Moving to North Carolina as a master HVAC technician: every state's rule

North Carolina has no 'master HVAC' license; its highest HVAC credential is the Heating Contractor license issued to an individual by the State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors under G.S. 87-21, in Heating Group 1 (steam, vapor and hot-water comfort heating), Group 2 (forced-air heating/cooling with more than 15 tons of cooling) and Group 3 (forced-air heating/cooling of 15 tons or less), each with Class I (any building) and Class II (single-family detached dwellings) except Group 2, which is Class I only. The license is earned personally by passing the 4-hour technical exam and the 1.5-hour Business and Law exam and belongs to the individual, who may list it in a firm name and add sub-licensees; that is why this site maps it to the master level. A new applicant needs 4,000 hours of hands-on experience (up to half from technical education), pays $150 per examination, submits a nationwide criminal background report and Social Security verification, and after licensure pays an annual license fee of $150. The Board states that it has no license reciprocity with any state; the only technical-exam waiver is with South Carolina, and North Carolina residents licensed in Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia or West Virginia may ask for licensure without examination under the Neighbor State License Recognition Act. Commercial, industrial, transport and service refrigeration (not comfort cooling) requires a separate Class I-IV Refrigeration Contractor license from the State Board of Refrigeration Contractors ($100 exam, 4,000 hours, EPA 608 Type II or Universal required), which has no reciprocity but offers the same neighbor-state route to new NC residents. EPA Section 608 certification is required federally to handle refrigerants.