Psychology License from Montana to North Carolina: Does It Transfer? (2026)
Last verified: 2026-08-07 · source: North Carolina Psychology Board ↗
A psychology license transfers from Montana to North Carolina by endorsement — there is no automatic reciprocity, but you do not start over. Apply to the North Carolina Psychology Board, verify your Montana license, and meet North Carolina's endorsement requirements. The EPPP is not required at all for an applicant whose credentials are approved under the mobility-credential provision (21 NCAC 54 .1701(b)); other out-of-state applicants transfer their EPPP score through the ASPPB Score Transfer Service rather than retesting. Every applicant must still pass the Board-developed State Examination on the North Carolina Practice Act, selected Board rules and the APA Ethics Code — a two-hour, 50-item computer-based exam with a $200 fee..
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Verdict
Licensure by endorsement
This direction has a payoff worth planning around. Montana is outside PSYPACT, so you have had no compact authorizations to work with — but North Carolina participates. Endorse into North Carolina through the North Carolina Psychology Board, make it your licensed home state, and that license becomes an anchor: from there an ASPPB E.Passport and APIT authorization let you serve clients across every other participating state without another full license. The endorsement itself is still an ordinary application — EPPP score accepted, credentials reviewed, North Carolina's jurisprudence requirement applied — but what it unlocks afterwards is considerably more than a single state.
What changes, Montana → North Carolina
| Montana (current) | North Carolina (destination) | |
|---|---|---|
| PSYPACT status | PSYPACT enacted — not yet issuing | PSYPACT member — multistate license honored |
| Application fee | $175 (Application fee stated on the Board's license-information page for both Psychologist and Psychologist Licensed by Experience. A postdoctoral supervision application is a separate $25 where applicable; renewal is $600 active / $1,200 late. Background-check costs are not published here.) | $100 (Nonrefundable application fee, check or money order only ($20 charge for a returned bank item). Add $38 for the criminal background check and $200 for the State Examination; health services provider (HSP-P) certification, which is mandatory for permanently licensed psychologists rendering health services in North Carolina, costs a further $50.) |
| Processing time | Neither the Board's license-information page nor its statutes page states a processing-time range for psychologist applications. | 4–9 weeks (Board rule of thumb: if an application is complete by the last working day of a month it will be reviewed by the last working day of the following month — roughly 4 to 9 weeks depending on when the file completes. Some files must go to the full Board, which follows the published meeting calendar. An incomplete application stays active only three months, then voids.) |
| Licensing authority | Montana Board of Psychologists (Department of Labor & Industry, Business Standards Division) | North Carolina Psychology Board |
The destination column is what you must satisfy — North Carolina sets the rules for this move.
Step by step
- Confirm North Carolina's current requirements on the North Carolina Psychology Board website (linked below) — rules change.
- Submit the endorsement application to the North Carolina Psychology Board (application linked below).
- Arrange license verification from your current state via the verification system.
- Hold an ASPPB Certificate of Professional Qualification (CPQ), a National Register of Health Service Psychologists (NRHSPP) registration, or an ABPP diploma to use the mobility-credential application.
- Arrange for ASPPB, the National Register or ABPP to write directly to the Board verifying the credential, and for every jurisdiction where you are or were licensed to report licensure status and any discipline.
- Submit a fingerprint card, an Authority for Release of Information form and the $38 criminal background check fee.
- Submit a completed Supervision Contract Form with the application.
- Pass the Board's State Examination on the NC Practice Act, Board rules and the APA Ethics Code.
- File the application within 30 days of offering to practice or undertaking the practice of psychology in North Carolina (G.S. 90-270.139).
- Pay the fees ($100 (Nonrefundable application fee, check or money order only ($20 charge for a returned bank item). Add $38 for the criminal background check and $200 for the State Examination; health services provider (HSP-P) certification, which is mandatory for permanently licensed psychologists rendering health services in North Carolina, costs a further $50.)) and allow 4–9 weeks (Board rule of thumb: if an application is complete by the last working day of a month it will be reviewed by the last working day of the following month — roughly 4 to 9 weeks depending on when the file completes. Some files must go to the full Board, which follows the published meeting calendar. An incomplete application stays active only three months, then voids.).
