Veterinarian Licensure Requirements in Maine

Maine requires proof, submitted through AAVSB, of a passing score on the NAVLE — or, as the rule also allows for an earlier year of original licensure, the legacy NBE and CCT, or the NBE alone.

The board's rule does not restate a numeric passing score; it says passing scores are determined by the board.

A veterinary student may apply to sit the national exam during the final year of school, before receiving the degree, using a letter of intent from the dean in place of the final transcript — worth knowing for a new graduate who wants to license without a gap.

On paper, Chapter 2 of the board's rules requires a graded Maine jurisprudence examination — prepared, administered and graded by the board, passed at 70%, with a 30-day wait before a retake.

The board's own licensing page, however, states that it is not enforcing that section and that the written exam has been replaced with an attestation statement on the application for licensure.

A new graduate should therefore expect to sign an attestation rather than sit a test, but should confirm the current mechanics with the board before filing, because the written rule and the stated practice disagree.

The qualifying credential is a doctorate in veterinary medicine from an institution accredited by the AVMA Council on Education at the time the degree was awarded.

A graduate of a foreign school that was not AVMA-accredited qualifies by completing PAVE, administered by the AAVSB, or the ECFVG certification program, administered by the AVMA — both are named in the rule, so a foreign-trained applicant does not need a separate equivalency determination from the board itself.

Both routes feed into the same licensure-by-examination track, with its national-exam score and Maine law layer on top.

A veterinarian licensed in another state, a U.S. territory, or Canada has two ways in.

The vet-specific endorsement route requires good standing, a passing national-exam score matched to the year of original licensure, the Maine jurisprudence layer, and 3,000 hours of active clinical practice in the three years before applying — a hours requirement the statute waives for an applicant with 6,000 hours over six years and no disciplinary history.

The general 'universal recognition' route instead asks for a substantially equivalent license in good standing and sets no minimum practice-hours.

A long-licensed relocating veterinarian should check with AAVSB which legacy exam scores can still be certified before counting on the NBE options.

Maine is an annual-renewal state: licenses expire on September 30 of each year, while the CE obligation runs on a two-year cycle — 24 board-approved contact hours per even-numbered-year period.

A veterinarian newly licensed in the state owes no CE until their first renewal that falls in an even-numbered year.

The board's licensing page lists a $95 initial license fee plus a $21 criminal background check, a $100 annual renewal, and a $50 late fee, and statute caps any one fee purpose at $150 annually.

Maine runs two distinct short-term instruments.

The temporary permit, issued under 32 MRSA §4861(3), rides the examination path: its work is limited to the practice of a licensed veterinarian and the holder may not participate in any branch office, clinic, or allied establishment; an applicant who fails the exam may reapply for a second permit within ten days of the results notice; and a maximum of two permits may issue to any individual.

The separate Permit for Performance of Relief Veterinary Service is the relief-vet instrument: it requires a DVM/VMD from an AVMA-accredited school and no examination, runs an initial 30-day term, and can be extended by written request to the board with the extension fee before the permit expires.

For a relief veterinarian covering short stints at a Maine practice, that permit — not the exam-track temporary permit — is the relevant one.

Both examination and endorsement applicants must submit license verifications from every jurisdiction in which they have ever been licensed as a veterinarian — a relocating veterinarian with a multistate history should order these early, since each former board issues its own.

Renewal has a defined grace structure: a license can be renewed up to 90 days after its September 30 expiration with the $50 late fee, after which the applicant is subject to all new-applicant requirements and fees.

The board may also waive the renewal fee for a veterinarian on active duty with the U.S. Armed Services, for up to the longer of three years or the duration of a national emergency.