Path to Licensure

What to Know First

• All foreign-educated graduates, please refer to the Foreign Education Section for additional information, even if licensed in another state. 
• Becoming licensed in Illinois based on licensure in another state is call "Licensure by Endorsement" in Illinois.
• Licensure by Endorsement typically does not take more than 2-3 months, depending on how fast paper work comes in.  There is no expedited process for Licensure by Endorsement.  
• Any engineering work being done in Illinois or in a project in Illinois must be done and/or directly supervised by an Illinois registered Professional Engineer.   
• All companies doing engineering work in the State of Illinois must registered as a Licensed Design Firm in the State of Illinois.  (If your employee must be licensed in Illinois, your company must be registered in Illinois.)   

Apply for PE Licensure by Endorsement
Illinois grants licensure by Endorsement to professional engineers licensed in other states if the licensure process in that state was substantially equivalent to the process in Illinois at the time of licensure.   

Applicants will use the forms for Professional Engineer by Endorsement.  

Foreign educated applicants must also submit a course by course evaluation report of their foreign education credentials, and TOEFL-iBT (details outlined on page 4 of the PDF).

​If your firm is coming to do work in Illinois, please continue to steps 2 & 3.

Register to do Business with the State of Illinois
Authority to transact business in Illinois must be obtained before a firm can register as a design firm in Illinois - a requirement to legally do any design work in the state. The purpose clause in the registration must include the practice of the specified profession(s) for which the design firm is seeking registration.  Business registration in Illinois is managed by the Secretary of State.  Click here to register online or call 312.793.3380.

​Register as a Design Firm in Illinois
All employers doing engineering design work in Illinois - even if based outside of Illinois - MUST register as a Design Firm.  The only exception to this rule is a sole proprietorship doing business in the EXACT name as is shown on the Illinois PE License.  In that case the sole proprietor may only offer services in which he/she is licensed.

In order to complete the design firm registration, the managing agent-in-charge of professional services must be a full-time employee, licensed in Illinois. View the application form for further details on the required composition of the firm for design firm registration.  

Click here to access for the forms for registration as a design firm in Illinois.  

Firm Licensure