Electrician licensing in Massachusetts

ONLY FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE — EVERYONE ELSE TAKES THE MASSACHUSETTS EXAM. Massachusetts licenses the individual electrician (M.G.L. c.141 §1A), so the candidate personally needs an MA Journeyman (or Master) license before touching electrical work, and the reciprocity door is exactly one state wide: per the board's own FAQ, "The Board only has reciprocity with NH" (re-read live 2026-07-21).

THE RECRUITER'S THREE QUESTIONS, ANSWERED: (1) HOW LONG UNTIL THEY CAN WORK? NH-EXAM LICENSEE: a paper-only path, NO MA exam — apply on the DOL ePLACE portal with the non-refundable fee ($208 Journeyman / $310 Master), an NH board verification letter with seal, notarized CORI form, and photo; the board's own processing statement is "at least 10 business days" to review a COMPLETE application, so budget two-to-four weeks plus the time to obtain the NH letter.

The catch that disqualifies most travelers: the NH license counts ONLY if it was originally earned BY EXAM IN NEW HAMPSHIRE — an NH license gained via reciprocity/endorsement from a third state is expressly NOT eligible. EVERY OTHER STATE: NO reciprocity — the candidate applies to PSI, documents equivalents of the 600 education hours + 8,000 experience hours under 237 CMR 13.09 plus the 15-hour code-update class, and PASSES the MA journeyman exam; treat it as a months-long exam-track hire (application review, then scheduling; PSI approval is valid 12 months), not a transfer.

An out-of-state MASTER gets exactly one concession: the 1-year-as-MA-journeyman requirement can be waived with proof of the out-of-state Master license, but they still sit the MA Journeyman exam first, then the 150-hour master program and the Master exam. (2) CAN THEY WORK WHILE THE APPLICATION IS PENDING? NO — Massachusetts has no temporary, provisional, or work-while-pending permit of any kind (see the section on working while an application is pending for the affirmative basis), and unlicensed work is squarely prohibited (c.141 §1A, enforced under §5).

Do not start the traveler on the tools before the license number exists; the only lawful unlicensed status is employed APPRENTICE under 1:1 journeyman supervision — a different job at a different scope, not a placement workaround. (3) WHERE DO I VERIFY? The DOL ePlace public lookup: https://elicensing21.mass.gov/CitizenAccess/GeneralProperty/PropertyLookUp.aspx?isLicensee=Y — select licensing entity "Board of State Examiners of Electricians" and search by name or license number (license types:

Journeyman Electrician, Master Electrician, Systems Technician, Systems Contractor, Electrical Business). A still-pending reciprocity application has no license to look up, so for in-flight files the check is the candidate's ePLACE application record/receipt or the board directly at (617) 701-8786 / electricians.board@mass.gov.

BOTTOM LINE: an NH-exam journeyman is a fast, exam-free placement measured in weeks; anyone else is an exam-track hire measured in months — and nobody can be put on MA electrical work while anything is still pending.

ONE PARTNER ONLY: NEW HAMPSHIRE. Per the board's FAQ (verbatim): "The Board only has reciprocity with NH, and even that reciprocal agreement provides only for both Journeyman and Master licensure" (https://www.mass.gov/info-details/electricians-faqs-for-applications). Governing regulation: 237 CMR 15.00. MECHANICS (https://www.mass.gov/how-to/apply-for-reciprocity-for-an-out-of-state-electricians-license): application-only, NO Massachusetts exam — but the NH license is accepted ONLY IF it was originally obtained by passing an exam in New Hampshire; NH licenses gained via reciprocity/endorsement from a third state are NOT eligible.

Apply online through the DOL ePLACE portal. Journeyman: $208 non-refundable fee (237 CMR 15.02) + NH board license-verification/certified letter with board seal + notarized CORI form + passport-quality photo + disciplinary/criminal records if applicable. Master: $310 non-refundable fee + a current MA Journeyman license (or a concurrent journeyman reciprocity application) + NH verification letter + notarized CORI + photo + PROOF OF COMPLETING THE MA 150-HOUR MASTER ELECTRICIAN PROGRAM + standing letters (issued within 90 days) for every license held in other jurisdictions.

Board review takes at least 10 business days; incomplete applications held 180 days then abandoned. No reciprocity for companies/business licenses. ALL OTHER STATES: no reciprocity — must apply to PSI and pass the MA exams (out-of-state education/experience documented per 237 CMR 13.09; an out-of-state Master can have the 1-year-as-journeyman requirement waived with proof of Master licensure but still must pass the MA Journeyman exam first, then the Master exam).

