Finish Your Hours or Move Now? Running the Numbers

Associates who have to move often frame this as "how many hours do I have left?" That is the wrong first number. The useful comparison is the date you would hold an independent license on each path, and the hours you have left are only one input.

The four numbers that decide it

1. Months to finish where you are

Remaining required hours, divided by the hours you realistically accrue per month, plus the time between your last hour and an issued license: supervisor sign-off, any exam you still need, and board processing. That last stretch can take months on its own; ask your board for its current processing time.

2. Hours the new state will accept

Every state decides for itself whether to count experience accrued elsewhere, and on what terms. Typical conditions include that your supervisor met the new state's supervisor qualifications or held an equivalent credential, that hours were accrued after your degree, that the ratio of direct client contact to total hours meets its rule, and that you can document all of it. Some states credit everything that meets their standards; some credit only part; a few make you start a new supervision plan before anything counts. Ask the destination board, in writing, before you assume a number. See do your supervised hours transfer?

3. Months before you can practice at all in the new state

You usually cannot simply resume. Most states require their own associate credential, a supervision plan approved or registered before hours count, or both. Getting that credential can involve transcripts, a coursework review, fingerprints and sometimes an exam. While you wait, you are accruing nothing.

4. What independence would unlock

An independent license in your current state is portable in ways an associate credential is not. If your current state is a Counseling Compact member issuing privileges, an independent license there lets you obtain privileges in other issuing states. Even outside the compact, many states have endorsement routes for experienced, independently licensed counselors that are simpler than the route for an associate. Our associates and the compact post explains why the compact excludes associates entirely.

A worked example

Numbers here are illustrative, not any particular state's rules.

An associate needs 3,000 post-degree hours and has 2,200. She accrues about 120 a month. Her partner's new job starts in four months.

• Stay and finish: 800 hours at 120 a month is about 7 months, plus an assumed 3 months for sign-off and processing. Independent license in about 10 months. She would have to stay 6 months longer than her partner, or commute.
• Move now: suppose the new state accepts 1,800 of her 2,200 hours because some of her supervision does not meet its rule. She needs that state's associate credential first, say 3 months. Then 1,200 more hours at 120 a month is 10 months, plus 3 months to the license. Independent license in about 16 months after the move, roughly 20 months from today.
• Hybrid: she stays 4 months (480 more hours, 2,680 total), files the new state's associate application before leaving so it is in process, and moves with her partner. If the new state accepts the same proportion of her hours, she lands with more credit and a shorter gap.

The gap between 10 months and 20 months is large enough to justify a temporary separation for some couples and not for others. The point of doing the arithmetic is that the decision is made on real numbers rather than on a feeling that she is "almost done."

Can I keep my current supervisor after I move?

Sometimes, but it is a destination-state question. Your supervisor would need to qualify under the new state's supervisor rules, and the new state has to allow supervision by someone licensed elsewhere and, if it happens by video, allow telesupervision. See supervisor licensed in another state and telesupervision across state lines.

Can I finish my old state's hours remotely after moving?

Generally no. Your hours are accrued while practicing as an associate, and an associate credential authorizes practice in the state that issued it. Seeing clients located in your old state by telehealth from your new home, under your old supervisor, raises questions in both states and is something to clear with both boards in writing before relying on it.

Questions to put to the destination board

1. Will you accept post-degree supervised hours accrued in another state, and under what conditions?
2. Does my supervisor need to meet your supervisor requirements, or is their home-state status enough?
3. Do I need your associate credential and an approved supervision plan before any hours count?
4. Which exam do you require for independent licensure, and will you accept the one I have passed?
5. Is there a jurisprudence exam, and when in the process is it taken?

Answers to those five questions are most of the decision. If you would like help getting them and running the timeline, that is part of our Associate-to-Independent License Upgrade service; see pricing.