Psychologist Licensure in Virginia: Degree, Supervised Hours and the EPPP

Virginia licenses the practice of applied psychology, school psychology and clinical psychology, and — since the 2024 practitioner act — practice as a psychological practitioner.

The board issues five licences: clinical psychologist, applied psychologist, school psychologist, school psychologist-limited and psychological practitioner.

The full school psychologist licence is not necessarily doctoral: the rules define a professional psychology program, and a Resident, to include a master's degree or higher program in school psychology.

A graduate doing the supervised residency holds none of the five.

The rules reserve the title "Resident in Psychology" for that stage and bar residents from identifying as clinical or school psychologists, independently soliciting clients, or billing directly — though a supervisor or employing institution may bill for the services of an appropriately identified resident (18VAC125-20-65(C)).

The board may also issue a temporary licence to a person engaged in a residency (Va.

Code § 54.1-3605(4)).

For clinical psychology applicants the degree rule now runs on a clock.

Through June 22, 2028, a doctorate from a non-accredited professional psychology program is still acceptable if the program documents the rule's criteria: a U.S. Department of Education-recognized accreditor (or an Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada member in good standing); preparation for the practice of clinical psychology as defined in § 54.1-3600; at least three academic years of full-time graduate study; an organized program with an identifiable psychology faculty and a psychologist directly responsible for it; and the specified minimum graduate hours in the rule's substantive and clinical content areas.

Beginning June 23, 2028, the doctorate must come from a program accredited at graduation by the APA, the CPA, or an accrediting body acceptable to the board.

At any date the applicant must document practicum experiences in assessment, diagnosis and psychological interventions of at least nine graduate semester hours or 15 or more graduate quarter hours, plus a program emphasis on the diagnosis and treatment of persons with moderate to severe mental disorders (§ 54.1-3605(7)).

Clinical and school psychologist candidates need a residency of a minimum of 1,500 hours of supervised experience.

For clinical candidates, doctoral practicum hours may count toward it if they meet the standards in 18VAC125-20-54(F): not less than one-quarter of the hours in face-to-face direct client services, not less than one-half in direct services plus service-related activities, and a minimum of one hour of individual face-to-face supervision per eight hours of direct and service-related experience, certified by the program's director of clinical training.

Internship hours never count toward the 1,500.

Any remainder must be earned after the degree, over not less than 12 months and not more than three years — extendable if the applicant requests board approval for extenuating circumstances that precluded completion within three years — with at least two hours of individual supervision per 40 hours of experience (group supervision may cover half of that).

Supervised experience obtained in Virginia without prior written board approval will not be accepted, so a candidate must register — supervisory contract, fee and transcript — before the first hour.

Applicants for the clinical, school and applied psychologist licences must pass every part of the EPPP that was required at the time they sat it.

The rule does not name EPPP Part 2-Skills, and whether the phrase "all parts ... required at the time" reaches Part 2 is not stated in the sources read — a question with a deadline, because ASPPB's integrated EPPP replaces both parts for first-time takers starting fall 2027 and becomes the only version available from April 1, 2028.

The passing score on the final required step must be earned within two years immediately preceding licensure; the board may extend the window for extenuating circumstances, and a candidate who has not taken the exam by the end of it must reapply under the regulations in effect at that time.

No jurisprudence exam was found in the sections read.

Psychological practitioners take a different pair: a board-set passing score on the EPPP's academic portion for licensure, and on its clinical portion for autonomous practice.

A psychological practitioner without the autonomous designation practises under a supervisor who must be licensed as a clinical psychologist in Virginia and hold at least two years of clinical experience after doctoral-level licensure.

Supervision includes the supervisor's periodic review of patient charts or electronic records, regular input on cases, emergencies and referrals, appropriate professional development, and management of areas of deficiency; the supervisor is also responsible for keeping the practitioner inside the scope of their education and training.

Practitioner and supervisor must enter a written supervisory agreement before practice begins and each keeps copies for three years after supervision ends.

Until the designation is granted, the practitioner must also tell patients and the public in writing that they cannot practise autonomously and must provide the supervising psychologist's name and contact information.

