Puerto Rico Psychology Licensure Requirements

500

Puerto Rico offers TWO alternative paths to satisfy the reválida (licensing exam) requirement: (a) the Board's own Puerto Rico reválida exam (EJE-PPP), 125 multiple-choice questions, 3 hours, pass = 70% correct; or (b) the EPPP plus the Board's ethics/law exam (ECAELP). For candidates who choose the EPPP route, the Board's 2026 exam notice states a minimum scaled score of 500. Ley 96-1983 Art. 12(d) sets the standard as 'la establecida por la ASPPB como la que refleja el estándar mínimo aceptable', and Reglamento 9314 Sec. 19.2 says the passing score is the one recommended by ASPPB. The Board has not adopted EPPP Part 1-only or an EPPP Part 2 requirement in any document reviewed. The EPPP is offered only in English; the Board's own reválida and the ECAELP are offered in Spanish or English.

Hours are set inside the degree program, not as a separate post-degree residency. Under Reglamento 9509 (11 Oct 2023), which replaced Article 17 of Reglamento 9314, doctoral graduates of health-service psychology programs must complete a supervised PREDOCTORAL INTERNSHIP of at least 2,000 hours if they graduated from a clinical psychology or counseling psychology program, and at least 1,500 hours if from a school psychology program. Article 17.2(B) restates the clinical requirement as a 2,000-hour predoctoral internship with at least 25% (minimum 500 hours) in direct client/patient contact and 4 hours of supervision per week (at least 2 individual). Puerto Rico also licenses at the MASTER'S level in several practice areas with much lower supervised-practice minimums: counseling psychology 500 hours (>=125 direct contact, 1 hr/wk individual supervision); school psychology 500 hours; social-community psychology 300 hours; industrial/organizational psychology 300 hours; academic/research psychology 300 hours. Clinical psychology graduates MUST hold a doctorate. IMPORTANT TRANSITION: Reglamento 9509 Sec. 17.4 states the supervised-hours requirements apply to students graduating in academic year 2026-2027 and thereafter; graduates before then fall under the prior Article 17 of Reglamento 9314, which required a minimum of 375 hours of supervised practice in the program and a supervised predoctoral internship of at least 1,500 hours for health-service doctoral graduates. postDoc is recorded as 0 because neither Ley 96-1983 nor Reglamento 9314/9509 imposes any postdoctoral supervised-experience requirement: Ley 96-1983 Art. 13 requires only the degree plus 'la experiencia y/o práctica supervisada requerida por la institución donde estudió', and the license requirements in Reglamento 9314 Art. 14 list no postdoctoral hours.

Required

ECAELP - Examen de Competencias en Asuntos Éticos, Legales y Profesionales (Examination of Competencies in Ethical, Legal and Professional Matters). Board-written multiple-choice exam covering the code of ethics, professional guidelines, Ley 96-1983 and other Puerto Rico and federal law bearing on psychological practice. Delivered electronically by Didaxis, available in Spanish or English. Passing score: 70% correct.

Required of every candidate who takes the EPPP route, and taken only AFTER passing the EPPP ('Este examen es requerido a todo aspirante que haya aprobado el EPPP'). Also required for licensure by reciprocity (Reglamento 9314 Sec. 28.1.1(f)) and by endorsement (Sec. 28.2.1(f)). Candidates who instead sit the Board's own Puerto Rico reválida (EJE-PPP) do not take a separate ECAELP - 'Asuntos éticos, legales y profesionales' is one of that exam's eight content areas. The Board's public exam notices do not state a separate ECAELP fee; the Manual de Procedimientos de Reválida y Licenciamiento (available on request from the Board) sets the fees, so no amount is recorded here.

1. Earn a master's or doctoral degree from a psychology program at an accredited institution - a doctorate is mandatory for clinical psychology, while counseling, school, social-community, industrial/organizational and academic/research psychology can be licensed at the master's level.
2. Complete the supervised practice or internship your practice area requires under Reglamento 9509 Article 17 - a predoctoral internship of at least 2,000 hours for clinical or counseling psychology doctorates, at least 1,500 hours for school psychology doctorates, or 300-500 supervised hours for the master's-level practice areas.
3. Watch for the Board's convocatoria (published at least twice a year on salud.pr.gov and in two newspapers), book an appointment through orcps.salud.gov.pr, and file the current revision of the exam application with the $75 non-refundable fee, transcripts and degree certification, internship certification, PR police record, health certificate, Ley 300 certification and photographs.
4. Once the Board approves your application, satisfy the reválida requirement by either passing the Board's own Puerto Rico exam (125 questions, 70% to pass, $100 to Didaxis) OR passing the EPPP with a scaled score of at least 500 within 12 months of approval.
5. If you took the EPPP, obtain Board authorization and pass the ECAELP ethics-and-law exam (70% to pass) administered by Didaxis in Spanish or English.
6. Pay the $100 first-license fee, satisfy the residency and good-moral-character requirements, and receive your psychologist licence from the Junta Examinadora de Psicólogos.
7. Register and recertify every three years: 45 continuing-education hours (including 6 hours in Puerto Rico psychology ethics/law delivered in person or synchronously, and 15 autism hours if you serve that population) plus the $60 fee, an ASUME negative certification and current criminal-record certificates.

Not a PSYPACT member

Three routes exist. (1) RECIPROCITY (Reglamento 9314 Sec. 28.1) - available only where the Board has an actual reciprocity agreement with the other US jurisdiction or foreign country; the applicant must meet Articles 14, 15 and 17, produce a current licence certification free of discipline, submit an EPPP score sent directly by the vendor that meets the ASPPB-recommended minimum, and pass the ECAELP. Ley 96-1983 Art. 16 authorises the Board to negotiate these agreements with states, territories or foreign countries that impose similar requirements and grant a similar concession to Puerto Rico licensees. (2) ENDORSEMENT (Sec. 28.2) - the applicant must meet Articles 14, 15 and 17, hold a valid discipline-free licence elsewhere, demonstrate with copies of that jurisdiction's laws and regulations that its requirements were substantially equivalent to or stricter than Puerto Rico's, submit an EPPP score directly from the vendor, and pass the ECAELP; endorsement applications may be filed without waiting for an exam convocatoria. Sec. 28.2.2 adds an expedited endorsement route for spouses of active-duty military and federal employees under Ley 271-2012. Licences granted by reciprocity or endorsement are permanent, subject to triennial recertification. (3) UNIVERSAL LICENCE RECOGNITION - Ley 102-2025, signed 1 August 2025, and its implementing Reglamento (the 'Reglamento para el Reconocimiento Universal de Licencias Ocupacionales y Licencias Profesionales en Puerto Rico', listed by the Board as Reglamento 9746) let a professional holding a current valid licence in another US state obtain a Puerto Rico licence by endorsement if they have held that licence at least one year, practised continuously for at least three consecutive years, have not been inactive more than one year, passed an exam and/or met education standards in the originating state, and are in good standing; the local board must decide within 30 days or a provisional government certification issues automatically. The regulation expressly lets the board still require an exam on Puerto Rico-specific law and regulation without duplicating general exams already passed. The application form is published by ORCPS. PSYPACT: Puerto Rico is NOT a PSYPACT jurisdiction - PSYPACT is a compact adopted by state legislatures, Puerto Rico has enacted no PSYPACT legislation, and neither Ley 96-1983 nor any Board regulation reviewed mentions PSYPACT, so PSYPACT E.Passport/IPC authority does not extend to practice in Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico Board of Psychologist Examiners (ORCPS)

(787) 723-2885

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