Follow the client with a Counseling Compact privilege if both states are issuing privileges, use a temporary practice allowance if the new state has one, get licensed there if the relationship justifies it, see the client in person when they return to your state, or transfer care deliberately with referrals and records.
Usually you get a few weeks of warning. The client mentions a job offer, a partner's transfer, a parent who needs help. Sometimes it is a text on moving day. Either way, the clock starts when you hear about it, because the day the client is living in the new state, your license in the old one stops covering the sessions.
The options below are ranked roughly by how well they preserve the relationship. The right one depends on the clinical picture, the destination state and how much notice you have.
1. Follow the client with a Counseling Compact privilege
When it works: your home state and the destination are both Counseling Compact members that are issuing privileges, you hold an unencumbered independent license in the state where you live, and you have time to apply.
The Compact Commission's FAQ answers this exact question: "Counselors must have a license or a privilege to practice in the state where the client is located." A privilege for the destination state lets you continue. Once your application is approved and the privilege number appears in your CompactConnect dashboard, the Commission says you can start practicing almost immediately. The application has its own fees (a $30 Commission fee plus the destination state's fee) and some states require a jurisprudence exam first, so start as soon as you hear about the move.
Check which states are live on our Counseling Compact page. A state that has enacted the compact but is not yet issuing privileges does not help.
2. Use a transition or temporary practice allowance
When it works: the destination state has a provision for out-of-state counselors continuing with existing clients, and you can meet its conditions.
A minority of states have one, and they are narrow: a fixed number of days, sometimes a notice or registration requirement, sometimes limited to clients who are relocating or visiting. Florida offers a different tool, a standing telehealth registration for out-of-state providers (see Florida's registration). Our temporary practice table lists the provisions we could verify against primary sources. Treat a short allowance as a bridge to option 1, 3 or 5, not as a plan.
3. Get licensed in the destination state
When it works: you want to keep this client long term, the state is not issuing compact privileges, and either the relationship or other demand in that state justifies the cost.
Licensure by endorsement takes months in many states and requires transcripts, exam scores and verifications. It rarely arrives in time for a move you heard about last week. It does make sense if several clients are moving to the same place, if you have been meaning to add that state anyway, or if the client's treatment is long term and you can bridge the gap with options 2 or 5. California, Texas and New York are not compact members, so this is the only route there. See how long endorsement takes.
4. See the client in person when they are back in your state
Some clients return regularly: for holidays, for work, to see family. Sessions held while they are physically in your state are covered by your license. For a client in a stable phase of treatment, a plan of occasional in-person sessions during visits, with a local clinician for anything urgent, can be a reasonable middle ground.
5. Transfer care deliberately
For many moves, the best outcome is a good handoff. That is not a failure. The ACA Code of Ethics requires counselors to make "appropriate arrangements for the continuation of treatment" (A.12) and, when transferring a client, to ensure "appropriate clinical and administrative processes are completed and open communication is maintained with both clients and practitioners" (A.11.d).
A good transfer looks like this:
- Use the remaining sessions before the move for pretermination work and a plan for the transition.
- Help the client find two or three appropriate clinicians in the new state, checking that each is licensed there and, if relevant, in network.
- With the client's written authorization, send records or a treatment summary and offer a call with the new clinician.
- Give crisis resources that work in the new location.
- Document the move date, the options you discussed and the plan.
What you should not do
The tempting option is to quietly keep going on video after the move and plan to sort out licensing later. Every one of those sessions is practice in the new state without authorization. It can also leave you exposed in two places at once: the new state can treat it as unlicensed practice, and your home board can treat it as a conduct problem. Your malpractice carrier may have its own view of sessions in a state where you were not authorized.
How do you ask the right questions early?
Add a line to your intake and informed consent: you can provide services only while the client is located in a state where you are authorized, and you would like advance notice of any move. Ask again at natural checkpoints, such as graduation, job changes and lease renewals. Most of the hard cases are the ones you heard about too late.
If a client's move makes you think about adding a state, we can tell you quickly which route is open and how long it will take; see pricing or get in touch. If you are the one moving, see moving without abandoning clients.
Common questions
- Can I keep seeing a client by telehealth after they move to another state?
- Only if you hold a license or Counseling Compact privilege in the new state, or the state has a temporary practice allowance you qualify for. Otherwise, sessions after the move are practice there without authorization.
- How fast can I get a compact privilege for a client who is moving?
- If both states are issuing privileges and you are eligible, the Commission says the privilege number appears almost immediately after approval. Allow time for any jurisprudence exam the destination state requires.
- Is referring a moving client out considered abandonment?
- Not if done well. The ACA Code requires arrangements for continuation of treatment and an appropriate transfer: pretermination work, suitable referrals, records with consent and open communication with the new clinician.
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