Kentucky Optometry Licensing After the 2025 Waiver Ruling

Kentucky offers two ways in for an optometrist licensed elsewhere. Endorsement is for optometrists who have been in active practice for the past five years. Everyone else uses the standard application, which requires every part of the National Board of Examiners in Optometry (NBEO) series, and from January 1, 2027 adds the Injections Skill Exam (ISE). Both routes end with Kentucky's jurisprudence exam, which you can take only after the board has your completed application, fees and documents.

Behind those rules is a recent controversy. In October 2025, the Kentucky Attorney General found that past board waivers of NBEO requirements were "null, void, and unenforceable" (OAG 25-13). The board's emergency regulation, 201 KAR 5:010E, filed August 11, 2026, now spells out exactly which exams each route requires. If you are moving into Kentucky, that mostly means a stricter checklist. If you are moving out of Kentucky with a license issued under a waiver, read Kentucky's waived licenses and moving to another state.

What did the 2025 ruling change?

According to NBEO's published summary, the Kentucky Board of Optometric Examiners granted at least 21 licenses to graduates who had not passed all required NBEO exams, both during and after the COVID-19 emergency period from 2020 to 2023. In October 2025, the Attorney General found the board lacked legal authority to waive its regulations and that those waivers were "null, void, and unenforceable." NBEO's summary also criticizes a later board emergency regulation as inadequate; that dispute is between NBEO and the board, and how it resolves is the board's to announce.

For an applicant today, the practical effect is in 201 KAR 5:010E. It lists the required exams by name and date, allows the Canadian OEBC written exam in place of NBEO Part I only for tests taken or submitted between July 30, 2025 and April 15, 2026, and drops that option from January 1, 2027. The board's applicant page notes that the type of application required "depends on how many years you've been practicing."

Who qualifies for Kentucky endorsement?

Under Section 3 of 201 KAR 5:010E and the board's applicant page, an endorsement applicant submits, at least 15 days before board review:

• The Application for License by Endorsement to Practice Optometry.
• Verification that you have been licensed and in active practice for the past five years.
• Information about any resolved, pending or unresolved board action or malpractice suit in any state or territory.
• Certified college and optometry school transcripts sent directly from the registrar.
• A certificate of good standing from the board where you are currently licensed and from every state board where you have held a license.
• A copy of the credential proving you are therapeutically licensed.
• Two letters of recommendation, one from a licensed optometrist.
• Proof of passing the Kentucky State Law Exam.
• A recent head-and-shoulders photograph.
• The $700 non-refundable application fee and a $25 payment for a query of the National Practitioner Data Bank.
• A notarized statement explaining why you wish to be admitted to practice in Kentucky.

Before approval, the board must review a fingerprint-supported state and national criminal record check and the data bank query, and both must be less than 60 days old when the board reviews them. That 60-day window is the most common timing trap: a background check run too early expires before the board meets. The board's application is a sworn statement. How states count years of practice compares Kentucky's five-year rule with others.

With fewer than five years, which application do you file?

Section 1 of the regulation, in effect now, requires the standard application, a birth certificate, certified transcripts, NBEO results for Parts 1, 2 and 3 (with the limited OEBC substitution for Part 1 described above), TMOD results, two letters of recommendation (one from a licensed optometrist), proof of passing the state law exam, a photograph, the $500 application fee and the $25 data bank query. Section 2, effective January 1, 2027, keeps that list, removes the OEBC option and adds NBEO ISE results. The board's applicant page says the same: "Effective 1/1/27 applicants shall pass the NBEO ISE exam."

If you have fewer than five years of practice and no ISE, ask the board in writing how it treats a file submitted in late 2026 but reviewed after January 1, 2027, rather than assuming the older list applies. If you cannot finish in 2026, schedule the ISE now; NBEO lists it at $350 for exams from August 2026. ISE and LSPE: states that ask for the injection and laser exams explains the exam.

How do Kentucky fingerprints and the jurisprudence exam work?

Kentucky runs state and federal background checks through IdentoGO's UEnroll site using the board's service code, with separate instructions for non-residents. The board stresses that background checks are valid for 60 days. The jurisprudence exam comes last: "Completed application, fees and documents must be submitted in order to take the jurisprudence exam." Build the order around those two rules. Fingerprints and background checks for optometry licenses has more on vendors and timing.

What is the Kentucky ETP credential?

Expanded Therapeutic Procedures (ETP) is a Kentucky credential. The board's applicant page says: "All applicants that have not graduated from an optometry school that has confirmed the Expanded Therapeutic (ETP) coursework is included in its curriculum, must complete a 32-hour ETP course and be credentialed prior to the 2nd renewal of license." So an optometrist whose school has not confirmed ETP coursework has a deadline that starts running at licensure. Put the second renewal date on the calendar the day the license issues. What TPA, orals and legend drug certificates mean from state to state places ETP among other states' credentials.

When do Kentucky licenses renew?

The board's site says all active licenses expire March 1 each year, the annual renewal fee is $300, and the renewal portal opens the first week of December. CE certificates are uploaded to the board's portal for renewal. One condition affects anyone who prescribes: "KY licensed optometrists who have a DEA number must register with KASPER or your license will not be renewed." KASPER is Kentucky's prescription monitoring program. If you will prescribe controlled substances in Kentucky, you also need a DEA registration for Kentucky; see DEA registration for optometrists in more than one state and PDMP registration and opioid CE.

Where do Kentucky files go wrong?

1. A background check or data bank query older than 60 days when the board reviews the file.
2. Missing recommendation letters. Two are required, one from a licensed optometrist, on both routes.
3. The notarized statement for endorsement applicants, explaining why you want to practice in Kentucky.
4. The jurisprudence exam taken out of order. It comes after the completed file.
5. The ISE after January 1, 2027 for standard applicants.

Should you hand off the Kentucky paperwork?

Our Optometry License, One State service is $699 for Kentucky. We determine which route your five-year history supports, prepare the application with a question-by-question guide, request good-standing certificates from every state you have held and your NBEO results, line up the recommendation letters and the notarized statement, and time the IdentoGO check and data bank query so both are inside the 60-day window when the board meets. You answer and sign the sworn application, take the jurisprudence exam, pay the board and register with KASPER if you hold a DEA number. A $149 readiness review checks your NBEO record against the new exam list first. See the Kentucky licensing page to compare states.