Official links
Related guides
Frequently asked questions
Does North Carolina accept a Montana psychology license?
A psychology license transfers from Montana to North Carolina by endorsement — there is no automatic reciprocity, but you do not start over. Apply to the North Carolina Psychology Board, verify your Montana license, and meet North Carolina's endorsement requirements. The EPPP is not required at all for an applicant whose credentials are approved under the mobility-credential provision (21 NCAC 54 .1701(b)); other out-of-state applicants transfer their EPPP score through the ASPPB Score Transfer Service rather than retesting. Every applicant must still pass the Board-developed State Examination on the North Carolina Practice Act, selected Board rules and the APA Ethics Code — a two-hour, 50-item computer-based exam with a $200 fee..
Do I retake the EPPP moving from Montana to North Carolina?
No — the EPPP is passed once and your score is verified rather than retaken. The EPPP is not required at all for an applicant whose credentials are approved under the mobility-credential provision (21 NCAC 54 .1701(b)); other out-of-state applicants transfer their EPPP score through the ASPPB Score Transfer Service rather than retesting. Every applicant must still pass the Board-developed State Examination on the North Carolina Practice Act, selected Board rules and the APA Ethics Code — a two-hour, 50-item computer-based exam with a $200 fee..
What does the move cost?
$100 (Nonrefundable application fee, check or money order only ($20 charge for a returned bank item). Add $38 for the criminal background check and $200 for the State Examination; health services provider (HSP-P) certification, which is mandatory for permanently licensed psychologists rendering health services in North Carolina, costs a further $50.) (Nonrefundable application fee, check or money order only ($20 charge for a returned bank item). Add $38 for the criminal background check and $200 for the State Examination; health services provider (HSP-P) certification, which is mandatory for permanently licensed psychologists rendering health services in North Carolina, costs a further $50.).
How long will it take?
4–9 weeks (Board rule of thumb: if an application is complete by the last working day of a month it will be reviewed by the last working day of the following month — roughly 4 to 9 weeks depending on when the file completes. Some files must go to the full Board, which follows the published meeting calendar. An incomplete application stays active only three months, then voids.) — Board rule of thumb: if an application is complete by the last working day of a month it will be reviewed by the last working day of the following month — roughly 4 to 9 weeks depending on when the file completes. Some files must go to the full Board, which follows the published meeting calendar. An incomplete application stays active only three months, then voids..
Sources
Primary sources only — official boards and compact commissions. Data last verified 2026-08-07.
- NC Psychology Board — Application for Licensure Based on Mobility Credential (eligibility, fees, EPPP waiver, documentation) ↗ (accessed 2026-08-07)
- NC Psychology Board — Applications ('There are no reciprocity agreements between North Carolina and other jurisdictions') ↗ (accessed 2026-08-07)
- NC Psychology Board — Application for Licensure (standard route, fees, senior psychologist provision, review timing) ↗ (accessed 2026-08-07)
- NC Psychology Board — Examinations (EPPP and the $200 Board State Examination) ↗ (accessed 2026-08-07)
- Montana Board of Psychologists — Psychologist and Psychologist by Experience license information (requirements, exams, $175 application fee) ↗ (accessed 2026-08-07)
- Montana Board of Psychologists — board home (license types, apply/renew, PSYPACT) ↗ (accessed 2026-08-07)
- Montana Code Annotated 37-1-304 — Licensure by endorsement (substantially equivalent out-of-state license; reciprocity agreements may not lower Montana standards) ↗ (accessed 2026-08-07)
- Montana Code Annotated 37-17-302 — Qualifications for licensure as a psychologist ↗ (accessed 2026-08-07)
Reviewed by Billy Reiner, Editor · verified against primary sources 2026-08-07
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