SW Licensing Questions

-In State: To be eligible for the Clinical Social Worker license (LCSW) you must hold a license as a Master Social Worker in Texas and complete supervised training under a board approved supervisor. All in state candidates must complete the following in no less than 24 months and no more than 48 months: • 3,000 hours of supervised practice • 100 hours of direct supervision A licensed master social worker should contact a board approved supervisor to set up a supervisory relationship. The supervisor will develop a supervision plan and initiate supervised practice. Once the minimum requirements are met, the supervisor will complete the supervised clinical experience verification form and provide it to the supervisee. The supervisee will then apply to take the clinical exam with ASWB by following the instructions on our ASWB Licensure Examinations webpage. Upon passage of the clinical exam, the LMSW should submit their application for license to the board office.  The application is available on the “Forms and Publications” page of the board’s website. -Out of State: Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSWs) from out of state must follow the same steps required for obtaining a Master Social Worker license as show above. If the applicant has been licensed as a clinical social worker for less than one year, the applicant must submit verification of the completion of the 3,000 hours of supervised practice and 100 hours of supervision. Applicants licensed as a clinical social worker greater than one year are considered to have met the hourly experience requirement and are not required to submit verification of hours earned.

All fees are found in Chapter 885 of the Texas Administrative Code. A link to the rules is available on the BHEC website. The link to Chapter 885 is found toward the middle of the page under the heading: Relevant Administrative Rules.

If you are taking the exam for the first time you will be able to designate the state in which you are pursuing licensure and ASWB will send the scores upon completion of the exam. If you took the exam for another state’s licensing authority you will need to contact ASWB to have the scores transferred to Texas. For more information please visit ASWB’s webpage

Electronic transcripts should be sent to transcripts@bhec.texas.gov . Hardcopy transcripts should be mailed to: BHEC SW Transcripts 333 Guadalupe St., Ste. 3-900 Austin, TX 78701

The jurisprudence exam is administered online by a third-party vendor. To register visit our Jurisprudence Exam webpage.

Instructions for obtaining a self-query can be found at the NPDB webpage.

A list of active supervisors is available on the BHEC website.

BHEC has a Clinical Supervision Verification Form available on our forms webpage. This form should be filled out by and signed by the supervisor.

Upon submission of your application, you will be sent guidance on fingerprint submission. The fingerprinting is done electronically and locations all over the country. There is a fee paid to the fingerprint facility. Typically, it takes approximately 15 minutes to complete the process of getting fingerprinted.

There are many variables that impact application processing times. Typically, one can expect the process to take several weeks. BHEC provides a chart that shows the receipt date of the applications staff is currently processing here.

Yes. There are various waivers and advantages provided for active duty military, veterans and military spouses. For more information review Council rule 882.60 and 882.61.

BHEC has a verification form that an applicant should submit to the verifying state. Some states will complete the form while others will provide verification on their own form. A small number of states use their online verification for this purpose. The verification request form can be found on our forms webpage.