Louisiana to Texas: journeyman HVAC technician license reciprocity
Louisiana does not issue a statewide journeyman HVAC technician license, so there is nothing to transfer. Here is Texas's standard path for out-of-state applicants.
Your origin state does not issue a statewide license at this level, so there is no license to transfer. The destination's standard out-of-state path is shown; expect to meet it in full.
Reference only, not legal advice. Rules change; confirm with the licensing board before you apply. Full disclaimer.
Technician registration required of everyone (no exam, no reciprocity)
Your out-of-state credentials give no advantage. You meet the destination's requirements from scratch.
An HVAC technician or journeyman licensed in any other state must register with TDLR as an Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Technician before assisting a Texas ACR contractor; the registration is a $20, no-exam filing that does not evaluate or credit the out-of-state license. TDLR publishes no reciprocity, endorsement or exam waiver at this level because there is no exam to waive. A technician who wants the optional Certified Technician designation must meet the Texas experience or training requirement and pass the PSI Certified Technician exam; TDLR's certified technician page does not describe any credit for an out-of-state license.
Applicants without a criminal conviction receive a 21-day temporary registration on filing (16 TAC §75.27). Whether TDLR will count out-of-state supervised experience toward the voluntary Certified Technician credential was not confirmed from an official page.
At a glance
- Trade exam
- Waived
- Law / code exam
- Not required
- Out-of-state hours
- Do not count
- Typical processing
- About 21 days
What you must already have
- At least 16 years old; criminal history questionnaire if convicted of a felony or misdemeanor
What you'll do to get licensed in Texas
- 1Application fee. Pay the application fee ($20). Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Technician registration application fee (non-refundable, 16 TAC §75.80); renewal $20 per year.
- 2Other. EPA Section 608 technician certification (Type I/II/III/Universal) to handle refrigerants; federal, does not expire. TDLR's technician pages do not list it, but it applies to every technician who services refrigerant-containing equipment.
- 3Other. Optional Certified ACR Technician designation: $50 application fee plus $60 PSI exam, after 24 months of supervised ACR work or a TDLR-approved 2,000-hour certification training program (if applicable).
Published fees on this path total $20, excluding exam-vendor fees, bonds, and insurance.
What you'll need to buy or arrange
Exam preparation
Most boards contract PSI, Prov, or ICC for exams. Check which code edition the exam is written to before buying a prep course.
- Other
- Other · if applicable
How Texas licenses journeyman HVAC technicians
Texas journeyman HVAC technician · “Registered Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Technician”
Statewide license
Issued by Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR)
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.
Why Louisiana has nothing to transfer
Louisiana journeyman HVAC technician
Licensed by cities and counties
Louisiana does not issue a statewide journeyman or technician license for heating, air conditioning or refrigeration work. The only state HVAC credential is the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors (LSLBC) commercial contractor license in the Mechanical classification (or its Heat, Air Conditioning, Ventilation, Duct Work and Refrigeration subclassification), required for any mechanical project of $10,000 or more and issued to the contracting business or sole proprietor on the strength of a qualifying party who passed the trade exam; the LSLBC's FAQ and Types of Licenses pages list no journeyman, master or technician license. Journeyman mechanic licensing exists only where a city or parish ordinance creates it: New Orleans issues a Class 'B' Journeyman Mechanical Contractor License ($55 per year) to applicants who pass the ICC G31 National Journeyman Mechanical exam and work under a Class 'A' air conditioning and refrigeration contractor, Jefferson Parish requires air conditioning and heating equipment to be installed or replaced by a parish-licensed mechanical contractor, and Shreveport registers contractors and refers journeyman and master testing to the ICC or the LSLBC. Under La. R.S. 37:2156.1(I), however, employees of a statewide-licensed mechanical contractor cannot be required to pass any local examination or certification as a condition of working for that contractor, so a local journeyman card matters mainly to technicians working for contractors below the state threshold or outside the state system. None of these jurisdictions publish reciprocity for out-of-state journeyman licenses; the portable credential in practice is the ICC journeyman mechanical exam. Federal EPA Section 608 certification is required of anyone who handles refrigerants.
How local licensing works in Louisiana
How local licensing works. The Contractors Licensing Law (La. R.S. 37:2150.1 et seq.) regulates contractors: a mechanical contractor is anyone who contracts for air conditioning, refrigeration, heating, plumbing, ventilation, boiler or piping work valued at $10,000 or more, and the LSLBC licenses the business through a designated qualifying party. Individual mechanics and technicians are licensed, where at all, by parish or city ordinance, and R.S. 37:2156.1(I) preempts local examination or certification of the employees of a statewide-licensed mechanical contractor when they work for that contractor.
New Orleans. The Department of Safety and Permits issues a Class 'B' Journeyman Mechanical Contractor License covering mechanics (air conditioning and refrigeration) and gasfitters. A mechanic applicant must be 18 or older and submit a passing ICC Official Results Report for exam G31 National Journeyman Mechanical (unofficial stamped reports are not accepted), a driver's license or state ID, a passport-style photo taken within the last 3 to 6 months, the mechanical license application and a signed Journeyman Acknowledgement. The license costs $55 per year, expires on the holder's birthday (delinquent fee $5 per month; a license delinquent more than two years requires retesting with ICC), and the journeyman must be employed by and work under the supervision of a Class 'A' Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractor. The city page states no experience-hour requirement and no reciprocity for other jurisdictions' licenses; an out-of-state journeyman who has already passed the ICC G31 exam can apply on that score.
