OT Advanced Certification Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility requirements overview

You must meet the following eligibility requirements before applying for an advanced certification exam.

3,000 hours of experience in certification area within the last five years—may include direct intervention, supervision, teaching, consultation, administration, case or care management, community programming, or research.¹

¹Experience and service delivery hours must be at the level for which certification is sought. Applicants seeking Board Certification must have accumulated the necessary hours as an occupational therapist, not as an occupational therapy assistant or other type of professional.
500 hours of experience delivering occupational therapy services to clients in certification area within the last five years.^1,2,3

¹Experience and service delivery hours must be at the level for which certification is sought. Applicants seeking Board Certification must have accumulated the necessary hours as an occupational therapist, not as an occupational therapy assistant or other type of professional.

²One foundation of Board Certification is that initial certification is considered to be practice based. That does not mean that managers, researchers, and faculty cannot apply. However, it does mean that applicants need to have at least 500 actual service delivery hours in the certification area. It is important to note that, although faculty may apply for certification, students in occupational therapy academic programs are not considered clients. Teaching that does not include service delivery with actual recipients of occupational therapy services does not count toward these 500 hours.

³Service delivery may be paid or voluntary.

Verification requirements

Verification of years of experience as an occupational therapist

You must have a minimum of three years of experience as an occupational therapist (two years if you completed an AOTA-approved Fellowship Program) to be eligible to apply for the exam. One of the following can be used as evidence of experience as an occupational therapist:

Scan/copy of large NBCOT® certificate that shows date of initial certification as an OTR
Verification of Certification form from NBCOT®, available through www.nbcot.org
Scan/copy of your state license that shows original date of licensure as an occupational therapist
Verification of date of licensure from your state.

Male hands holding stylus pen writing on tablet on desk

Verification of completion of AOTA-Approved Fellowship Program (if applicable)

Though not required, those who have completed an AOTA-Approved Fellowship Program are eligible to apply for advanced certification after obtaining two years of experience as an occupational therapist (rather than the typical requirement of three years), provided that the experience hours listed above have been attained.

To apply using this early eligibility option, you must submit a copy of your fellowship certificate with date of completion listed.

Verification of experience hours in certification area

Senior man holding red pencil with female occupational therapist working on handwriting

You must have a minimum of 3,000 hours of experience in the certification area within the last five years. This may include direct intervention, supervision, teaching, consultation, administration, case or care management, community programming, or research.

You must also have a minimum of 500 hours of experience delivering occupational therapy services to clients in the certification area within the last five years.

You must complete the Verification of Experience Hours form or the Verification of Experience Hours form (Self-Employed).

Note that you can submit multiple forms to provide evidence for the required hours. Both Part A and Part B hours must be addressed and must meet the minimum requirements.

For applicants using experience hours outside of the United States to meet the minimal requirements, the Occupational Therapy Advanced Certification Commission will decide on an alternative external review process to determine eligibility.

Attestation

Professional woman sitting at desk reading laptop screen with paperwork beside her

Applicants to the Advanced Certification Program will be required to attest that the information provided in the application is true and complete to the best of the applicant’s knowledge, and that the applicant is in compliance with the Occupational Therapy Code of Ethics.

The applicant will also be asked to disclose any previous or pending lawsuits, disciplinary charges, investigations, and/or criminal charges, investigations, or convictions, which will be reviewed by the Occupational Therapy Advanced Certification Commission before a decision regarding eligibility will be made.

Certification/license

Experience as an occupational therapist

Experience in certification area

Service delivery

Verification requirements

Verification of years of experience as an occupational therapist

Verification of completion of AOTA-Approved Fellowship Program (if applicable)

Verification of experience hours in certification area

Attestation