Vermont to Virginia: journeyman HVAC technician license reciprocity

Virginia issues a statewide Journeyman HVAC tradesman license to individuals (never to companies) through the Board for Contractors' Tradesmen Program at the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR). A first-time applicant qualifies for the PSI journeyman exam ($100) with a combination of practical experience and vocational training (four years plus 240 hours down to seven years plus 40 hours), a related degree plus experience, eight years of verified experience, or completion of a registered apprenticeship, which exempts the applicant from the exam; the application fee on the 2026 form is $171.75, which includes the $7.25-per-year technology fee added on top of the $150 fee in 18VAC50-30-90. A journeyman or master HVAC license from any other state is itself an accepted qualification to sit the Virginia exam without documenting hours, and a licensee who has held that out-of-state license for at least one year may instead apply through Universal License Recognition (ULR) and receive the license without the Virginia trade exam. The Board's only HVAC-specific agreement is an examination reciprocity agreement with the Maryland HVACR Board covering journeyman and master licenses. HVAC licensees complete three hours of International Mechanical Code continuing education each three-year license term, and anyone contracting for work over $1,000 also needs a Class A, B or C contractor license. EPA Section 608 certification is required federally to handle refrigerants; DPOR does not list it as a licensing prerequisite.

Vermont does not issue a journeyman HVAC, air conditioning or refrigeration license, and no Vermont municipality was found to do so; the Division of Fire Safety's list of trade credentials contains no HVAC technician or contractor license. Two adjacent credentials do apply. First, anyone who installs, inspects or services natural gas or propane equipment must hold a Division of Fire Safety gas certification ($60 for three years) earned through NPGA CETP/PEP or American Gas Association training, and the application even has a category J 'HVAC Tech (Limited Interior)' for HVAC technicians who only connect and start up gas appliances inside the building; anyone working on oil-fired equipment needs the oil burner installer certification ($60 for three years) based on a NORA Bronze, Silver or Gold certificate. Second, the electrical side of HVAC is licensed: a Type-S Specialist electrician license in field C3 'Refrigeration or air conditioning, air to air heat pumps' or A1 'Automatic gas or oil heating, including ground-source heat pumps' ($115 per field for three years, after a recognized training program plus 2,000 hours of experience and an $80 exam) allows an HVAC technician to wire the equipment and run branch circuits from the existing service without a journeyman electrician license. None of these credentials is an HVAC license as such, and none has a reciprocity provision for HVAC licenses from other states (the Type-S form accepts only Maine and New Hampshire electrical licenses, and the gas and oil certifications accept only the national training certificates). An out-of-state journeyman HVAC license therefore has no Vermont counterpart; the holder may work for any employer on ductwork, refrigeration and cooling equipment with only federal EPA Section 608 certification, and must add the gas or oil certification and, for wiring, a Type-S license before doing that work.