| Employment type
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Old standards | New standards, effective June 6, 2016opens in new window (PDF, 184KB) |
| To be eligible for a Veterans Healthcare Administration (VA) Internship1 | Attend an APA-accredited doctoral program. | Attend an APA, Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) or Psychological Clinical Science Accreditation System (PCSAS)-accredited doctoral program (excludes school psychology) or hold a doctorate in psychology and be enrolled in a re-specialization program at an APA or CPA-accredited program (excluding school psychology).
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| To be eligible for a VA Postdoctoral Fellowship1 | Have completed an APA-accredited doctoral program and an APA-accredited Internship. | Have completed an APA-, CPA- or PCSAS-accredited doctoral program (excluding school psychology) and an APA- or CPA-accredited internship; or hold a doctorate in psychology and have completed a re-specialization program at an APA- or CPA-accredited program (excluding school psychology) and have attended an APA or CPA-accredited internship or one of the newly launched VA Internships that is not yet APA-accredited.
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| To be eligible for VA employment1,2 | Refer to VHA handbook 5005, Appendix G18opens in new window |
Have completed an APA, CPA or PCSAS-accredited doctoral program (excluding school psychology) and an APA or CPA-accredited internship.
Special case 1: VA internships were not required to hold APA-accreditation until 1979. Completion of a VA internship prior to 1979 satisfies the internship criterion.
Special case 2: New VA internships are given 3 years to achieve accreditation. Completion of a new VA internship in the process of achieving accreditation satisfies the internship criterion.
Special case 3: If you did not attend an accredited internship but currently hold specialty board certification by ABPP, the requirements for an accredited internship do not apply. Note that certification must be consistent with the duty assignment.
Special case 4: If you have a doctorate in any field of psychology and also completed a respecialization program at an institution having a doctoral program that is accredited by APA or CPA and meet other requirements you may be eligible for employment in an area where the training is consistent with the work assignment to be made. These requirements also include completing an APA- or CPA-accredited internship or meeting internship criteria as listed in special cases 1-3.
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1 Requirements for U.S. citizenship (unless special circumstances preclude the hiring of a U.S. citizen) and English speaking and writing proficiency still apply.
2 Those persons not meeting the licensure requirement for employment may be granted a temporary appointment and given a time frame of up to two years to obtain licensure.
Prepared by the APA Office on Early Career Psychologists, September 2016.