Travel Therapy Licensing by Discipline

Which compact covers your discipline

Each discipline has its own compact, run by its own commission, and each issues privileges only in member states that have started issuing them. A state that has passed the law but is not issuing yet is not an option for a contract. The table counts both, from each commission's own published list.

Where a discipline's compact is not issuing in a state, you need that state's own license. Every state's requirements are on its state page.

PTs and PTAs: the PT Compact

In the PT Compact Commission's words: “Eligible PTs and PTAs can purchase compact privileges.” To buy a privilege:

• Hold a current, valid PT or PTA license in your home state, as defined in Commission Rules.
• Your home state must be a member of the PT Compact and actively issuing compact privileges.
• You cannot have any active encumbrances against any PT or PTA license.
• You cannot have any disciplinary action against any PT or PTA license for a period of two years.
• The state where you are seeking a compact privilege must be a member of the PT Compact and actively issuing compacts privileges.

Issuing privileges (38): Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Enacted, not issuing yet (3): Maine, Michigan and Rhode Island.

You must purchase a separate compact privilege for each Compact member state in which you plan to provide physical therapy services. A compact privilege is state-specific. It does not grant multi-state or nationwide authority.

And the home state is never covered: “You cannot practice in your home state through a compact privilege.”

Fees, jurisprudence exams and each state's rules: the PT Compact guide. Source: PT Compact Commission, checked November 2, 2026.

OTs and COTAs: the OT Compact

A state counts as issuing here when CompactConnect's live list, the system that issues privileges, shows it; the OT Compact Commission's application page corroborates it.

Issuing privileges (11): Arkansas, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Enacted, 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 and Wyoming.

The Commission's fee table lists a state fee for occupational therapists and one for occupational therapy assistants in each issuing state, so the compact serves both.

Details: the OT Compact page. Sources: OT Compact Commission, Before You Apply and CompactConnect, checked November 10, 2026.

SLPs and audiologists: ASLP-IC

The Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Interstate Compact covers SLPs and audiologists. Issuing privileges (4): Louisiana, Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia. A further 33 jurisdictions have enacted it but are not issuing yet. Everywhere else, an SLP needs that state's own license.

Details: the SLP compact page. Source: ASLP-IC compact map, cross-checked against CompactConnect, November 5, 2026.

Before a first contract, whatever the discipline

• A home-state license comes first. Every compact builds on one; none replaces it.
• Check issuing, not membership. Use the lists above, then the commission's own site on the day you apply: these lists move.
• Allow for a state's own steps. Some states add a jurisprudence exam or their own fee on top of the compact's.

Each discipline guide below covers national certification and the state route in more detail.