-report instructions) ↗ (accessed 2026-09-27)
- Florida Statutes s. 491.006 Licensure or certification by endorsement ↗ (accessed 2026-09-27)
- Florida Statutes s. 456.0145 MOBILE Act licensure by endorsement ↗ (accessed 2026-09-27)
- Counseling Compact: state privilege fees and jurisprudence requirements ↗ (accessed 2026-09-27)
Reviewed by Billy Reiner, Editor · verified against primary sources 2026-09-27
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