NERA membership: NO — CONFIRMED from NERA's own members map (machine-read 2026-07-21): the map data classes Massachusetts "similarLicensing" (a comparison category), NOT "memberState" — MA is not a NERA member (member states shown in the data include NH, VT, ME, MT; https://www.nerastates.org/members-map), which matches the board's own statement that NH is its only reciprocity partner.

PARTNER-SIDE NOTE (checked 2026-07-21): NH's OPLC now routes inbound out-of-state applicants through its general HB 594 / Plc 313.24 endorsement pathway (one year of professional experience in the licensure category; https://www.oplc.nh.gov/reciprocity-licensing) — the NH application PDFs that would spell out the agreement's NH side block automated fetch, so the agreement text was verified on the MA side only; that does not affect the MA-bound direction documented here, which is governed by the MA board's own rule (statutory authority:

M.G.L. c.141 §2B — the examiners may license without examination a person licensed in a state whose standards are substantially the same, https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXX/Chapter141/Section2B).

NO — THERE IS NO WORK-WHILE-PENDING AUTHORITY IN MASSACHUSETTS, and this is an affirmative finding, not an inference from silence (verified 2026-07-21): (a) M.G.L. c.141 was checked against its full section list — no temporary, provisional, or emergency permit exists anywhere in the chapter (§1A prohibition; §2B reciprocal licensure is a full-license grant with no interim clause; §5 is the enforcement section); (b) the board's application, reciprocity, and FAQ pages describe no interim credential; and (c) the state's OWN license-type registry — the DOL ePlace lookup filtered to the Board of State Examiners of Electricians — lists exactly six license types (Journeyman Electrician, Master Electrician, Systems Technician, Systems Contractor, Electrical Business, Systems Contractor Business): no temporary or provisional type exists to apply for.

So a traveler with a reciprocity or exam application pending CANNOT lawfully perform electrical work in Massachusetts until the license actually issues. The ONLY lawful unlicensed status is employed apprentice/learner of a licensed employer working under direct personal supervision, capped at ONE apprentice per journeyman (c.141 §1A, §1, §8) — that is apprentice-scope supervised work, not a journeyman placement, and hiring an 8,000-hour traveler "as an apprentice" to bridge the wait must be treated as exactly that, with the 1:1 ratio a real crew constraint.

The Valor Act provision for veterans/military spouses waives FEES, not the license. Practical read: the NH-reciprocity path is short (board review "at least 10 business days" on a complete file), so the honest plan is file first, start the worker only when the license number appears in the ePlace lookup.

YES - A STATE WORKER LICENSE IS REQUIRED. This state licenses the individual electrician, so the tradesperson personally needs the credential before working. See the sections below for whether an out-of-state license transfers in, and how.

STATE INDIVIDUAL WORKER LICENSE REQUIRED. Authority: Board of State Examiners of Electricians, Division of Occupational Licensure (DOL), One Federal Street, Suite 600, Boston, MA 02110-2012 · (617) 701-8786 · electricians.board@mass.gov · https://www.mass.gov/orgs/board-of-state-examiners-of-electricians (licensing hub: https://www.mass.gov/board-of-state-examiners-of-electricians-licensing).

Statutory basis: M.G.L. c. 141, §1A — no person may "enter into, engage in, or work at the business or occupation of installing wires, conduits, apparatus, devices, fixtures, or other appliances for carrying or using electricity for light, heat, power, fire warning or security system purposes" without Board licensure (https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXX/Chapter141/Section1A).

Levels (per the board's application page, https://www.mass.gov/how-to/apply-for-an-individual-electrical-or-systems-license): Journeyman Electrician (Class B) — the working-electrician license; Master Electrician (Class A) — requires an MA Journeyman license first; Systems Technician (Class D) and Systems Contractor (Class C) — fire warning/security systems.

There is NO residential-wireman category in Massachusetts. Apprentices work without a personal license under the c.141 §1A exemption for "an apprentice employed by a person, firm or corporation licensed in accordance with this chapter"; c.141 §1 caps supervision at one apprentice per journeyman (https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXX/Chapter141/Section1).

JOURNEYMAN (Class B): 600 hours Board-approved education + 15-hour Code-Update continuing-education class + 8,000 hours of work over at least 4 years under a licensed Massachusetts Journeyman (documented on Employment Certification Form 272; experience creditable if within 20 years of application). MASTER (Class A): current MA Journeyman license + at least 1 year of work experience + 150 hours Board-approved education.

