Counselor Licensure in Virginia: LPC Requirements, Hours and Exams

The entry rung is a license: 18VAC115-20-52(A) grants temporary licensure as a resident in counseling to an applicant whose filing verifies a supervisory contract, names the clinical supervisor and practice location, attaches a transcript and an NPDB report, and attests that the applicant will be providing clinical counseling services; the rule also requires no unresolved disciplinary action against a mental health or health professional license, certificate, or registration in Virginia or another jurisdiction.

The resident license renews annually, and each renewal attests that a supervisory contract is still in effect.

What the license does not carry is independence.

A resident may not bill directly, may not present as a professional counselor, must use the Resident in Counseling title in all written communications, and must tell clients in writing that they lack independent-practice authority, giving the supervisor's name, address and telephone number.

Residents also may not practice in areas where they lack appropriate education, and the residency holds until the exam is passed.

The coursework rule is a floor of 60 semester hours or 90 quarter hours of graduate study, with at least 3 semester hours or 4.0 quarter hours in each of 12 named areas, from professional counseling identity and ethics through appraisal and diagnostic procedures, abnormal behavior and psychopathology, diagnosis and treatment of addictive disorders, and marriage and family systems theory.

The internship is subdivision 13: at least 600 hours, of which 240 must be face-to-face client contact.

A program does not have to be CACREP-accredited; a CACREP or CORE approval is simply recognized as meeting the standard.

A non-CACREP program qualifies on its own terms if it has a documented sequence of study to prepare counselors, an identifiable counselor training faculty, and clear authority over the core areas.

Graduates unsure whether their degree fits can use the board's Pre-Review of Education application, which the board notes is informational and not an application for licensure.

As amended effective December 18, 2025, the residency is stated as minimums: at least 2,000 hours of face-to-face client contact providing clinical counseling services, and at least 200 hours of in-person supervision.

The section states no total-hours figure, so do not let an employer or spreadsheet substitute one.

The pacing rules decide whether a week counts: supervision runs at a minimum of one hour and a maximum of four hours per 40 hours of work experience, no more than half of the 200 supervision hours may be group supervision (a group hour equals an individual hour), and supervision must be concurrent — hours accrued without approved supervision do not count.

A recency rule gates the application: at least 1,000 face-to-face hours and 100 supervision hours must fall within the two years immediately preceding it.

The residency takes not less than 21 months, with no maximum stated.

The board accepts residency hours approved by another US jurisdiction's licensing board if they meet this section, and can consider special requests where geography or disability limits access.

The rule requires every initial applicant to pass a written examination as prescribed by the board; the board's Examination Information FAQ names the two that qualify, the NCMHCE and the NCE, both administered by NBCC.

Two facts about the NCE matter for planning.

It has been an option only since July 1, 2024, though a score from before that date can still be used, and the board's own page warns that TRICARE will not reimburse a licensee who has passed only the NCE, so the NCMHCE is the safer choice for anyone whose practice plans include TRICARE.

Residents must pass the exam during the residency and before applying for the LPC, but no board approval is needed to register; the board notes a 30-day waiting period between attempts and a current fee of $275.

There is no Virginia jurisprudence exam for this license.

Virginia issues no supervisor license or designation; qualification is a license plus experience and training.

A supervisor must document 2 years of post-licensure clinical experience, hold professional training in supervision — 3 credit hours or 4.0 quarter hours of graduate coursework, or at least 20 hours of continuing education from an approved provider — and hold an active, unrestricted license as a professional counselor or a marriage and family therapist where the supervision is provided.

The distribution rule is the one to check before signing with an LMFT: at least 100 of the 200 supervision hours must be rendered by an LPC, so a residency supervised entirely by an LMFT caps at 100 countable supervision hours.

Supervision is capped at four hours per 40 hours of work, and no more than half of the 200 may be group.

Video counts: in-person expressly includes secured real-time visual contact.

The supervisor assumes full responsibility for the clinical activities in the supervisory contract, evaluates the resident every three months, and may not supervise someone whose relationship compromises their objectivity.

As amended effective July 2, 2026, the endorsement rule turns on the character of your out-of-state license, not your years of practice.

The applicant must hold or have held a professional counselor license in another US jurisdiction that allows independent assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of behavioral health conditions.

A clinician whose home-state license is a supervised tier without independent diagnosis does not, as the rule is written, meet that gate with that license.

Alongside it, the filing needs verification of every mental health or health professional license, certificate, or registration ever held in any jurisdiction, with no unresolved action; verification of a passing score on the examination required where the licensure was obtained; a current NPDB report; and an official graduate transcript.

No minimum years of active practice are stated in the rule — the operative conditions are the independent-practice license, the clean record and the exam.

Virginia enacted the Counseling Compact in 2023 (2023 Acts cc.

684, 685, now Va.

Code §54.1-3500.1), and the commission's news post records Governor Youngkin signing Senate Bill 802 on March 27, 2023.

Enactment is not operation.

The commission's status for Virginia on September 24, 2026 was member with Compact Live: No — Virginia is not among the states issuing and accepting privileges, and the effective date of the enacting acts was not established in the sources read.

Until the commission lists Virginia as live, a Virginia LPC cannot use the Compact to practise elsewhere and an out-of-state counselor cannot use it to practise here; the routes in remain a Virginia license by examination or by endorsement.

Check the commission's home page for the current status before relying on it.

Both licenses run on an annual clock: renewal is due on or before June 30 of each year, not every two years, and an expired license cannot be practised on.

Each renewal carries a minimum of 20 hours of continuing competency, of which at least 2 must be in courses emphasizing the ethics, standards of practice, or laws governing behavioral science professions in Virginia.

Two reliefs are written into the rule: a professional counselor licensed by examination is exempt from the requirement for the first renewal after initial licensure, and up to 2 of the 20 hours can be earned by providing unpaid counseling through a local health department or free clinic, credited at one continuing education hour per three hours of volunteer service.

Residents have their own annual duty — attesting to 3 hours of ethics, standards of practice, or laws continuing education at each renewal — alongside the attestation that a supervisory contract remains in effect.

Three changes fall in the window, and one gap matters more than any of them.

Amendments to 18VAC115-20-51, -52, -70 and -100 took effect December 18, 2025; the residency now reads as at least 2,000 face-to-face client-contact hours plus 200 supervision hours in not less than 21 months.

The endorsement rule was amended effective July 2, 2026 and now requires a license that allows independent assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of behavioral health conditions.

In 2023, Virginia enacted the Counseling Compact.

What the sources do not establish: what these sections said before their amendments — the pre-amendment residency's total-hours figure was not retrieved, so no old number can be quoted against the current minimums, and how the 2026 amendment changed the endorsement rule is not shown — and the effective date of the 2023 compact acts was not located.

A guide written before December 2025 can still name the right exams and get the residency wrong.