{
  "_schema": {
    "about": "Social work licensing requirements per US jurisdiction, for the FIRST credential an MSW graduate holds in that jurisdiction.",
    "nullRule": "null means we have not read that figure off the board's own page. It never means zero. Do not substitute a default, an average or another state's number.",
    "attribution": "Social Work Test Prep Academy is not affiliated with any state licensing board or with ASWB. We read each board's published pages and record what they say; the board's page is the source of record. Requirements change.",
    "fields": {
      "abbr": "Two-letter USPS code, uppercase.",
      "name": "Jurisdiction name.",
      "url": "Absolute URL of the human-readable page.",
      "json": "Absolute URL of the full record for this jurisdiction.",
      "checked": "true when we have read this board's own pages and published the record. false means no data yet, not \"no requirements\".",
      "firstCredential": "The first credential an MSW graduate holds here (abbreviation, title, and the ASWB exam category needed to hold it, null when none is).",
      "examRequiredFirst": "true when the ASWB exam gates that first credential. false when the jurisdiction licenses or registers you first and the exam comes later (Michigan, California, Florida, Illinois).",
      "knownFeesUsd": "Sum of ONLY the fees the board publishes for that first credential, in US dollars. null when it publishes none.",
      "hours": "Plain-language supervised-hour requirement on the path, or the not-checked sentence.",
      "lastChecked": "ISO date WE last read the board pages behind this record. It is not a board review, approval or sign-off.",
      "ladder": "Every rung of the licensure ladder in order. `exam` is the ASWB category required to HOLD that rung (null = none); `supervised` means practice only under supervision.",
      "fees": "The board's own fee lines for the first credential, each with the page it was read from. amount_usd is null when the board does not publish the amount.",
      "supervision": "The supervised-experience package on the path, each figure with its own source page. A figure the board does not publish is null.",
      "applicationSequence": "The board's published order of operations, in the board's own terms.",
      "sources": "The board and statute pages this record was read from.",
      "records": "The raw rulebook records for this jurisdiction, unmodified."
    }
  },
  "abbr": "WA",
  "name": "Washington",
  "url": "https://www.socialworktestprepacademy.com/licensing/wa",
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "checked": true,
  "lastChecked": "2026-09-06",
  "board": {
    "name": "Washington State Department of Health",
    "url": "https://doh.wa.gov/licenses-permits-and-certificates/professions-new-renew-or-update/social-worker-and-social-worker-associate"
  },
  "firstCredential": {
    "abbr": "LSWAIC",
    "title": "Licensed Social Worker Associate Independent Clinical (the credential a Washington MSW graduate holds while LICSW hours accrue)",
    "rung": "supervisee",
    "exam": null
  },
  "examRequiredFirst": false,
  "summary": "No exam to register. The Clinical exam comes after your hours.",
  "aswbExam": null,
  "knownFeesUsd": 51,
  "unknownFeeCount": 0,
  "fees": [
    {
      "name": "Associate application (independent clinical)",
      "amount_usd": 35,
      "source_url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246-809-990",
      "verified_date": "2026-09-06"
    },
    {
      "name": "UW online access fee (HEAL-WA), independent clinical associate surcharge",
      "amount_usd": 16,
      "source_url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246-809-990",
      "verified_date": "2026-09-06"
    }
  ],
  "supervision": {
    "experience_hours": {
      "value": 3000,
      "source_url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246-809-330",
      "verified_date": "2026-09-06"
    },
    "client_contact_hours": {
      "value": 1000,
      "source_url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246-809-330",
      "verified_date": "2026-09-06"
    },
    "supervision_hours": {
      "value": 100,
      "source_url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246-809-330",
      "verified_date": "2026-09-06"
    },
    "minimum_months": {
      "value": 24,
      "source_url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246-809-330",
      "verified_date": "2026-09-06"
    },
    "maximum_months": null,
    "notes": [
      "Of the 100 supervision hours, 70 must be with a LICSW; 60 of the 100 must be one-to-one (remaining 40 may be one-to-one or group).",
      "SUD reduction (corrected): WAC 246-809-330(2)(b) reduces the LICSW total from 3,000 hours to 2,600 hours (NOT 2,700) for applicants who practiced as a substance use disorder professional 3 of the preceding 10 years. This is a ~13.3% cut, not the 10% that RCW 18.225.095's generic text implies - the WAC's specific enumerated figure (2,600) controls over the draft's assumed 10%-of-3,000 math (2,700). Subsections (2)(c)(i)-(ii) hour subcategories still apply regardless of the reduction.",
      "Separate, unrelated inconsistency confirmed in WAC 246-809-330(1) (LASW track, not LICSW): (1)(b)'s SUD-reduction clause references reducing '3,200 hours to 2,880 hours' while (1)(c) states the LASW total as 'a minimum of 3,000 hours.' RCW 18.225.090(1)(a)(i)(C) also states 3,000 for LASW. The 3,200 figure appears only in the SUD-reduction sentence and has no other basis in the section - read as a drafting error, but it exists verbatim in the current WAC and DOH/leg.wa.gov has not corrected it as of 2026-09-06.",
      "WAC 246-809-330(2)(a): an applicant who has held an active LICSW license in good standing in another state, DC, or a territory for the past year or more is deemed to have met the supervised-experience requirement.",
      "Washington accepts either the ASWB Advanced Generalist or the ASWB Clinical examination for LICSW, per WAC 246-809-340. The ladder names Clinical because that is what a clinical candidate sits."
