Counseling License from Michigan 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 Michigan 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 Michigan 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 Michigan 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 Michigan license before you file, because the titles do not map one to one.
What changes, Michigan → Maine
| Michigan (current) | Maine (destination) | |
|---|---|---|
| Counseling Compact status | Licensure by endorsement | Counseling Compact enacted — not yet issuing |
| Application fee | $259.05 ('Professional Counselor By Endorsement - $259.05' per the LARA licensing guide (rev. 4/17/25). This is a combined application fee plus 3-year license fee, paid by card. Fingerprint fees are paid separately under the instructions LARA sends after the application. Michigan has not enacted the Counseling Compact.) | $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 LARA licensing guide states no processing timeframe for endorsement applications | the Board publishes no processing timeframe; endorsement applications are decided at public Board meetings |
| Licensing authority | Michigan Board of Counseling (Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Bureau of Professional Licensing) (Licensed Professional Counselor, LPC) | 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 Michigan counseling license?
A counseling license transfers from Michigan 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 Michigan 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 Michigan 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)
- LARA: Michigan Professional Counselor Licensing Guide, rev. 4/17/25 (endorsement requirements, $259.05 fee; Internet Archive capture 2026-03-29) ↗ (accessed 2026-09-27)
- Michigan Admin. Code R 338.1751-R 338.1781, Counseling General Rules (R 338.1773 exams; R 338.1775 licensure by endorsement; Internet Archive capture 2026-02-11 of the official ARS compilation) ↗ (accessed 2026-09-27)
- LARA: Counseling licensing page (Internet Archive capture 2026-01-16) ↗ (accessed 2026-09-27)
Reviewed by Billy Reiner, Editor · verified against primary sources 2026-09-27
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