Source: https://www.mass.gov/how-to/apply-for-an-individual-electrical-or-systems-license. HOW TO BOOK: the Board's contracted vendor is PSI Services LLC — as of 6/1/2025 ALL exam applications must be submitted online to PSI (mailed/emailed applications are returned). Once PSI approves the application it emails an Examination Authorization Notice; the candidate then schedules online at https://test-takers.psiexams.com/mael (24 hours a day) or by calling a PSI registrar at (855) 834-8745 (Mon–Fri 7:30am–10:00pm, Sat–Sun 9:00am–5:30pm ET).

Approval is valid 12 months. Source: the Board-written Candidate Information Bulletin (effective 11/1/2024), linked from the board licensing hub and hosted by PSI: https://test-takers.psiexams.com/api/content/bulletin/493. FEES (board application page + CIB): Journeyman total application+exam = $226 ($60 PSI processing + $80 trade portion + $55 business/practical portion + $31 MA processing; MA portion waived for veterans/active military/spouses under the Valor Act → $195).

Master total = $276 (with $66 MA fee; waived → $210). Systems Technician $226 / Systems Contractor $276. Re-examination: $135 for both portions. Exams are two-part, 70% required to pass each part (Journeyman: Part 1 = 80 questions/180 min, Part 2 applied = 30 questions/60 min); open-book NEC per the CIB reference list.

SEPARATE LICENSE FEE paid at the test center upon passing (CIB): Journeyman $104, Master $155, Systems Technician $104, Systems Contractor $155.

The electricians Board itself does NOT register apprentices — board FAQ, verbatim: "The Board does not register apprentices" (https://www.mass.gov/info-details/electricians-faqs-for-applications). An apprentice works lawfully without a personal license under M.G.L. c. 141, §1A's exemption for "an apprentice employed by a person, firm or corporation licensed in accordance with this chapter" (https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXX/Chapter141/Section1A), with hours documented by the supervising licensee on Form 272 (employers must keep learner/apprentice employment records at least 9 years per 237 CMR 18.01(3)).

Ratio: one apprentice per journeyman (M.G.L. c. 141, §1). The Registered Apprenticeship route runs through a separate agency, the Division of Apprentice Standards (DAS), (617) 626-5442, apprenticeship@mass.gov: registration is EMPLOYER/SPONSOR-INITIATED — the sponsor registers the apprentice through the Massachusetts Registered Apprenticeship Sponsor Portal and pays a $35 annual apprentice ID card fee; the apprentice must carry the ID card during all hours of employment (https://www.mass.gov/info-details/apprentice-id-cards; jobseeker overview: https://www.mass.gov/information-for-apprentices).

Whether DAS registration is mandatory for every electrical apprentice (vs. the §1A employment exemption alone) could not be traced to a board/statute page — see the open questions.

n/a — licensing is uniform and state-level (re-checked 2026-07-21: the c.141 license is statewide, c.141 §2A's heading imposes uniform examination requirements for towns, and no municipal electrician-licensing regime surfaced on board or statute pages — the cities' role is permits and inspections only). Municipalities issue permits and inspections through local Inspectors of Wires (the board's FAQ calls the local IOW "the authority having jurisdiction"), but there is no city/county electrician licensing.

Massachusetts is the OPPOSITE of the Ohio pattern: an individual worker DOES need a state license to be hired and perform electrical work. M.G.L. c. 141, §1A requires a Board license to "work at the business or occupation of installing wires..." — the only unlicensed path is being an apprentice employed by a licensed person/firm (https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXX/Chapter141/Section1A).

The Journeyman (Class B) license is the worker credential: a journeyman can be hired by any licensed employer and can even work solo in their own personal name. The CONTRACTOR tier is the Master (Class A) license plus, for companies, the A1 Electrical Business license: per the board's FAQ, "only a Master can get a business license (A1)," a company doing electrical work must hold a business license with a Master (or Systems Contractor for C1) as Licensee of Record, and a journeyman "CANNOT use a DBA or a business entity (like a corporation, LLC, or LLP)" — citing M.G.L. c.

112 §65A, M.G.L. c. 141 §1A, and 237 CMR 16.03 & 18.01 (https://www.mass.gov/info-details/frequently-asked-questions-about-board-of-state-examiners-of-electricians). So: to be HIRED as an electrician → Journeyman license (or employed-apprentice status under a licensed employer). To bid, contract with the public under a business name, employ electricians, or serve as Licensee of Record on permits (issued by municipal Inspectors of Wires) → Master (A) + business (A1) licensure.

M.G.L. c. 141, §1 defines the master as the business-level licensee who performs work "by the employment of journeymen or apprentices" (https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXX/Chapter141/Section1).