    ]
  },
  "hours": "3,000 hours, 1,000 client contact, 100 supervision",
  "compactMember": true,
  "applicationSequence": [
    "Earn an MSW or DSW from a CSWE-accredited (or candidacy) program.",
    "Submit the associate application, transcripts, and fee to DOH.",
    "Declare intent to work toward full LICSW licensure.",
    "Practice as a supervised associate accruing postgraduate hours toward LICSW."
  ],
  "ladder": [
    {
      "rung": "supervisee",
      "abbr": "LSWAIC",
      "title": "Licensed Social Worker Associate Independent Clinical (the credential a Washington MSW graduate holds while LICSW hours accrue)",
      "exam": null,
      "supervised": true,
      "source": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246-809-330"
    },
    {
      "rung": "advanced",
      "abbr": "LASW",
      "title": "Licensed Advanced Social Worker (non-clinical independent practice; a parallel branch reached through its own LSWAA associate)",
      "exam": "Advanced Generalist",
      "supervised": false,
      "source": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=18.225.090"
    },
    {
      "rung": "clinical",
      "abbr": "LICSW",
      "title": "Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker",
      "exam": "Clinical",
      "supervised": false,
      "source": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=18.225.090"
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "label": "Washington State Department of Health · LSWAIC applicant resources",
      "url": "https://doh.wa.gov/licenses-permits-and-certificates/professions-new-renew-or-update/social-worker-and-social-worker-associate"
    },
    {
      "label": "WAC 246-809-330 - Supervised postgraduate experience requirements",
      "url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246-809-330"
    },
    {
      "label": "WAC 246-809-096 - Application",
      "url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246-809-096"
    },
    {
      "label": "WAC 246-809-990 - Fees and renewal cycle",
      "url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246-809-990"
    },
    {
      "label": "RCW 18.225.090 - Issuance of license, requirements",
      "url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=18.225.090"
    },
    {
      "label": "Social Work Licensure Compact · member jurisdictions",
      "url": "https://swcompact.org/compact-jurisdictions/"
    },
    {
      "label": "RCW 18.225.095 - Supervised experience hours, SUD reduction",
      "url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=18.225.095"
    },
    {
      "label": "WAC 246-809-340 - Examination required",
      "url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246-809-340"
    },
    {
      "label": "WAC 246-809-095 - Probationary license",
      "url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246-809-095"
    },
    {
      "label": "Washington DOH - out-of-state social work applicants",
      "url": "https://doh.wa.gov/licenses-permits-and-certificates/professions-new-renew-or-update/social-worker-and-social-worker-associate/out-state-applicants"
    },
    {
      "label": "LICSW fees · ASWB Advanced Generalist or Clinical examination",
      "url": "https://www.aswb.org/exam/"
    }
  ],
  "records": [
    {
      "state": {
        "name": "Washington",
        "postal_code": "WA"
      },
      "license_target": {
        "track": "masters",
        "title": "Licensed Social Worker Associate - Independent Clinical",
        "abbreviation": "LSWAIC"
      },
      "board": {
        "name": "Washington State Department of Health",
        "source_url": "https://doh.wa.gov/licenses-permits-and-certificates/professions-new-renew-or-update/social-worker-and-social-worker-associate"
      },
      "fees": [
        {
          "name": "Associate application (independent clinical)",
          "amount_usd": 35,
          "source_url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246-809-990",
          "verified_date": "2026-09-06"
        },
        {
          "name": "UW online access fee (HEAL-WA), independent clinical associate surcharge",
          "amount_usd": 16,
          "source_url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246-809-990",
          "verified_date": "2026-09-06"
        }
      ],
      "application_sequence": [
        "Earn an MSW or DSW from a CSWE-accredited (or candidacy) program.",
        "Submit the associate application, transcripts, and fee to DOH.",
        "Declare intent to work toward full LICSW licensure.",
        "Practice as a supervised associate accruing postgraduate hours toward LICSW."
