HVAC licensing in Rhode Island

Rhode Island licenses the individual refrigeration/HVAC worker in a full master/journeyperson ladder — and the out-of-state door is an EXAM KEY, not a transfer: an out-of-state Refrigeration Journeyperson Class I license entitles you to SIT the Rhode Island Class I exam (submit a copy of it). Coming from a state that issues no equivalent card — most of the country — the parallel path is a NOTARIZED RESUME showing five years' experience as a refrigeration journeyperson.

Out-of-state masters have the same two lanes at master level. Either way, the Rhode Island exam is the constant; what your paperwork buys is the seat.

Not established — no pending-application provision in the regulation. The Ap-R apprentice card (indentured to a Master with a registered Rhode Island program) is the entry lane for someone with neither an out-of-state license nor the five-year resume.

Quantified from the regulation: Journeyperson Class I takes 10,000 on-the-job hours plus 144 hours of trade schooling per year through a registered Rhode Island apprenticeship (two years of accredited schooling may substitute); Class II takes 4,000 hours. Master Class I is unlimited and may self-employ after a year as Class I journeyperson; Master Class II caps at 20-ton comfort cooling.

The out-of-state lanes bypass the RI-indenture requirement entirely. Your personal floor is EPA 608.

The Ap-R apprentice is indentured to a Master Refrigeration Technician holding an approved registered program, working alongside a qualified journeyperson under that sponsorship. The indenture rule governs the HOURS route only — travelers using the exam-key or resume lanes never touch it.

The state ladder governs statewide.

Masters anchor the contracting side (Class I unlimited, Class II capped); journeypersons work under them. A traveler's fastest route to Rhode Island legality runs through the exam with whichever key they hold — the license copy or the notarized resume.