Arizona to Texas: journeyman HVAC technician license reciprocity

Texas has no journeyman HVAC license in the usual sense; the person-held credential for an employee who does air conditioning and refrigeration work is the Registered ACR Technician registration issued by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR). Anyone who assists a licensed ACR contractor with non-exempt maintenance or repair work must register: the applicant must be at least 16, file a one-page application with a $20 fee and answer a criminal history questionnaire, and there is no exam, no experience requirement and no continuing education. The registration is valid one year and is renewed for $20. TDLR also offers a voluntary Certified ACR Technician credential for technicians with 24 months of supervised experience or a TDLR-approved 2,000-hour training program who pass a PSI exam ($50 application, $60 exam, renewed for $35); it is not required to work. Because the registration is not an examined license, an out-of-state journeyman or technician license has nothing to transfer to: every technician must register with TDLR regardless of licenses held elsewhere, and all work must be performed under a Texas-licensed ACR contractor. Technicians who handle refrigerants also need federal EPA Section 608 certification.

Arizona has no state journeyman HVAC license; the Registrar of Contractors licenses only air conditioning and refrigeration contractors (C-39, R-39 and CR-39), and individual technicians work under a licensed contractor without a personal state license. The one large jurisdiction that does license individuals is Phoenix, whose building code requires permitted mechanical work to be done by a City of Phoenix Mechanical Journeyman or a registered apprentice: the journeyman card requires four years of documented experience and passing a $100 mechanical exam based on the 2024 International Mechanical Code, costs $50 for three years, and is not required of an ROC-licensed contractor's qualifying party. Other Arizona cities were not verified for this entry, and the Registrar's pages describe no journeyman credential. An out-of-state journeyman HVAC license has no state-level recognition; Phoenix publishes no reciprocity and requires its own exam, while outside Phoenix a journeyman simply works for a licensed contractor. Federal EPA Section 608 certification is required to handle refrigerants.