      ],
      "aswb_exam": {
        "level": null,
        "fee_usd": null,
        "source_url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246-809-330",
        "verified_date": "2026-09-06"
      },
      "supervision_requirement": {
        "experience_hours": null,
        "client_contact_hours": null,
        "supervision_hours": null,
        "minimum_months": null,
        "maximum_months": null,
        "notes": [
          "WAC 246-809-330(3): associate applicants are not required to have supervised postgraduate experience prior to becoming an associate. The 3,000-hour LICSW clock is accrued during the associate period.",
          "WAC 246-809-096(1)(d) ambiguity (flagged for resolution, see verification array): literal text does not exempt associate applicants from the exam-verification requirement, but the DOH FAQ describes the associate as someone who 'still must ... qualify to take the approved examination' to become fully licensed, implying the exam is a full-licensure gate, not an associate-entry gate. Operative reading: NO exam required to become an associate.",
          "Washington issues no bachelor's-level social work license. Chapter 18.225 RCW and WAC 246-809 license the advanced (LASW) and independent clinical (LICSW) levels plus their associate credentials."
        ]
      },
      "supervisor_eligibility": null,
      "forms": [
        {
          "name": "Social Worker License Application Packet (DOH 670-085)",
          "source_url": "https://doh.wa.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/Documents/Pubs//670085.pdf"
        }
      ],
      "processing_benchmark": null,
      "endorsement_rules": [
        "Out-of-state applicants: WAC 246-809-330 deems an applicant who has held an active associate-equivalent or full license in good standing in another state, DC, or a territory for the past year or more (without disciplinary/disqualifying criminal history) to have met the supervised-experience requirement for the corresponding full license.",
        "A one-year, once-renewable probationary license is available to qualifying out-of-state applicants under WAC 246-809-095."
      ],
      "compact_status": {
        "member": true,
        "multistate_licenses_available": false,
        "source_url": "https://swcompact.org/compact-jurisdictions/",
        "verified_date": "2026-09-06"
      },
      "last_verified": "2026-09-06",
      "sources": [
        {
          "label": "WAC 246-809-330 - Supervised postgraduate experience requirements",
          "url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246-809-330"
        },
        {
          "label": "WAC 246-809-096 - Application",
          "url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246-809-096"
        },
        {
          "label": "WAC 246-809-990 - Fees and renewal cycle",
          "url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246-809-990"
        },
        {
          "label": "RCW 18.225.090 - Issuance of license, requirements",
          "url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=18.225.090"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "state": {
        "name": "Washington",
        "postal_code": "WA"
      },
      "license_target": {
        "track": "clinical",
        "title": "Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker",
        "abbreviation": "LICSW"
      },
      "board": {
        "name": "Washington State Department of Health",
        "source_url": "https://doh.wa.gov/licenses-permits-and-certificates/professions-new-renew-or-update/social-worker-and-social-worker-associate"
      },
      "fees": [
        {
          "name": "Application and initial license",
          "amount_usd": 170,
          "source_url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246-809-990",
          "verified_date": "2026-09-06"
        },
        {
          "name": "UW online access fee (HEAL-WA)",
          "amount_usd": 16,
          "source_url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246-809-990",
          "verified_date": "2026-09-06"
        },
        {
          "name": "ASWB Advanced Generalist or Clinical examination",
          "amount_usd": 260,
          "source_url": "https://www.aswb.org/exam/",
          "verified_date": "2026-09-06"
        }
      ],
      "application_sequence": [
        "Earn an MSW or DSW from a CSWE-accredited (or candidacy) program.",
        "Obtain the LSWAIC associate license.",
        "Accrue a minimum of 3,000 postgraduate supervised-experience hours over not less than two years, including 1,000 hours of direct client contact and 100 hours of direct supervision (70 with a LICSW, 60 of the 100 one-to-one).",
        "Pass the ASWB Clinical (or Advanced Generalist) examination.",
        "Submit the full LICSW application, transcripts, exam verification, and supervised-experience verification to DOH."
