Licensure is required to practice as a pharmacist in the United States.
Each state has a board of pharmacy that regulates licenses, and requirements vary by state, so be sure to contact your state board for specific information.
In all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico, internationally trained pharmacists are required to earn the Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Examination Committee (FPGEC) Certification before applying for licensure from a state board of pharmacy. There are three steps to the FPGEC process:
- Obtaining a credential evaluation of your education and any existing licensure from Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE). No credential evaluations from other providers will be accepted for this purpose.
- Passing the Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet-Based Test (TOEFL iBT).
- Passing the Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Equivalency Examination (FPGEE).
After you have obtained your FPGEC certification, most states require that you pass both the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX) and the Multistate Pharmacy Jurisprudence Examination (MPJE).
- If you live in an area within commuting distance to other states and wish to have the option of seeking employment in more than one of them, or if you have plans to move to a specific state in the future, you may want to consider score transfer. Score transfer is an optional process that allows you to become simultaneously licensed in your primary state and other states of your choosing, as soon as you first pass the NAPLEX exam.
