HVAC licensing in Georgia

There is no Georgia HVAC worker card to bring — Georgia licenses CONDITIONED AIR CONTRACTORS, in two grades read straight from the rules: Class I (restricted) up to 175,000 BTU heating and 60,000 BTU cooling, Class II (unrestricted) with no capacity limit. The company lanes are directional and currently lopsided: Georgia's live inbound partner is LOUISIANA (the board approves Louisiana's Unrestricted Conditioned Air exam), while inbound from South Carolina and Texas has been SUSPENDED since April 2022 pending a rewrite of those agreements — South Carolina's own 5/2026 waiver list carries the footnote confirming Georgia no longer accepts SC waiver applicants.

Outbound, a Georgia Class II exam passed after mid-1980 still moves into South Carolina's Air Conditioning/Heating classification.

Nothing is pending for you personally — no worker license exists. A company waiting on its Conditioned Air license has no established interim-work provision; that question goes to the board.

Contractor-level, with real experience gates on the qualifying party: Class I wants four years (two residential installation as lead mechanic, one service, one supervisory, plus EPA certification and a board-approved design course); Class II wants five (two installation with at least one commercial, one service, two commercial supervision, plus the same EPA and design-course requirements).

Both pass at 70. Your personal requirement is EPA 608 — carry it.

No apprentice tier exists at state level. You build experience on a licensed contractor's crew; the years you bank become the qualifying party's resume if you ever take the contractor exam yourself.

Not researched — Georgia municipalities may impose their own requirements, and Atlanta and the larger metros are worth a call before you assume the state picture is complete.

The Conditioned Air license is held by the contracting party, and the CLASS SPLIT is the thing to check before anyone signs: a Class I company cannot legally take work above 175,000 BTU heating / 60,000 BTU cooling — which rules out most commercial-scale projects a traveling tech is hired for. Confirm the grade matches the job, not just that a license exists.

Contract directly and you are the contractor, grade rules and all.