Illinois to Indiana: journeyman plumber license reciprocity

Indiana licenses plumbers statewide through the Indiana Plumbing Commission, which is administered by the Professional Licensing Agency (PLA) under IC 25-28.5-1. The Commission registers Plumbing Apprentices and approves apprenticeship programs and schools, and it issues Journeyman Plumber and Plumbing Contractor licenses to individuals, a Temporary Plumbing Contractor license, and a Corporate Plumbing Business registration for entities. Applications, renewals and license verification are handled online in MyLicense One with an Access Indiana account. The Indiana journeyman examination is administered by the testing vendor Prov, and initial license fees depend on whether the license is issued in an odd or even year of the two-year cycle. Indiana's statute contains a reciprocity section (IC 25-28.5-1-19) and nonresident provisions (IC 25-28.5-1-12(d) and -20), so an out-of-state journeyman applies to the Commission rather than to any city or county; cities may require a licensed plumber to register but may not require any other license (IC 25-28.5-1-33).

Illinois has no journeyman plumber license. Under the Illinois Plumbing License Law (225 ILCS 320) the Department of Public Health issues a single Plumber license plus an Apprentice Plumber license; there is no intermediate journeyman card and no master tier, and the City of Chicago's parallel program under Section 16 follows the same two-tier structure. Every person who performs plumbing must hold one of those two licenses (Section 3(1)). An out-of-state journeyman therefore has nothing to transfer to: the choices are (1) register as an Illinois Apprentice Plumber (age 16 or older, sponsored by an Illinois licensed plumber or an approved apprenticeship program, maximum six years as an apprentice) and work under supervision, or (2) qualify for the full Illinois Plumber license, where Section 17(b) lets a plumber licensed by another state with substantially equal requirements sit the Illinois examination without first serving the four-year Illinois apprenticeship. Whether a journeyman-level origin license counts as 'substantially equal' to the Illinois Plumber license is decided by the State Board of Plumbing Examiners case by case and is not addressed on the IDPH page reviewed; see the master level for the license route.