✋ Compact Guide

OT Compact States: Where OTs and COTAs Can Use a Privilege

The OT Compact states are listed below in two groups, from the OT Compact Commission’s own pages with the date they were verified: the states issuing OT Compact privileges today, where an OT or COTA licensed in a member home state can work on a privilege, and the states that have passed the compact but are not issuing yet. The OT Compact Commission lists the states accepting applications; check it on the day you apply.

⚠️ Compact membership expands regularly. Always verify current member states at otcompact.gov before making licensing decisions.

What Is the OT Compact?

The Occupational Therapy Licensure Compact is an agreement between member states that allows occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants to practice in member states through compact privilege. They do not need a full state application in each state.

Who Qualifies?

  • Active, unencumbered OT or COTA license in a compact member home state
  • A criminal background check through your home state licensing board
  • Your home state is a member state where you live (primarily reside) and hold your OT or OTA license
  • Your home state and each state where you want to practice must be OT Compact members, and a state must be accepting applications before you can apply there

Important: The OT Compact Commission lists an unencumbered home-state license and a criminal background check as what you need to apply. Keep your NBCOT certification current if your home state requires it. With your certification current, tell a recruiter which states you'd like to work in: Find my next contract.

How to Activate OT Compact Privilege

1. Get ready in your home state

Your home state must be accepting applications and must consider you eligible. Complete the criminal background check through your home state licensing board first; the Commission's staff do not run it. Any state that requires a jurisprudence exam needs it done before you apply there. Confirm your NBCOT certification only if your home state requires it to keep your license; the compact does not list it.

2. Apply through the OT Compact, not a state board

You apply on CompactConnect, through the Commission's application link; you do not apply through state licensing boards. Fill it in yourself: the Commission says employers, agencies and other representatives may not legally complete it for you, and it includes legal attestations that you have read each state's OT laws and rules.

3. Pay the compact and state fees

The OT Compact charges its own fee for each privilege, plus that state's own fee; you pay both together at the end of the application (Practitioner FAQs). The Commission's Before You Apply page lists every member state's fee for OTs and OTAs.

4. Renew with your home license

Your privileges expire when your home state license expires. Each time you renew that license, you buy a new privilege for every state where you plan to practice, as the OT Compact Commission explains.

OT Compact status by state

🔎 Check your exact route

Being a member state and issuing privileges are different things — a state can enact the OT Compact and still not be accepting applications, and you cannot practice in one under the compact until it does (the lists below). The Compact Eligibility Checker takes your home state and your destination and tells you whether a privilege is available today: 38 PT, 11 OT and 4 ASLP-IC jurisdictions are issuing, as each compact’s own list showed on November 3, 2026.

Issuing status from CompactConnect, the OT Compact Commission's licensing system, which issues the privileges; enacted and non-member status from the OT Compact Commission; verified November 10, 2026. Only the states in the first list are issuing OT Compact privileges today. Always verify at otcompact.gov.

Issuing OT Compact privileges (11)

  • Arkansas
  • Indiana
  • Maryland
  • Minnesota
  • Mississippi
  • Missouri
  • Ohio
  • Tennessee
  • Virginia
  • West Virginia
  • Wisconsin

Enacted the OT Compact, not issuing yet (26)

  • Alabama
  • Alaska
  • Arizona
  • Colorado
  • Delaware
  • Georgia
  • Iowa
  • Kansas
  • Kentucky
  • Louisiana
  • Maine
  • Michigan
  • Montana
  • Nebraska
  • New Hampshire
  • North Carolina
  • North Dakota
  • Oklahoma
  • Pennsylvania
  • Rhode Island
  • South Carolina
  • South Dakota
  • Utah
  • Vermont
  • Washington
  • Wyoming

Pennsylvania: compact legislation enacted per the OT Compact Commission's map; not issuing or accepting compact privileges (the Commission’s map and application page disagree).

Not an OT Compact member (14)

  • California
  • Connecticut
  • District of Columbia
  • Florida
  • Hawaii
  • Idaho
  • Illinois
  • Massachusetts
  • Nevada
  • New Jersey
  • New Mexico
  • New York
  • Oregon
  • Texas

🏠 What “home state” means

The OT Compact Commission defines your home state as a member state where you live (primarily reside) and hold your OT or OTA license; in the compact's law it is your “primary state of residence.” It is where you live, not simply a state where you hold a license, and you attest to it in your application (Before You Apply).

🔑 NBCOT Certification and the Compact

The compact's own requirements for a privilege are a home-state license with no encumbrance and a criminal background check; they do not list NBCOT certification. Check whether your home state requires current NBCOT certification to keep your license.

Common Mistakes the Commission Warns About

  • Practicing in a state because it enacted the compact. You cannot practice there under the OT Compact until the state opens applications, deems you eligible and approves your application. (OT Compact home page)
  • Applying through a state board. Privileges are applied for through the OT Compact, not through state boards. (OT Compact home page)
  • Letting a recruiter or agency fill in your application. Employing agencies, third parties and other representatives may not legally complete it; create your own account, complete it and pay yourself. (Before You Apply)
  • Naming a home state where you do not live. Your home state license must be in the state where you primarily reside, and you attest to that in the application. (Before You Apply)
  • Skipping the background check or a jurisprudence exam. Your home state will not consider you eligible until an FBI criminal background check is done, and you attest that any jurisprudence requirement is already complete. (Practitioner FAQs, Before You Apply)
  • Working on an expired privilege after renewing your home license. Each home license renewal needs new privileges; practicing on an expired or deactivated privilege puts you under that state board's authority. (Before You Apply)

OT Compact FAQ

Does the OT Compact cover COTAs?

Yes — the OT Compact covers both OTs (OTR) and COTAs. Both need a license in a compact member home state with no encumbrance to qualify for compact privilege.

What if my NBCOT certification lapses?

The compact itself does not list NBCOT certification among its requirements for a privilege. Your privilege depends on your home-state license, so check whether your home state requires current NBCOT certification to keep that license.

How is the OT Compact different from the PT Compact?

Both allow multi-state practice through compact privilege, and both build it on an active home state license. They are run by separate commissions with their own fees, state lists and rules, so check each commission's site.