Wisconsin 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.

Wisconsin does not license HVAC technicians, journeymen or refrigeration mechanics as individuals. Under Wis. Stat. 101.178 and SPS 305.70 the business that installs or services heating, ventilating or air conditioning equipment must hold a DSPS HVAC Contractor registration ($15 application fee plus $160 registration fee, renewed every four years for $160), which has no exam, no experience requirement and is issued to the business owner, partner or chief executive; employees who do the work need no state credential. The only person-held state HVAC credential is the voluntary HVAC Qualifier certification (treated as the master level in this file), which requires four years of experience or education and an exam. Because there is nothing to transfer to, an out-of-state journeyman HVAC license is neither required nor recognized for employment in Wisconsin, and the statute bars cities, villages, towns and counties from requiring their own approval of a state-certified HVAC business, and of any HVAC business unless the local requirement predates November 1, 1993. Technicians who handle refrigerants must hold federal EPA Section 608 certification, which SPS 305.70 notes but which is not a state license. Wisconsin separately licenses journeyman electricians and plumbers for the electrical and plumbing portions of HVAC installations; those licenses are not covered here.