For Occupational Therapists
Renewals
Annual Renewal Period 2025-2026
Occupational therapists must renew their registration with the College of Health and Care Professionals of British Columbia (CHCPBC) every year. The registration year for 2025/2026 runs from July 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026.
Registration Renewal Steps
Step One: Login into the Registrant Portal
Step Two: Review and Update your Profile/Contact Information
The CHCPBC is required under the Health Professions Act (HPA) to maintain a public register. CHCPBC bylaws state that registrants must notify the College as soon as possible of changes to name, address, email, place of employment or other contact information.
Why is this Important?
- Your name, registration status and business contact information is available to the general public through the Public Register.
- Your email address is the primary channel for receiving important information from the College such as deadlines for renewing your registration or Quality Assurance Program requirements.
In addition to your personal and employment information, you will also be asked to provide the following details:
- Professional Liability Insurance – the name of your insurance provider and the policy number (if applicable)
- Professional Registration – if you are currently registered in another jurisdiction you will be asked to provide the name of the regulator and a regulatory history form (which can be found under Registration Documents)
Step Three: Registration Renewal
As an occupational therapist, each year at renewal you must answer the following:
- Good Standing Declarations for the previous registration year
- Confirmation of Currency (practice) Hours
- Consent to Criminal Record Check
- Declarations for Liability Insurance, Ethics and Standards, and Registration
Step Four: Registration Fees & Payment
Your last step is to pay the annual fee for registration in the full, provisional, and provisional re-entry categories, or the non-practising registration fee. We accept VISA and MasterCard.
Leaving the Profession, Retiring, Taking a parental leave, or moving to another province?
If you will not be working or using the title occupational therapist in British Columbia, you may choose to resign your registration.
Resigning means you will not be able to work as an occupational therapist, use the occupational therapist title, abbreviation, or designation “OT Reg. (BC)”, in British Columbia, until you are reinstated with the College.
Please review the options below before resigning from the College. OTs may access their profiles via the Registrant Portal.
Option 1: Maintain Your Registration
If you choose to maintain your registration so that you can return to practice in British Columbia at any time throughout the registration year, you must be in compliance with all College requirements – for example, professional liability insurance, quality assurance requirements, etc. In addition, you will need to renew your registration by the June 30 deadline. Failure to renew your registration by the June 30 deadline will result in your registration being cancelled for non-payment of fees.
Option 2: Resign Your Registration
Resigning your registration means that you will no longer be registered with the College. To resign your registration, you must contact the College with this information.
If you decide to resign, you will be required to apply for reinstatement prior to returning to practice in BC. See Return to Practice for more information about reinstatement.
Please note that applicants are subject to the registration requirements and regulations in place at the time of application.
Return to Practice
There are two ways to return to practice, that depend on your currency status at the time of application. The College of Health and Care Professionals of British Columbia (CHCPBC) bylaw requires that occupational therapists have 600 practice hours in the three years immediately preceding the date of application for reinstatement.
To confirm your status, please see Currency Hour Requirements to determine whether you meet the currency requirement.
Reinstatement
If you have previously been on the College register, and meet the currency hour requirement, you can reinstate online through the registrant portal.
Provisional Re-entry
If you have previously been on the College register, and you do not have 600 practice hours within the last 3 years, you are required to complete a re-entry program.
Reinstatement
Do You Meet the Currency Requirement?
You can reinstate to Full registration with the College of Health and Care Professionals of British Columbia (CHCPBC) through the online registration portal if you are a Former registrant or hold nonpractising registration status and meet the Currency Hour Requirements (600 practice hours in the three years immediately preceding the date of your application for reinstatement).
If you do not meet the currency hour requirements, see Provisional Re-entry.
Prepare for Your Registration
Before logging into the registrant portal to complete your application, ensure you have the documents ready for upload. Note the maximum upload size for PDF documents is 1.5 MB (1500 KB).
A copy of your professional liability insurance: Occupational therapists must maintain professional liability insurance with a limit of liability of not less than five million dollars ($5,000,000) per occurrence. If your insurance is provided through your employer, such as a Health Authority, contact your human resources department or team lead for a copy.
Proof of eligibility to work in Canada: If you are not a Canadian citizen, you must include a copy of your work permit or permanent residency card.
