Illinois 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.

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.