Overview:
South Carolina is the most expensive state to obtain a Genetic Counseling license in, weighing in at a grand total of $600 per application! Luckily, they do not require paid verifications, so it sort of makes up for itself that way... 😅
Deadline to obtain a license in South Carolina will be April 30th, 2025.
Difficulty: ⏳⏳ - Though application itself is fairly simple, the challenge is the documentation needed before submission.
Price: $600
State Contacts:
Website: https://eservice.llr.sc.gov/NewAppsV3/Login/LoginPage
Address: P.O. Box 11329, Columbia, SC 29211
Email: genetics@llr.sc.gov
Phone: 803-896-4300
Required Items:
Downloaded verifications of other state licenses
See here for complete list of verification websites to download your free verifications
List of licenses, if you have more than two licenses. Will need to include state, license number, issue date, expiration date, and status of license
copy of signed Social Security Card
Legal name change documentation (marriage license, etc), if needed
copy of driver's license or other government id (passport, military ID)
Notarized Verification of Lawful Presence document
Copy of ABGC certificate
Completing the Online Application Process:
Go to the website and click "Create Your Account" to get started.
Enter your name, a user name, email address, and password. Click "Register" to finish the process.
Start a new license application by selecting "Create New Application". For Division, select "Genetic Counselors" and then "Genetic Counselor Application".
Contact Information: add background information and addresses.
Tip: For those living and working outside of South Carolina, put "out of state" for the County and Congressional Dist fields. Only counties within South Carolina are listed.
Out of State License Verification: Currently their system only allows to input information for two licenses. To do so, select "Yes" and further fields will appear. We choose the states for where the individual lives and works but you could probably put any two licenses.
If you have more than two licenses, you will need to create a list of all your other licenses which includes - state, license number, issue date, expiration date, and status of license.
Luckily, South Carolina will accept the free license verifications that you can download from a states website in lieu of requesting them to be sent directly from each board. Make sure to do this now if you already haven't already.
Personal History Questions: For question Have you ever held any type of professional or occupational license in any state?, put “Yes”. We are unsure if is is referring to occupations besides genetic counseling. Currently, answering it in the affirmative has not created any issues.
Document Upload: Here you will upload all of the documents listed above.
(a) Written Explanation - upload list of licenses (if more than two licenses) both active & expired. This category is also for any questions you answered "Yes" to under Personal History Questions.
(b) Copy of active ABGC credential - must be copy of certificate, NOT certification letter
(c) Criminal Background Check - mark the box "I will upload at a later date". Currently South Carolina is not requiring a background check.
(d) Copy of Valid state-issued ID
(e) Additional Out-of-State License Information - upload all downloaded verifications. Note, it must be in one file and cannot be a zip file. Here at Elsie, we combine the pdf files into one to create a single document to upload.
(f) Notarized Verification of Lawful Presence - make sure it is both signed AND notarized or it will not be accepted
(g) Legal Name Change Documentation
(h) Copy of Signed Social Security Card - make sure the card is signed. It will be rejected without your signature
Review Application then continue on to payment information to complete it.
Tip: If you have to sign back into the application website at any time, it will reject your first attempt to sign in and say your username/password is incorrect.
Don't panic. Try it again and it will work.
Additional Steps:
Request a verification of your ABGC certificate be sent to the board through your ABGC account. Follow along here for step by step instructions.
At last, you are finished!! Happy dance!🕺
After the application is submitted, the turnaround time for the board to issue a license is relatively fast, less than a week. You will receive an email notification when the license has been issued. You can also check the South Carolina verification website (click on "Search for Licenses") to see if a license has been issued.
Note, a copy of your license will not be sent to you but will be available for download from your South Carolina Licensee portal, which you'll have to set up.
If you would like assistance with your applications or renewals, check out our services a meetelsie.com!
Note that these requirements are subject to change at the discretion of the Board. Please defer to the Board if questions or discrepancies arise.
