Psychologist – Section D – Registration Process

Registration Guidelines

UPDATED: April 2019

Required Documents in the Application Process

The forms needed to apply for a certificate authorizing supervised practice as a psychologist are found on the College’s web site in the Applicants section, these include:

• Application for Certificate of Registration Authorizing Supervised Practice (the application form);
• Primary and Alternate Supervisor’s Agreement forms.

The application form is completed online and may be printed for your records. The application fee of $230 CAD may be paid online.

Supervisor Agreement Forms

The Primary and Alternate Supervisor’s Agreement forms must be filled out by the applicant and his or her prospective supervisors, and may be submitted along with the supervised practice application form or submitted separately either by email or regular mail.

The following table lists other required documents in the application process where original documentation is required:

When an applicant is unable to obtain original documentation

An applicant who is unable to obtain required original documents must advise the College in writing, identifying which documents they are unable to obtain, and detailing the reason for this. The Alternative Documentation Policy found in Appendix H of the Registration Guidelines details the College’s process for determining whether alternative documentation may be accepted.

When an application is considered to be complete and ready for review by the Registrar

An application is complete and ready for review by the Registrar when the application form, application fee, and all supporting documents specified in the application form have been received by the College. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that all required documents have been received. A review cannot take place before all of the required documents have been received.

Applicants with degrees granted by universities outside Canada or the U.S.

If the applicant’s degrees are from an institution outside Canada or the United States the degrees must be validated and assessed to determine if they are comparable in level to degrees from a Canadian university. Applicants are responsible for any fees associated with these evaluations. An academic credential assessment  may be arranged through either Comparative Education Service (CES) or World Education Services (WES):

The academic credential assessment report from CES or WES must confirm that the applicant’s academic credentials are comparable in level to a doctoral degree granted by a Canadian university. While the report from CES or WES will indicate to the College whether the applicant’s academic credentials are comparable in level to a doctoral degree granted by a Canadian university, the College reserves the right to make a final determination of the level and the content of the degree(s), and will evaluate, in accordance with the requirements outlined in Section E of these guidelines to determine, whether the applicant has an acceptable doctoral degree in psychology.

Steps in the College’s application process that can be completed outside of Canada

Applicants educated outside of Canada or the United States, who are currently living outside of Canada, can complete part of the application process before moving to Canada or wait until they arrive to do so.

The following application steps may be completed before moving to Canada:

• Submission of the College’s application for registration as a Psychologist (Supervised Practice) along with the application fee;
• Submission of an academic credential assessment report sent directly to the College by either Comparative Education Service (CES) or World Education Services (WES);
• Submission of the university transcript(s) sent directly to the College by the university; and
• Evidence of English or French language fluency.

If a university outside Canada or the U.S. is unable to send a transcript directly to the College, the College may accept an alternative form of documentation such as a certified copy of the transcript the university issued to the applicant. Applicants should review the College’s Alternative Documentation Policy and contact the College in advance if they find that their university will not issue an original transcript. If the transcript and official university documents are in a language other than English or French, the applicant must arrange to have these documents translated by an official translator. Applicants are responsible for any fees associated with the translation of these documents.

Applicants who are not yet working in Ontario

In circumstances where the applicant is out-of-province or unemployed, the Registrar can consider the application to be complete except for the supervisor’s agreement forms and details of the intended Ontario work setting. In such cases, upon favourable review, the Registrar will issue a letter of eligibility only, deferring a decision on the issuance of a certificate for supervised practice. An eligibility letter may be used by the applicant to indicate his/her intent to become registered to prospective employers and/or supervisors.
Additionally, the Registrar’s letter of eligibility will indicate the applicant’s eligibility to take the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP) and the Jurisprudence and Ethics Examination (JEE).

Issuance of a Certificate Authorizing Supervised Practice

After initial review, where it is determined the applicant meets the non-exemptible registration requirements of an acceptable doctoral degree in psychology, and for specified supervisors (Section 12. (1), (2) and (3) of the Registration Regulation) the Registrar will proceed to issue a certificate of registration authorizing supervised practice. Supervised practice is a time-limited period in which the applicant prepares for the autonomous practice of psychology. The overall focus of post-degree supervision is to ensure that, by the end of the period under supervision, the supervised member is able to provide competent and ethical professional services, autonomously, within his or her limits of competence.

Once the certificate has been issued by the Registrar, the new supervised member receives the certificate, a letter outlining the decision of the Registrar, a memo indicating important dates and summarizing the information about his or her supervision, and documents concerning the period of authorized supervised practice. The supervisors will receive a copy of that letter, documents relevant to the supervision of members, and work appraisal forms for the period of authorized supervised practice.

Referral to the Registration Committee

Where there is doubt, on reasonable grounds, as to whether the applicant has an acceptable doctoral degree,  or has training congruent with his or her proposed area(s) of practice, the Registrar will refer such applications to the Registration Committee under Section 15(2)(a) of the RHPA Code. The applicant will be given notice of a thirty day period in which written submissions may be sent to the Committee prior to the Committee’s review. A certificate authorizing supervised practice will not be issued in cases of doubt.

In such cases the Registration Committee, which meets approximately every 6 to 8 weeks throughout the year, will review the application file. The Committee may make one of the following decisions:

• Agree that the academic credentials meet the requirements in the registration regulation. In this case, if the candidate has named acceptable supervisors and work setting, then the Committee will direct the Registrar to issue a certificate for supervised practice to the applicant;
• Direct the Registrar to refuse registration to the applicant. In this case, the applicant will receive a written decision and the reasons for the decision. According to the RHPA (Code) Section 21 this decision may be appealed to the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board (HPARB).

Should the Registrar have doubts that an applicant’s training is congruent with the proposed area of practice, pursuant to Sections 5. (1) 6. and 12.(2) of the Registration Regulation, a certificate of registration for supervised practice will be issued, along with a notice letter advising of the Registrar’s referral of the application to the Registration Committee for a review of the applicant’s training in relation to his or her Declaration of Competence. The supervised member will then have a thirty day period to make a written submission to the Committee outlining how the incongruence may be resolved, either by a revision in the Declaration of Competence, or by means of a formal training plan (see Section J).

Application Expiry

It is the responsibility of the applicant to check with the College on the status of his/her application.

Applications are not kept by the College indefinitely. An application for registration as a psychologist that has not resulted in the issuance of a certificate of registration or a statement of eligibility from the Registrar will expire 24 months after the date of the application (entered on Box A1 of the application form). The College will make reasonable efforts to contact the applicant prior to the date of application expiry.

The College will scan and save electronically an applicant’s application form and any supporting documents for 5 years from the date of application expiry. At the end of the 5 year period, the scanned information will be securely destroyed.

Should the applicant re-apply for registration before the end of the 5 year period, he/she must submit a new application form and application fee to the College, and the College will endeavour to use whatever of the scanned original documentation that is appropriate. For example, a confirmation of registration from another regulatory authority may need to be re-submitted.

In all cases, an applicant would be required to meet the College’s requirements in effect at the time of his/her re-application.