Welcome to the Board of Vocational Nursing & Psychiatric Technicians

About the Licensing and Examinations Division

The Board is responsible for examination and licensure of over 9,500 VN applicants and 1,000 PT applicants annually. There are five different methods to qualify for licensure as an LVN in California (see Vocational Nurse Fact Sheet) and Method 3: Qualification Based on Equivalent Education and/or Experience, and four different methods of qualifying for PT licensure (see Psychiatric Technician Fact Sheet).

The Board contracts with the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc. for the year-round computer-adaptive vocational nurse licensure examination (NCLEX) administered at over 200 test centers nationwide. After an application has been approved, the applicant is sent an NCLEX Registration Bulletin with instructions on registering for the examination. Once the applicant has registered for the NCLEX, an Authorization to Test will be mailed from the NCLEX Data Center in Minnesota. The applicant is then responsible for calling to schedule an appointment to test.

There is no national licensure examination for PTs. The Board develops and administers a year-round computer-administered examination to approximately 1,000 applicants annually at 24 test centers. When a PT applicant is approved, a Notice of Eligibility and Candidate Handbook is mailed. The applicant is responsible for calling the toll-free number to schedule an appointment to test.

For information regarding out-of-state licensed applicants, see the Fact Sheet for Out-of-State Licensed Applicants.

Pursuant to Sections 2512 (Vocational Nurses) and 2571 (Psychiatric Technicians) of the California Code of Regulations, an application shall be deemed abandoned if no action is taken on an application by the applicant for a period of two years. Abandoned applications and all pertinent records are destroyed at the end of the two-year period.