Illinois to Arkansas: journeyman HVAC technician license reciprocity

Arkansas has no journeyman HVAC license; the person-held credential for an employee who performs heating, air conditioning or refrigeration work is the HVACR Registrant registration issued by the Department of Labor and Licensing. Ark. Code §17-33-303(c) lets an individual perform HVACR work under a Class A, B, D or E license holder by registering with the department; the $25 annual registration fee is the license holder's responsibility, and every licensee must make sure each HVACR employee holds a current registration or license. Registration is not credential-based: the application asks for no experience, education, exam or prior license and is tied to the employer's designated license holder, so it must be obtained by everyone regardless of any journeyman or technician license held in another state, and no out-of-state license shortens or replaces it. A registrant may work only for an HVACR licensee; under §17-33-104 a registered individual cannot be required to obtain any city or county license, though local permits and inspections apply. The Board has no reciprocal agreements with any state at any level. Federal EPA Section 608 certification is separately required of anyone who handles refrigerants.

Illinois has no statewide HVAC license at any level; the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation licenses no heating, air conditioning, refrigeration or mechanical trade, and licensing exists only where a city or county has adopted its own ordinance. None of the major jurisdictions verified for this entry issues a journeyman or technician HVAC card: Chicago licenses general contractors but no mechanical trade, Springfield's Mechanical License is a master-level credential (5 or 7 years of experience plus the ICC Master Mechanical exam), and Peoria, Aurora, Elgin and Cook County license or register the contractor. HVAC technicians therefore work as employees of a locally licensed or registered contractor without a personal license. An out-of-state journeyman HVAC license carries no recognition in Illinois, and none of the jurisdictions checked publishes a reciprocity or endorsement path for it; a journeyman who wants to pull permits must qualify for the local mechanical contractor license, which in most testing cities means passing the ICC Master Mechanical exam. Federal EPA Section 608 certification is required to handle refrigerants.