Criminal Record Check: CHCPBC initiates criminal record checks on behalf of occupational therapists. Follow the instructions on the reinstatement form to give CHCPBC consent to initiate the criminal record re-check on your behalf if required.
- If you are moving from the Inactive-Former registration category to Practising registration, an updated criminal record check is mandatory.
- If you are moving from the nonpractising category to Practising registration, a new criminal record check may be required. If you are currently in the nonpractising category CHCPBC will check if a new criminal record check is required upon your submitted form.
- If a criminal record check is required, you will be invoiced for the $28 fee.
Regulatory History Form(s) / Letter of Good Standing: If you have worked as an Occupational Therapist in any other jurisdiction since your registration status changed to nonpractising or Former Registrant, complete the top half of the Regulatory History Form and forward to the regulatory authority in each of the jurisdiction(s) where you are/or were registered to practice. Ensure you complete the other jurisdictions section in the online form.
To get started on reinstating your registration, log in to the CHCPBC registration portal.
Provisional Re-Entry
All applicants need to meet the College Bylaw regarding currency hour requirements (600 hours within the last three years). Applicants who do not meet the requirement must complete a re-entry program. These programs differ with each individual and must be approved by the Registration Committee, which checks that safeguards are in place to ensure no significant risk to public health and safety.
All re-entry programs include a competence confirmation practicum (CCP) where applicants have the opportunity to demonstrate that they meet the professional standards as outlined in the Competencies for Occupational Therapists in Canada.
The CCP requires applicants to work under the supervision of an occupational therapist with Full registration with the College. The required hours of supervised practice are based on the number of years they have been out of practice, as follows:
- Out of practice less than three years, with less than 600 hours of practice = 150 hours in 90 days
- Out of practice between three and five years = 300 hours in 180 days
- Out of practice between five and 10 years = 600 hours in one year
- Out of practice for over 10 years = 600 hours in one year
Applicants, especially those out of practice for more than 10 years, may also be required to participate in additional educational activities and pass the National Occupational Therapy Certification Exam (NOTCE).
Applying for Provisional Re-entry: If you are a first-time applicant to CHCPBC, you will apply online as a new applicant for Provisional Re-Entry. To begin the application, sign up for an account within the Registrant Portal.
Prepare for Your Re-Entry Application
Note: All forms related to the Provisional Re-Entry application can be found within Registration Documents.
Before initiating the application, ensure you have the following documents ready:
Notarized Identification: All applicants must provide two (2) pieces of notarized ID as part of their application. Both copies must be verified by a notary public or lawyer with a stamp and / or seal. Photocopies not notarized will not be accepted. Have your notarized ID ready before starting your application as it is required in Step 1.
CCP Proposal and Letter of Undertaking: Complete the supervision plan and letter of undertaking and upload them in the appropriate section within the online application or email them to the College once completed. As a reference, you can view a filled-out CCP Proposal Example.
Employer Acknowledgment: Complete the CCP Employer Acknowledgement Form with your CCP proposal. Once completed upload them in the appropriate section within the Registrant Portal.
Criminal Record Check: CHCPBC initiates criminal record checks on behalf of registrants. Follow the instructions on the reinstatement form to give CHCPBC consent to begin the criminal record re-check on your behalf if required.
- If you are moving from the Inactive-Former registration category to Practising registration, an updated criminal record check is mandatory.
- If you are moving from the nonpractising category to Practising registration, a new criminal record check may be required. If you are currently in the nonpractising category CHCPBC will check if a new criminal record check is required upon your submitted form.
If a criminal record check is required, you will be invoiced for the $28 fee.
Professional Liability Insurance: Upload your current liability insurance if available. If not available, email a copy to the College one you receive it.
Regulatory History Form: If you have ever been registered in another province/state or country, complete the first section of the Regulatory History Form and send it to all the regulatory organizations you have been licensed with.
After Your Re-entry Program is Complete
Once you have completed your Re-Entry program, fill out these two documents and submit them to CHCPBC.
Practice Across Jurisdictions
Please see the updated Practice Across Jurisdictions resource for updates on providing virtual care as an occupational therapist within Canada and internationally.
For further inquiries, contact our registration team or our practice advisors after checking our FAQs.