Occupational therapists in British Columbia register with the College of Health and Care Professionals of BC: a master's degree with 1,000 hours of fieldwork, the NOTCE exam, and full or provisional registration.
Applies in: British Columbia
Written November 13, 2026
Register with the College of Health and Care Professionals of British Columbia (CHCPBC). That is the current regulator for occupational therapists in British Columbia — not the former College of Occupational Therapists of British Columbia. The standard Canadian route is a Master of Science in Occupational Therapy with at least 1,000 hours of supervised fieldwork, a pass on the National Occupational Therapy Certification Examination (NOTCE), and then full registration. If you are waiting to write the NOTCE, provisional registration may let you practise under supervision first.
This guide covers the British Columbia registration process only. It gives no advice on whether a particular program or background qualifies.
Two parts of that sentence do the work. First, the degree level: occupational therapy in this route is a master's degree, not a bachelor's degree or a diploma. Second, the fieldwork is built into the program — the 1,000 hours are supervised fieldwork completed as part of the accredited program, not work experience gathered afterwards on your own.
Choose a program on the basis that it is CAOT-accredited and includes the fieldwork. A program that does not meet those two points does not fit the Canadian-educated route described on the official BC jobs page, whatever its name sounds like.
The exam is the gate between provisional and full registration. You do not need to have passed it before you first contact the College — provisional registration exists for applicants waiting to write it — but you do need to pass it for full registration.
Plan the order around that fact. If you finish your degree and want to start work promptly, look at provisional registration first, then write the NOTCE, then move to full registration once you pass. Do not assume a job offer or a degree alone lets you practise without any registration at all: registration comes first, in one class or the other.
Full registration is the end point for applicants who meet every requirement, including the NOTCE.
Provisional registration is the bridge. Provisional licensure may be issued to applicants who are waiting to write the NOTCE, and provisional occupational therapists may practise the full scope of occupational therapy under the supervision of a general occupational therapist. Supervision is a condition of this class, not an optional extra — you need a supervising fully registered occupational therapist in place.
Check the College's current application requirements, document list, and fees on the CHCPBC site before you apply, and follow the College's own instructions for the class you are applying into. Requirements for one class do not automatically carry to the other.
Do not start with CHCPBC. Internationally educated occupational therapists must first apply to the Association of Canadian Occupational Therapy Regulatory Organizations (ACOTRO) and complete its Substantial Equivalency Assessment System (SEAS).
SEAS assesses the extent to which your education is substantially equivalent to the education and competencies obtained by occupational therapists educated in Canada. All SEAS assessments are currently conducted remotely, so you do not have to be in Canada to start.
There are three possible outcomes:
Once you are deemed substantially equivalent, ACOTRO grants eligibility to write the NOTCE. After passing the NOTCE, you are eligible to apply for full registration with CHCPBC. If you want to work before writing the exam, internationally educated applicants may apply for provisional registration once the SEAS assessment is complete.
Occupational therapists already registered elsewhere in Canada follow a different conversation with the College than new graduates do. Start from the CHCPBC registration pages for applicants from other jurisdictions and confirm what the College asks for in your case, rather than assuming the new-graduate document list applies unchanged. For in-person services in British Columbia, registration with CHCPBC is required; the cross-jurisdiction arrangements the College publishes deal mainly with remote services and do not replace BC registration for in-person practice.
The official pages opened for this guide state the master's degree and 1,000-hour fieldwork requirement, the NOTCE requirement, the SEAS route, and the provisional supervision rule, but they do not state a current CHCPBC application fee, annual registration fee, or processing time for occupational therapist registration, so this guide gives none. Check the fees and timelines on the CHCPBC site at the time you apply.
CHCPBC — the College of Health and Care Professionals of British Columbia. Forget the old College of Occupational Therapists of British Columbia: it no longer registers occupational therapists on its own. BC's Occupational Therapists Regulation names CHCPBC for this profession, and only its registrants may use the title.
A Master of Science in Occupational Therapy, from a CAOT-accredited program, with at least 1,000 hours of supervised fieldwork built in. Nothing lower counts on the Canadian route.
The NOTCE. No pass, no full registration — that part is blunt. While you wait to write it, provisional registration may let you work, supervised.
Start with ACOTRO, not the College. ACOTRO runs SEAS, its substantial equivalency assessment of internationally educated occupational therapists. Pass it outright and you get a certificate of substantial equivalency, eligibility to write the NOTCE, and a path to apply to CHCPBC. Land in the middle outcome and you do the gap-filling activities first, then get the same certificate. Fail it, and there is no certificate to apply with.
A bridge for people waiting on the NOTCE. You may practise the full scope, but a fully registered occupational therapist supervises you — that condition is the whole point of the class. Internationally educated applicants can seek it once SEAS is complete.
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