APCC Registration
How do you register as an APCC in California?
APCC registration is the Board of Behavioral Sciences registration a professional clinical counseling graduate needs before supervised hours count toward the LPCC license. You apply by mailing Form 37A-647 with a sealed transcript, the Degree Program Certification, a Live Scan request and the $75 fee. The Board must receive it within 90 days of your degree date for hours worked before your number arrives to count. Once the number is issued, you renew every year for up to six years.
Clark Gudas
Published · 9 min read
Reviewed By Evalin Sosa, AMFT
What is APCC registration?
Associate Professional Clinical Counselor (APCC) registration is the Board of Behavioral Sciences registration that lets a professional clinical counseling graduate gain supervised experience toward the LPCC license. APCC is not a license and only works under supervision. The Board issues your APCC registration number once your application is approved.
You use that number to track supervised hours, fill out weekly logs and apply for the LPCC license.
Who can apply for APCC registration?
You can apply for APCC registration once a master's or doctoral degree that meets the Board's LPCC education requirements has been conferred. Your degree must be conferred, not just completed. Your transcript must show the degree title and conferral date.
For in-state applicants, the degree must come “from a school located within California” or from “an online program that is designed to meet California’s requirements.”
You do not need the suicide risk assessment and intervention (6 hours) or telehealth coursework (3 hours) to register. However, both are required before licensure. You can send proof that you have taken these courses now or with your licensure application.
Applicants who began graduate study before August 1, 2012 and finished by December 31, 2018 also need California law and ethics (18 hours), but only if their degree’s course was not based on California law.
What changes if your degree is from outside California?
A degree from a school outside California, or from an online program not designed for California, follows the Board’s out-of-state APCC guide instead of the in-state packet. The guide changes three things:
- Your degree must cover all 13 core content areas before registration is issued, unless you hold the highest-level counseling license for independent practice in another state
- A 12-hour California Law and Ethics course may be required
- A degree from outside the United States needs an evaluation by a NACES member
Out-of-state residents also must send fingerprint hard cards instead of Live Scan, with a $49 processing fee sent with the application.
What goes in the APCC application packet?
The APCC application packet has six items: Form 37A-647, the $75 fee, a sealed official transcript, the Degree Program Certification, the Live Scan request or fingerprint cards, and transcripts for any transferred or remediated units.
Each item in the APCC application packet, its form number and who sends it are listed below.
Item | Form nubmer | Who sends it | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
Application for Associate Professional Clinical Counselor Registration | Form 37A-647 (Revised 08/2024) | You | Signed and dated |
Application fee | None | You | $75, check or money order payable to the Behavioral Sciences Fund |
Official transcript showing degree title and conferral date | None | Your school, sealed by mail or emailed to BBStranscripts@dca.ca.gov | Plus transcripts for transferred units, remediated core content areas and additional coursework |
Degree Program Certification | Form 37A-666 (Form A) or Form 37A-667 (Form B) | Your school | Sealed or emailed by the school |
Request for Live Scan Service | You, after the Live Scan appointment | Out of state: two hard cards and $49 instead | |
Certificates for additional coursework taken through a CE provider | None | You | Only if you are sending them now |
A missing item is the most common reason an application stops.
Which Degree Program Certification do you need, Form A or Form B?
Most graduates use Form B, Form 37A-667, because it covers anyone who began graduate study on or after August 1, 2012. Your school completes and sends whichever form applies.
- Form A, Form 37A-666: you began graduate study before August 1, 2012 and completed the degree by December 31, 2018.
- Form B, Form 37A-667: you began on or after August 1, 2012, or you began earlier and did not finish by December 31, 2018.
If you are unsure, your school can confirm which form applies.
How do you apply for APCC registration, step by step?
You apply for APCC registration in seven steps. The Board must receive the packet within 90 days of the date your degree was conferred to count hours worked before your associate number arrives. The steps to apply for APCC registration are listed below:
- Confirm your degree has been conferred and note the date on the transcript. Your 90 days run from that date.
- Ask your school to send the sealed transcript and the Degree Program Certification by mail or by email to BBStranscripts@dca.ca.gov.
- Complete and sign Form 37A-647.
- Book a Live Scan and bring the Request for Live Scan Service form. Do it no more than 60 days before you mail the application.
- Attach the $75 fee and the completed Live Scan form to the application. Do not send them separately.
- Check your packet against the checklist in the Board’s packet.
- Mail it to the Board at 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite S200, Sacramento, CA 95834, with delivery confirmation, and keep copies.
Fingerprint results with no application on file are held for only 6 months.
How much does APCC registration cost?
APCC registration costs $75 for applications postmarked from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2030 (before then, it was $150). This fee is not refundable.
Live Scan is paid at the Live Scan site: $32 to the California Department of Justice and $17 to the FBI, plus the site’s service charge. Out-of-state hard cards cost $49.
Is the Board's Live Scan the same as your employer's Live Scan?
No. The Board's Live Scan is the background check sent with your APCC application. Your employer's Live Scan is a separate check that decides when your 90-day hours start.
