Announcement Related to License Renewals

Due to a recent change in policy,  several updates were made to the initial license processes.

The Professional and Occupational Affairs, Pennsylvania Department of State has removed questions related to criminal history and will instead be using the Pennsylvania State Police’s Access to Criminal History (PATCH) system. They have worked with the State Police to automate this process to minimize impacts. There is a fee of $27 associated with the check (as of December 1, 2017) that will be added to new license application fees. Due to the impact of such fees, they have worked with the State Police to introduce processes that will make this background check fee unnecessary for renewals. The new fee will only apply to new applications, not license renewals.

Please note that applicants will be asked to provide a recent criminal history records check (CHRC) from the state police or other state agency for every state in which they have lived, worked, or completed professional training/studies for the past five (5) years.  The report(s) must be dated within 90 days of the date the application is submitted.  For individuals living, working, or completing training/studies outside of Pennsylvania during the past five (5) years, in lieu of obtaining individual state background checks, applicants may elect to provide both a state CHRC from the state in which they currently reside, and a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Identity History Summary Check.

Once again, this requirement will only apply to new applicants and they will not be required to repeat such background checks when renewing their Pennsylvania licenses.  These new processes to automate the Pennsylvania CHRCs will go into effect on June 2, 2018.

The Bureau is completing the modernization of its licensing system.  A part of this project is the transition to a paperless environment.  As such, effective June 15, 2018, the Bureau will no longer be accepting paper initial applications with the exception of the following license types:

Please note that applications for continuing education providers, change application requests, and licensure reactivations are not a part of this transition.  Additional updates will be provided as new application types are added to the online system.