Foreign Trained Professionals, New Americans & Refuges

OPR welcomes refugees and New Americans to professional regulation.

OPR is changing restrictive licensing policies for foreign-educated and trained professionals who have made Vermont their new home.

Do you have training and experience outside the U.S. in one of the professions regulated by OPR? Are you looking to become licensed in your field in Vermont?

If yes, please review the Administrative Rules for Assessment of Professional Credentials Obtained Outside the United States. OPR has developed a process to evaluate education and training obtained outside the United States to make it easier for New Americans and Refugees to join the licensed workforce. This process is outlined in the rules. These rules were proposed in April, considered in public hearings in June, and go into effect on November 19, 2021. Thank you to everyone who participated in this process. Click here for a table of applicable professions.

Rule 4-1 of the Rules requires evaluations to be conducted by a member of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) or of the Association of International Credential Evaluators, Inc. (AICE). Those associations provide a list of members:

• NACES Members: https://www.naces.org/members
• AICE Members: https://aice-eval.org/members/

Guidance for Internationally Educated Nurses click here.

If you are a New American or a Refugee with training and professional experience outside of the United States in an OPR profession and have questions on the rules, please contact us at sos.reducingbarriers@vermont.gov.