Counseling License from Florida to Massachusetts: Does It Transfer? (2026)
Last verified: 2026-09-27 · source: Massachusetts Board of Registration of Allied Mental Health and Human Services Professions (Licensed Mental Health Counselor, LMHC) ↗
A counseling license transfers from Florida to Massachusetts by endorsement — there is no automatic reciprocity, but you do not start over. Apply to the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Allied Mental Health and Human Services Professions (Licensed Mental Health Counselor, LMHC), verify your Florida license, and meet Massachusetts's endorsement requirements. National exam is not retaken, but the NCMHCE is the only exam accepted ('no other exam will be accepted'); an NCE-only licensee does not qualify. The applicant must show an NCMHCE pass either as part of the original license requirements or within the previous five years (262 CMR 2.03(2)(c)), with an official NBCC score report. No Massachusetts jurisprudence exam..
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Verdict
Licensure by endorsement
A counseling license moves from Florida to Massachusetts 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. You apply to the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Allied Mental Health and Human Services Professions (Licensed Mental Health Counselor, LMHC), which verifies your Florida license and standing, matches it to Massachusetts's independent tier, and applies its own rule on crediting your national exam score, plus any Massachusetts jurisprudence and background requirements.
What changes, Florida → Massachusetts
| Florida (current) | Massachusetts (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a $75 initial licensure fee + $5 unlicensed activity fee at submission ($180 total, $80 refundable if denied or withdrawn), per the Board's LMHC page and form DH-MQA 5048.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.) | $117 (non-refundable LMHC application fee paid online (LMHC Application Guide); + $155 license fee paid after staff find the application complete and eligible. Massachusetts has not enacted the Counseling Compact.) |
| 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 | no processing timeframe published; if the application is incomplete, staff re-review it 30 days after notifying the applicant and close it if still incomplete |
| 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) | Massachusetts Board of Registration of Allied Mental Health and Human Services Professions (Licensed Mental Health Counselor, LMHC) |
The destination column is what you must satisfy — Massachusetts sets the rules for this move.
Step by step
- Confirm Massachusetts's current requirements on the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Allied Mental Health and Human Services Professions (Licensed Mental Health Counselor, LMHC) website (linked below) — rules change.
- Submit the endorsement application to the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Allied Mental Health and Human Services Professions (Licensed Mental Health Counselor, LMHC) (application linked below).
- Arrange license verification from your current state.
- Hold an independent-level (unsupervised) mental health counselor license or equivalent in another state, in good standing, whose standards are substantially equivalent to or exceed Massachusetts'.
- Show at least 3 years of continuous full-time (or part-time equivalent) licensed practice in the issuing state.
- Show a passing NCMHCE score via an official NBCC score report.
- Have a final graduate transcript sent showing 60 semester (80 quarter) credits and the required coursework.
- Have official license verification sent from every jurisdiction where you hold or held a license.
- Submit a signed, notarized CORI form and complete Board-approved domestic and sexual violence training.
- Pay the fees ($117 (non-refundable LMHC application fee paid online (LMHC Application Guide); + $155 license fee paid after staff find the application complete and eligible. Massachusetts has not enacted the Counseling Compact.)) and allow no processing timeframe published; if the application is incomplete, staff re-review it 30 days after notifying the applicant and close it if still incomplete.
Official links
Related guides
Frequently asked questions
Does Massachusetts accept a Florida counseling license?
A counseling license transfers from Florida to Massachusetts by endorsement — there is no automatic reciprocity, but you do not start over. Apply to the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Allied Mental Health and Human Services Professions (Licensed Mental Health Counselor, LMHC), verify your Florida license, and meet Massachusetts's endorsement requirements. National exam is not retaken, but the NCMHCE is the only exam accepted ('no other exam will be accepted'); an NCE-only licensee does not qualify. The applicant must show an NCMHCE pass either as part of the original license requirements or within the previous five years (262 CMR 2.03(2)(c)), with an official NBCC score report. No Massachusetts jurisprudence exam..
Do I retake the NCE or NCMHCE moving from Florida to Massachusetts?
National exam is not retaken, but the NCMHCE is the only exam accepted ('no other exam will be accepted'); an NCE-only licensee does not qualify. The applicant must show an NCMHCE pass either as part of the original license requirements or within the previous five years (262 CMR 2.03(2)(c)), with an official NBCC score report. No Massachusetts jurisprudence exam.
What does the move cost?
$117 (non-refundable LMHC application fee paid online (LMHC Application Guide); + $155 license fee paid after staff find the application complete and eligible. Massachusetts has not enacted the Counseling Compact.)
How long will it take?
no processing timeframe published; if the application is incomplete, staff re-review it 30 days after notifying the applicant and close it if still incomplete.
Sources
Primary sources only — official boards and compact commissions. Data last verified 2026-09-27.
- 262 CMR 2.00 Requirements for licensure as a mental health counselor (reciprocal recognition, 2.03(2); Internet Archive capture of the official mass.gov PDF) ↗ (accessed 2026-09-27)
- Mass. Board: Licensed Mental Health Counselor Application Guide ($117 application, $155 license, reciprocal recognition; Internet Archive capture 2026-01-16) ↗ (accessed 2026-09-27)
- Mass. DPH: Am I Eligible for MA LMHC? Triage and application instructions, Nov 2024 (reciprocity requirements; Internet Archive capture 2026-02-13) ↗ (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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