Temporary Practice and Telehealth Allowances for Out-of-State Counselors, by State

Counselors ask some version of "is there a grace period?" constantly. A client is spending a month in another state, a client just moved, a family is visiting relatives for the summer. The general rule is that you need a license, or a Counseling Compact privilege, in the state where the client is located during the session. A minority of states carve out exceptions. They are narrow, they differ in every detail, and several have changed in the last two years.

This page lists the exceptions we could verify from a primary source: the statute or administrative rule on an official state site, or the licensing board's own published guidance. We checked them in early October 2026. Where we could not read the primary text, the state is not in the main list; it appears at the end with the reason. Compact privileges are a separate route and are covered on our Counseling Compact page.

Two cautions before you use any of this. First, every provision has conditions, and missing one means you are practicing without authorization. Read the cited text and, if anything is unclear, ask the board in writing before the session. Second, a provision that allows practice under state licensing law does not settle your malpractice coverage, payer rules or Medicare billing. See malpractice for multistate counselors and Medicare across state lines.

Continuity of care for an existing client

These are the provisions most useful for a client who is traveling or relocating. All of them require an established relationship that began before the client was in the state.

California

The Board of Behavioral Sciences offers a temporary practice allowance, created by AB 232 (2023), for professional clinical counselors, MFTs and clinical social workers licensed elsewhere. It is valid for 30 consecutive days, once per calendar year, for current clients with an established, ongoing relationship who are traveling in California or in the process of moving there. You must hold your state's license at the highest level for independent clinical practice; associates are excluded. You must tell the client you are not licensed in California and that services are time-limited, and give them your license type, number and jurisdiction and the board's website address. You apply through the board's Breeze system before starting, the board's FAQ says it is free, and the approval email sets fixed start and end dates that cannot be changed. More than one qualifying client can be seen during the window.

Maryland

Chapter 242 of 2026 (HB 1483), effective October 1, 2026, exempts a counselor licensed and in good standing in another state who established a client-counselor relationship outside Maryland and can no longer see the client in person because the client is now in Maryland. The counselor may provide counseling by telehealth for continuity of care for not more than 6 months after the client relocates to Maryland, or returns after "a continuous and nonincidental period of relocation outside the State." The same act repealed Maryland's temporary telehealth license for out-of-state college students. No registration is stated in the statute.

Utah

Utah Code 58-60-107, as amended in 2026, has two remote-practice exemptions for mental health therapy, which includes clinical mental health counselors. The transitional exemption allows remote therapy for 90 days beginning on the day a client relocates to Utah, if the client was yours immediately before the move, you are physically present in the state where you are licensed, and you give written notice to the Division of Professional Licensing within one day after the first session. A separate exemption for remote practice requires the same one-day notice and a Utah license within nine months, or as soon as you serve more than one client in Utah. Utah's division is due to report on these exemptions to a legislative committee in the fall of 2026, so check for changes.

Virginia

Va. Code § 54.1-3501(7) allows a practitioner licensed elsewhere to provide behavioral health services by telehealth to a patient in Virginia with whom they have an existing practitioner-patient relationship, for continuity of care, for up to one year from when they begin serving that patient under the provision. It applies to the professions regulated by the Board of Counseling.

Washington

RCW 18.134.050(2)(c) allows "follow up by a primary care practitioner, mental health practitioner, or recognized clinical specialist to maintain continuity of care with an established patient who is temporarily located in this state and received treatment in the state where the practitioner is located and licensed." The practitioner must hold a license in good standing in another state. Note "temporarily located": this reads as covering a visiting client, not one who has moved.

Idaho

Idaho Code 54-5713 does not require an Idaho license for virtual care to a patient temporarily in Idaho for business, work, education or vacation, or for short-term follow-up to maintain continuity of care, with the provider consenting to Idaho's jurisdiction. We read Idaho's code through archived 2026 copies of the legislature's official pages, because the live site would not load for us.

Short temporary-practice windows for nonresidents

These older provisions mostly predate telehealth. Several are silent on whether they cover telehealth from outside the state, and some require board permission first.