The statute defines the psychological practitioner's work broadly: diagnosing and treating mental and emotional disorders through counseling, psychotherapy, marital, family, group or behavioral therapy, plus assessment and evaluation tied to treatment.

Autonomy is a board designation, not a default.

A practitioner with a current, unrestricted licence qualifies upon a passing score on the clinical portion of the EPPP — passed within two years immediately preceding the application, extendable for extenuating circumstances — and one year of full-time, post-licensure supervised practice of at least 2,000 hours completed within the three years immediately preceding it.

The file also takes the supervising clinical psychologist's signed attestation, on the board's form, that the practitioner is competent in all areas of practice and demonstrated sufficient competency to practise autonomously, after which the board issues a new licence noting the independent authorization.

No psychology licence in Virginia includes prescribing: the chapter expressly does not permit the administration or prescribing of drugs.

The school psychologist-limited licence is boxed in further, to practice solely in public school divisions.

Virginia enacted the Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact at § 54.1-3606.2 through SB 760, and the PSYPACT Commission map, as read in September 2026, lists Virginia as a member in effect: enacted April 11, 2020, effective January 1, 2021.

A Virginia licensed psychologist uses the compact for telepsychology or temporary in-person practice — capped at 30 days a year — in other participating states, through ASPPB's E.Passport or Interjurisdictional Practice Certificate plus the matching PSYPACT authorization.

The compact is doctoral-only, and not every Virginia psychology licence is doctoral: the rules open the school psychologist licence to a master's degree or higher program in school psychology.

So the psychological practitioner, the school psychologist-limited licence, and any school psychologist licence held on a master's or specialist degree cannot use PSYPACT.

Virginia's endorsement rule covers applied, clinical and school psychology, not the psychological practitioner.

The rule takes a completed application, processing fee, attestation to Virginia's Standards of Practice and psychology laws, verification of all ever-held health and mental health licences (nothing surrendered under investigation, nothing unresolved), and a current National Practitioner Data Bank report.

The qualifying credential: a current National Register of Health Service Psychologists credential; ABPP diplomate status in good standing in a comparable category; the ASPPB Certificate of Professional Qualification; five years of active licensure in a comparable category with at least 24 months' active practice in the last 60; or, below those thresholds, current psychologist licensure in good standing under substantially equivalent standards, verified by the certified original application from the out-of-state agency or the regulations then in effect, plus a passing score on all EPPP parts required at the time of original licensure and official transcripts.

The statute's consulting, free-clinic and temporary continuing-education exemptions, and its one-year telemedicine continuity-of-care exemption (out-of-state psychologist in good standing who previously established the practitioner-patient relationship), remain exemptions, not a licence.

Licences renew annually on or before June 30, and renewal always takes the board's renewal fee.

What the first year lifts is the coursework: a practitioner is exempt from the continuing competency requirements for the first renewal following the date of initial licensure by examination in Virginia — the CE requirement only, not the fee.

After that, each renewal year takes a minimum of 14 hours of board-approved continuing education, of which at least 1.5 hours must emphasize the ethics, laws and regulations governing psychology and at least 6 hours must be face-to-face or real-time interactive.

Up to seven excess hours carry forward into the next cycle, and up to two hours per cycle can be earned — at three service hours per credit hour — by delivering unpaid psychological services to low-income individuals receiving mental health services through a local health department or a free clinic.

The psychological practitioner licence is the headline change: enacted by the 2024 General Assembly (chapters 754 and 761), with the board's implementing regulations effective November 1, 2025 — the same reissue that placed the practitioner's examination rules in -41(C), Requirements for licensure by examination, and the clinical-portion window for autonomous practice in -80(B), General examination requirements, and added the autonomous-practice fee to the fee section (-30).

The endorsement rule (-42) was amended in the same reissue; its history note records only the amendment and a new statutory-authority citation to § 54.1-3606.3, not what changed.

The clinical education rule was amended effective August 29, 2024, and the residency, definitions and continuing-education rules were amended effective January 2, 2025.

The APA/CPA accreditation mandate for clinical applicants arrives June 23, 2028, so an applicant finishing a non-accredited doctorate should plan around that date.