Transfer Your Counseling License to South Carolina: Reciprocity & Endorsement (2026)

South Carolina has passed the Counseling Compact into law, and its board may describe the state as having joined, but as of 2026-09-27 it was not issuing or accepting privileges. That makes South Carolina a non-compact state in practice: no privilege lets you see a client located here, in person or by telehealth, and a South Carolina license cannot yet anchor privileges elsewhere. Plan on a South Carolina license by endorsement, and check the commission's announcements, because states have been switching on every few weeks.

South Carolina's independent tier is the Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC); the LPCA is the associate tier. Reg. 36-14 (amended 2022) makes endorsement available to anyone holding a current, active, unrestricted license in good standing in another state with no pending investigation, at an equivalent credential level, and the 2025 endorsement application requests only a license verification, ID, lawful-presence affidavit and the fee. There is no years-in-practice minimum and no re-review of education, exam or supervised hours, which makes this one of the lightest endorsement routes in the country. It is still coded as endorsement, not full reciprocity (verifier 2026-09-27): Reg. 36-14 adds conditions beyond a license in good standing (no current or pending investigation in the licensing state, licensure only at an equivalent credential level, and 'other documentation, as required by the Board' under 36-14(A)(4)), and S.C. Code 40-75-260(B)(1) makes licensure discretionary ('may license'). S.C. Code 40-75-260 also allows named reciprocal agreements, but no agreement list was found. Separately, S.C. Code 40-75-800 lets an out-of-state licensee register to provide behavioral telehealth to SC clients without a full license. A search-engine summary claimed a $150 endorsement fee; the Board's own form says $130. South Carolina has enacted the Counseling Compact (S.C. Code 40-75-910 et seq.) but is not yet issuing or accepting privileges; compact_member and compact_status are assembler-provided. Live llr.sc.gov refused connections on 2026-09-27, so the Board's form was read from an Internet Archive snapshot of the official URL.