Plumber licensing in Minnesota

Minnesota names two partners — North Dakota and South Dakota — at both journeyworker and master level, with eight cumulative conditions doing the work: the license must be exam-earned at state level (city cards and grandfather clauses excluded), held a year, scored at or above Minnesota's 70% floor, and you must meet Minnesota's exam qualifications anyway — reciprocity waives the sitting, not the standard.

A prior Minnesota exam failure at the same class, pending Minnesota discipline, or a Minnesota license lapsed more than two years all bar the route. $50 through the online portal; approval gives you 180 days to pay the license fee. The Wisconsin rumor is false — the board names ND and SD only. From other states, a license from a four-years-plus-exam jurisdiction qualifies you to sit the Minnesota exam.

Minnesota has no temporary license — but it has the registered unlicensed plumber, the board's own day-one status: $14, no experience requirement, filed by you once W-2 employment with a licensed plumbing contractor is in place. The conditions are strict: direct supervision means the licensed plumber is physically present and immediately available — electronic supervision is expressly excluded — and you may not supervise or assign work to others.

Two cities add their own layer; see local.

Journeyworker eligibility, pick one: four years as a registered unlicensed plumber with the hours split the rule requires (2,000 water distribution, 2,000 drain-waste-vent, 1,000 fixtures); a completed registered apprenticeship; a Minnesota restricted license plus two further years; or a current license from a state requiring at least four years' experience and an exam.

The five-year figure floating around belongs to the master route, not this one.

The registered unlicensed plumber is the entry status — formerly called an apprentice — applied for by you, online, $14, renewable each June. Employment must exist first: you are a W-2 employee of a licensed plumbing contractor, working under a supervisor who is physically on site. In towns under 5,000, restricted licensees may supervise.

The state license is statewide and untouchable by cities — but two cities layer their own per-worker credential on top: Saint Paul's trade-worker registration and Minneapolis's competency card. A placement in either city needs the city's paper too; confirm requirements with the city before the first shift.

The worker credential is what travels; the business needs its own Minnesota plumbing contractor license to operate — bonding, insurance, and the rest are the employer's obligations. Your license or registration is personal, and neither substitutes for the other.