Jefferson Parish. The Department of Inspection and Code Enforcement requires that installation or replacement of air conditioning and heating equipment, including any condenser, be filed by a Jefferson Parish licensed mechanical contractor; the parish issues a $200 trade contractor license to a license holder/qualifying party whose checklist includes the state license. No separate journeyman mechanic card or reciprocity rule was found on the parish site.
Shreveport. The city requires every HVAC contractor performing work in the city to hold a city contractor's registration and the state license for work over $10,000, and refers HVAC journeyman and master testing to the International Code Council or the LSLBC.
Baton Rouge and Lafayette. No official page describing a journeyman mechanic license or exam was located for the City of Baton Rouge/East Baton Rouge Parish or Lafayette Consolidated Government; their permit pages cover permitting and inspection only. Applicants should contact the local building official.
Out-of-state holders. No parish or city page reviewed publishes reciprocity or endorsement for journeyman HVAC licenses from other states. The LSLBC's reciprocity (trade-exam waiver for anyone who passed another state's exam) applies only to its contractor license.
Common questions
- Do I have to take the Texas journeyman HVAC technician exam if I'm licensed in Louisiana?
- No. The trade exam is waived on this path.
- What does it cost to get a Texas journeyman HVAC technician license from Louisiana?
- Published fees on this path total $20, not counting exam vendor fees or bonds.
- Do my Louisiana work hours count in Texas?
- No. Texas does not credit out-of-state hours on this path.
- How long does the application take?
- The board's published or typical processing time is about 21 days.
- Does it work the other way, from Texas to Louisiana?
- Not necessarily. Reciprocity is directed. Going from Texas to Louisiana, the mechanism is not applicable.
Sources
- EPA Section 608 Technician Certification Requirements · 40 CFR Part 82, Subpart F (Clean Air Act §608) · U.S. Environmental Protection Agency · Other · verified September 15, 2026Federal requirement in every state: technicians who maintain, service, repair or dispose of equipment that could release refrigerants into the atmosphere must be certified (Type I small appliances, Type II high-pressure, Type III low-pressure, Universal). Apprentices under direct supervision are exempt. Certification does not expire; the core exam must be proctored for Universal certification. State HVAC boards commonly require it before licensure, but it is not itself a state license.
- TDLR Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Candidate Information Bulletin (PSI) · Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation / PSI Services · Other · verified September 15, 2026Linked from the TDLR exam page. Exam fees: Environmental Air Class A $74 (120 items, 230 minutes), Class B $60 (100 items, 170 minutes); Commercial Refrigeration Class A $74, Class B $60; Certified Technician $60 (60 items, 112 minutes); passing score 70%. Effective September 1, 2026 the exams reference the 2024 IFGC, 2024 IMC and 2024 UMC.
- 16 TAC §75.120 - Certified Technician: Application and Eligibility Requirements · 16 TAC §75.120 · Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (mirrored by Cornell LII) · Admin Rule · verified September 15, 2026Certified technician: age 18, completed education or 24 months of supervised work experience, pass the examination, pay the fees, complete all requirements within one year; certification expires on the first anniversary of issuance.
- 16 TAC §75.27 - Technician Registration Requirements: Initial Application · 16 TAC §75.27 · Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (mirrored by Cornell LII) · Admin Rule · verified September 15, 2026A technician registration requires only a completed application and the fee; the term is one year; a 21-day temporary registration is issued to applicants without a criminal conviction who pay the fee. No exam or experience is required.
- 16 TAC §75.80 - Air Conditioning and Refrigeration: Fees · 16 TAC §75.80 · Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (mirrored by Cornell LII) · Admin Rule · verified September 15, 2026Read on the Cornell Legal Information Institute mirror because the Texas Secretary of State's texreg site has moved to a new portal that could not be opened. Contractor application $115, renewal $65, endorsement addition $25; registered technician application and renewal $20; certified technician application $50, renewal $35; all application fees non-refundable.
- TDLR - Apply for a New Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Certified Technician · Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation · Agency Page · verified September 15, 2026Certified Technician is a voluntary qualification that exceeds the Registered Technician standard: age 18; 24 months of ACR work under a licensed contractor or a TDLR-approved 2,000-hour certification training program (apply within 48 months of completion); $50 application fee; exam after approval; all requirements within one year; certification valid one year. No out-of-state provision.
- TDLR - Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors FAQs · Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation · Faq · verified September 15, 2026States that Texas reciprocates only with South Carolina and Georgia, that experience from states or municipalities with substantially equivalent licensing requirements is accepted, that anyone performing non-exempt air conditioning work must hold at least a technician registration, that 'there is no exam required' for technician registration ($20, one-page application, criminal background check), and that all work must be provided through a Texas-licensed ACR contractor holding the required liability insurance.
- TDLR - Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors program · Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation · Agency Page · verified September 15, 2026Program home page. Lists the three credentials (Contractor License, Technician Registration, Certified Technician) and states that a company must employ an ACR contractor at each permanent location. Links to the out-of-state and reciprocity pages.
- TDLR - Apply for a New Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Technician Registration · Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation · Agency Page · verified September 15, 2026Any person who assists a licensed ACR contractor in performing air conditioning and refrigeration maintenance or repair work must register as a technician; age 16; $20 non-refundable fee; registration valid one year; criminal history questionnaire if convicted; technicians work under contractor supervision and may not advertise independently. No exam is listed.
- TDLR - Renew an Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Technician Registration or Certification · Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation · Agency Page · verified September 15, 2026Registered technician renewal $20 and certified technician renewal $35, each valid one year from issue.
Verified dates are when a person last opened each source and confirmed the facts above. Cite the board, not us.