• Louisiana: a nonresident licensed elsewhere may practice no more than 30 days a year (La. R.S. 37:1113).
• Minnesota: a nonresident may practice professional counseling up to 30 days per calendar year, but only after providing proof of credentials, being found qualified and being "granted permission by the board" (Minn. Stat. 148B.592, subd. 5).
• Missouri: a nonresident licensed as a counselor in their home state may practice up to 30 days a year if the committee would consider them qualified for a Missouri license (RSMo 337.505).
• North Carolina: a nonresident licensed elsewhere may practice up to 30 days a year but may not use the title "licensed clinical mental health counselor" (N.C.G.S. § 90-332.1). The statute does not address telehealth.
• Oregon: a limited permit allows up to 30 days in a 12-month period, not necessarily consecutive, for a defined statement of work naming purpose, location and dates; the board's materials show telehealth can qualify, but open-ended work does not. There is an application and fee (OAR 833-020-0102).
• South Carolina: temporary practice of no more than 5 days a month and 30 days a calendar year (S.C. Code § 40-75-290).
• Wyoming: nonresidents authorized in their home state may practice no more than 30 days per calendar year (W.S. 33-38-103).
• District of Columbia: a practitioner licensed in a state may accompany an existing client to D.C. for a visit of no more than 30 days (D.C. Code § 3-1205.02(a)(3)(A)). The clause is followed by a proviso about affiliation with a comparable D.C. licensee whose reach is unclear; ask the board.

Out-of-state telehealth registrations

A registration is a standing authorization, usually without a day cap, limited to telehealth. None of them permits in-person care in the state.

• Florida: registration with the Department of Health under section 456.47, covering chapter 491 professions including mental health counselors. Requires an active, unencumbered, substantially similar license, no discipline in 5 years, a Florida registered agent and qualifying liability coverage; no Florida office or in-person care. The department says there is no fee and the registration does not expire. Full details in Florida's telehealth registration.
• Arizona: A.R.S. 36-3606 registration with the Board of Behavioral Health Examiners: a substantially similar unrestricted license, no past or pending discipline, insurance, a statutory agent and an annual report, with no in-person care. The statute exempts providers with fewer than 10 telehealth encounters a year with Arizona patients from registering. Arizona also issues Counseling Compact privileges, which may be the simpler route for an eligible counselor.
• Vermont: the Office of Professional Regulation's interim telehealth registration, which covers licensed clinical mental health counselors, is in effect, and OPR's guidance says a client who relocates to Vermont may continue with you by telehealth. Vermont's newer framework, a time-limited registration and a separate telehealth license, was still waiting on rules in October 2026.
• Idaho: a behavioral health telehealth registration under Idaho Code 54-5714, renewed every two years, for ongoing telehealth without in-person care.
• South Carolina: a behavioral telehealth registration under S.C. Code § 40-75-800 for counselors with a substantially similar active license and no discipline in 5 years; you must link to the board from your website.
• Delaware: an interstate telehealth registration with the Division of Professional Regulation under 24 Del. C. § 6002 for practitioners with an active license in good standing and no pending complaint. The statute's wording refers to practitioners from states that have not adopted an interstate compact, which may limit it for counselors now that the Counseling Compact exists; ask the Division before relying on it.

Routes that have closed

• Connecticut: the temporary telehealth registration for out-of-state professionals, including professional counselors, ended June 30, 2025 (C.G.S. § 19a-906). We did not find a renewal in the 2026 supplement.
• Indiana: the out-of-state telehealth certificate ended July 1, 2024; Indiana now requires a license or compact privilege. Indiana issues Counseling Compact privileges.
• Maryland: the temporary telehealth license for out-of-state college students was repealed by Chapter 242 of 2026, replaced by the 6-month continuity provision above. See college students and telehealth.

Checked, no provision found

We read the counseling practice act or telehealth statute in these states and found no temporary practice or telehealth exception that would let an out-of-state counselor treat a client located there, beyond consultation with a local licensee or supervised students: Alaska, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Nevada, New York, Texas and Wisconsin. New York's Office of the Professions says practice in New York, including by telepractice, requires New York licensure or other authorization. Texas offers a temporary license only in declared disasters. Wisconsin's legislature passed an out-of-state telehealth registration in 2025, but it was vetoed in 2026.

States we could not verify

For Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee and West Virginia, we could not read the primary text from our location, or found the provision only in secondary sources, so we have left them out rather than guess. Colorado and West Virginia appear to have temporary-practice and telehealth registration provisions; confirm them with the boards. We did not review Alabama, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota or South Dakota for this edition. Several of these states (Georgia, Ohio, Oklahoma and Tennessee among them) issue Counseling Compact privileges, which may answer the question for eligible counselors anyway.

How to use a provision safely

1. Read the cited text yourself, not a summary, including ours.
2. File any registration, notice or permit before the first session, and keep the confirmation.
3. Record the client's location at every session and the provision you are relying on.
4. Calendar the end date. Most of these windows close quietly.
5. Learn the state's mandatory reporting and emergency resources before you start; California's board explicitly recommends a law and ethics course.
6. If you keep needing the same state, get the license or privilege. A temporary allowance is a bridge.

Related reading: a client on vacation, a client who is moving and location versus residence. If one state keeps turning up, our License by Endorsement and Compact Privilege services are the permanent fix.