The Board’s Live Scan uses Form 37A-649. You complete it no more than 60 days before you mail it with your application.
Your employer requires its own Live Scan before you start work if you graduated on or after January 1, 2020. Keep a copy of the employer’s processed Request for Live Scan Service form, because it goes in your licensure application. Each employer needs its own Live Scan.
Hours under the 90-day rule count only when the workplace required Live Scan before you began working there.
Why does the 90-day window matter for your hours?
If the Board receives your APCC application within 90 days of your degree date, hours you work before your number is issued can count. If it arrives later, your hours start the day your APCC number is issued.
No hours from before your degree conferral date count on the APCC track, meaning your 3,000-hour count begins, at earliest, after your degree conferral date.
For degrees conferred on or after January 1, 2020, hours start after the later of your degree date and your employer’s Live Scan date. Our 90-Day Rule guide walks through all of this in detail.
Hours in a private practice cannot be gained before your registration number is issued.
What happens after the Board receives your APCC application?
The Board evaluates your APCC application and either issues your APCC registration number or sends a deficiency letter listing what is missing. If you get a letter, you answer it with the missing items. Send every item at once so the Board can finish its review.
The Board considers your application abandoned if you do not answer the deficiencies within one year of the first deficiency letter. It is also abandoned if you do not complete the application within one year after filing. If your application is abandoned, you need a new application, fee and documents.
Once everything is complete, the Board issues your number. Until then, it is against the law for you to provide clinical services in a private practice setting or in a professional corporation, according to the APCC application packet.
How long does APCC registration take?
APCC registration takes as long as the Board’s current processing time for associate applications, which the Board reports each quarter. Check the Board’s processing times page for the latest figure.
Two things add time. Fingerprint hard cards take 8 or more weeks. Fingerprints or fees sent apart from the application also delay approval.
What can you do once your APCC number is issued?
Once your APCC number is issued, you can gain supervised hours toward the 3,000 the LPCC license needs, counting every hour after your degree conferral. Our guide to APCC hour requirements explains how those hours are counted.
You and each supervisor complete a Supervision Agreement within 60 days of starting with that supervisor. You must be a W-2 employee or a volunteer. Hours as an independent contractor do not count.
Hours from before your number arrived and hours after it follow different rules. SparkHours takes your degree date and your registration date and starts the APCC rules from the right week.
How long does an APCC registration last?
An APCC registration lasts one year at a time and can be renewed six times, for seven years in total, starting on January 1, 2027 (AB 1598). After seven years you need a subsequent registration number, which requires a passed LPCC California Law and Ethics Exam. A subsequent registrant cannot work in a private practice or professional corporation.
Hours gained while a registration is lapsed do not count. Renewal steps and fees are on the license renewal page.
Do you need the Law and Ethics Exam to renew your APCC registration?
Through December 31, 2026, you must attempt the California Law and Ethics Exam during your first year of registration, or the registration cannot be renewed. On or after January 1, 2027, you are no longer required to attempt it (AB 1598).
Passing the exam is required for a subsequent registration number and for licensure. Each renewal also needs three hours of continuing education in California law and ethics.
How is APCC registration different from AMFT registration?
APCC and AMFT registration use different application forms but the same $75 fee, the same Live Scan and the same 90-day rule. APCC uses Form 37A-647, and AMFT uses Form 37A-590. See our AMFT registration guide for that track.
Pre-degree hours never count on the APCC track. On the AMFT track, up to 1,300 can. Be sure to register on the track your degree qualifies you for.
APCC registration questions
Can you apply for APCC registration online?
The in-state packet is a mailed paper application. BreEZe is used to change your address and apply for the Law and Ethics Exam.
Can your school email your transcript to the Board?
Yes, to BBStranscripts@dca.ca.gov. The Degree Program Certification can be sent the same way.
Do you need the suicide risk and telehealth courses to register?
No, not for registration. Both are required before the LPCC license. If you have already taken them, you can send proof of your coursework with your APCC application.
Do you need extra training to see couples and families as an APCC?
No. AB 462 removed that requirement on January 1, 2022.
Can you send your fingerprints separately from the application?
No. Sending fingerprints or fees apart from the application delays approval.
Can you work as an APCC before your number is issued?
Yes, outside private practice, and those hours count only if the 90-day conditions are met.
Do you need a new employer Live Scan for each job?
Yes. Each employer requires its own. You keep a copy of each form to submit when you apply for your license.
Can you count hours as an independent contractor?
No. You must be a W-2 employee or a volunteer.
How do you update your address after you apply?
Through your BreEZe account at breeze.ca.gov.
How do you check that your APCC number has been issued?
Search your name on the Department of Consumer Affairs license search.
Can SparkHours track hours before your APCC number arrives?
Yes. Hours after your degree date and before your number are tracked as post-degree hours under the 90-Day Rule.
Start tracking your APCC hours
Once you have registered, every supervised week counts toward the LPCC license. A clean record of each one saves you trouble at application time. SparkHours is the BBS hours tracker built for California APCCs, letting you track your hours from your degree date forward.
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