Veterinarian Licensure Requirements in Indiana

Indiana's application checklist does not restate a passing score of its own: it requires an official NAVLE score report routed directly to the Board from the AAVSB's Veterinary Information Verifying Agency, the score-transfer service boards use, rather than a result the candidate submits themselves.

A new graduate should request that transfer early, because the application checklist is not complete without it.

Nationally the NAVLE passing standard is a scaled score set by the exam's own testing entity, but Indiana's own materials defer to the AAVSB score report rather than naming a number.

Once the application has been filed, the Board sends the applicant a short, Indiana-specific multiple-choice test, and the checklist asks that the completed answer sheet be returned promptly per the enclosed instructions.

This Juris Prudence Examination is required only of first-time Indiana licensees, so the state-law test arrives after you apply rather than gating the application.

A new graduate should build that turnaround into their start date; a veterinarian who later reciprocates on an active out-of-state license will not find the test on the reciprocity checklist at all.

The checklist requires official transcripts showing that all graduation requirements were met and the degree conferred, and an applicant who did not graduate from an accredited college of veterinary medicine must prove they hold an ECFVG certificate issued by the AVMA or a PAVE certificate issued by the AAVSB — the Board states plainly that an applicant is not eligible for licensure until one of those certificates is submitted.

A foreign-trained veterinarian should therefore treat ECFVG or PAVE as a prerequisite to the Indiana application, not a parallel step, since the certificate has to exist before licensure can move forward.

The checklist names both certificates and their issuing organizations side by side, with no preference stated between them.

Indiana's route for an already-licensed veterinarian turns on the license you hold: the Board shall issue a license to an applicant who holds an active equivalent license in another state — one whose requirements are substantially equivalent to or exceed the Board's — who is in good standing and undisciplined, and who has no complaint or investigation pending over unprofessional conduct.

The reciprocity checklist does not include the Juris Prudence Test that first-time licensees take, but the Board expressly reserves the ability to require an examination on Indiana law where a law regulating the occupation calls for one.

The application fee is $150 for veterinarians, the same as the by-examination application.

Every license verification must come directly from the state of issuance, so a relocating veterinarian should trigger those requests early.

Renewal runs on a biennial cycle with 40 hours of continuing education in veterinary medicine due October 15 of each odd-numbered year, and CE is not required for the first renewal after initial licensure — a new graduate's first cycle is a runway rather than a deadline.

Hours cannot be carried over between cycles, CE used to satisfy another state's renewal requirements may also count for Indiana, and delivery method doesn't matter — online and asynchronous hours qualify.

The Board points to the continuing-education rules at 888 IAC 1.1-10.

On the Board's current DVM fee schedule, renewal is $100 if renewed unexpired prior to October 15 of an odd-numbered year, $150 once expired less than three years, $250 beyond three years, and reinstatement from inactive is $100.

The veterinary license alone does not authorize controlled-substance work in Indiana: prescribing, administering, storing, dispensing or otherwise handling controlled substances requires a separate Controlled Substance Registration (CSR), and an applicant must already hold an active Indiana practitioner license before obtaining one.

CSR applicants must complete and submit 2 hours of approved opioid education, which is the one continuing-education item that applies before the first renewal.

One CSR covers prescribing statewide, but a separate registration is required for each location where a practitioner administers, stores or dispenses controlled substances unless doing so under a facility's CSR — a detail a relief veterinarian covering multiple clinics should confirm before their first shift.