Moving to Virginia as a journeyman plumber: every state's rule

Virginia issues a statewide Journeyman Plumbing 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 plumbing exam under 18VAC50-30-39(B) 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, or eight years of verified experience; a registered Virginia apprenticeship can exempt the exam. The application fee on the 2026 Tradesman Exam & License Application is $171.75, which includes the $7.25-per-year technology fee on top of the $150 fee in 18VAC50-30-90; the PSI journeyman exam fee published on the Tradesmen page is $100. A journeyman or master plumber license from another governing body outside Virginia 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 three years may instead apply through Universal License Recognition (ULR) and receive the license without the Virginia trade exam. DPOR's reciprocal-agreements list does not name any origin state for plumbing (the only plumbing-related partner is WSSC, a Maryland bi-county commission, not a state). Licenses expire three years from the last day of the month of issuance; renewal is $160 plus three hours of board-approved plumbing building-code continuing education. Anyone contracting for work over $1,000 also needs a Class A, B or C contractor license. A separate Residential Plumbing license (April 1, 2025) is a lower residential-only rung and is not this journeyman credential.