      ],
      "aswb_exam": {
        "level": "Advanced Generalist or Clinical (either is state-approved)",
        "fee_usd": 260,
        "source_url": "https://www.aswb.org/exam/",
        "verified_date": "2026-09-06"
      },
      "supervision_requirement": {
        "experience_hours": {
          "value": 3000,
          "source_url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246-809-330",
          "verified_date": "2026-09-06"
        },
        "client_contact_hours": {
          "value": 1000,
          "source_url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246-809-330",
          "verified_date": "2026-09-06"
        },
        "supervision_hours": {
          "value": 100,
          "source_url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246-809-330",
          "verified_date": "2026-09-06"
        },
        "minimum_months": {
          "value": 24,
          "source_url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246-809-330",
          "verified_date": "2026-09-06"
        },
        "maximum_months": null,
        "notes": [
          "Of the 100 supervision hours, 70 must be with a LICSW; 60 of the 100 must be one-to-one (remaining 40 may be one-to-one or group).",
          "SUD reduction (corrected): WAC 246-809-330(2)(b) reduces the LICSW total from 3,000 hours to 2,600 hours (NOT 2,700) for applicants who practiced as a substance use disorder professional 3 of the preceding 10 years. This is a ~13.3% cut, not the 10% that RCW 18.225.095's generic text implies - the WAC's specific enumerated figure (2,600) controls over the draft's assumed 10%-of-3,000 math (2,700). Subsections (2)(c)(i)-(ii) hour subcategories still apply regardless of the reduction.",
          "Separate, unrelated inconsistency confirmed in WAC 246-809-330(1) (LASW track, not LICSW): (1)(b)'s SUD-reduction clause references reducing '3,200 hours to 2,880 hours' while (1)(c) states the LASW total as 'a minimum of 3,000 hours.' RCW 18.225.090(1)(a)(i)(C) also states 3,000 for LASW. The 3,200 figure appears only in the SUD-reduction sentence and has no other basis in the section - read as a drafting error, but it exists verbatim in the current WAC and DOH/leg.wa.gov has not corrected it as of 2026-09-06.",
          "WAC 246-809-330(2)(a): an applicant who has held an active LICSW license in good standing in another state, DC, or a territory for the past year or more is deemed to have met the supervised-experience requirement.",
          "Washington accepts either the ASWB Advanced Generalist or the ASWB Clinical examination for LICSW, per WAC 246-809-340. The ladder names Clinical because that is what a clinical candidate sits."
        ]
      },
      "supervisor_eligibility": [
        "WAC 246-809-330(2)(c): supervision by an approved supervisor licensed at least two years, either a LICSW with at least one year of experience supervising clinical social work, or an equally qualified licensed mental health practitioner (WAC 246-809-310(3))."
      ],
      "forms": [
        {
          "name": "Social Worker License Application Packet (DOH 670-085)",
          "source_url": "https://doh.wa.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/Documents/Pubs//670085.pdf"
        }
      ],
      "processing_benchmark": null,
      "endorsement_rules": [
        "WAC 246-809-330(2)(a): active, unrestricted LICSW license in good standing in another state/DC/territory for the past year or more is deemed to meet the supervised-experience requirement.",
        "A one-year, once-renewable probationary license is available under WAC 246-809-095; probationary fees under WAC 246-809-990(4) are $200 application/initial license and $100 renewal.",
        "NOTE: the 'nine universal-licensure states bar' out-of-state claim in the original draft narrative was NOT found on any fetched WAC/RCW/DOH page and is NOT VERIFIABLE from primary sources checked here.",
        "Universal-licensure bar, re-fetched and quoted 2026-09-06 from the Department of Health out-of-state applicants page: \"The following states have adopted universal licensure policies: Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Utah, Virginia\", and \"if you were initially licensed in a non-equivalent state and later obtained a license in a universal licensure state, you may not meet Washington's eligibility criteria\". Washington looks at the state where you were FIRST licensed, not the one you hold now."
      ],
      "compact_status": {
        "member": true,
        "multistate_licenses_available": false,
        "source_url": "https://swcompact.org/compact-jurisdictions/",
        "verified_date": "2026-09-06"
      },
      "last_verified": "2026-09-06",
      "sources": [
        {
          "label": "RCW 18.225.090 - Issuance of license, requirements",
          "url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=18.225.090"
        },
        {
          "label": "RCW 18.225.095 - Supervised experience hours, SUD reduction",
          "url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=18.225.095"
        },
        {
          "label": "WAC 246-809-330 - Supervised postgraduate experience requirements",
          "url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246-809-330"
        },
        {
          "label": "WAC 246-809-340 - Examination required",
          "url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246-809-340"
        },
        {
          "label": "WAC 246-809-990 - Fees and renewal cycle",
          "url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246-809-990"
        },
        {
          "label": "WAC 246-809-095 - Probationary license",
          "url": "https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=246-809-095"
        },
        {
          "label": "Social Work Licensure Compact jurisdictions",
          "url": "https://swcompact.org/compact-jurisdictions/"
        },
        {
          "label": "Washington DOH - out-of-state social work applicants",
          "url": "https://doh.wa.gov/licenses-permits-and-certificates/professions-new-renew-or-update/social-worker-and-social-worker-associate/out-state-applicants"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}