Surrendering or Taking a Leave

Surrendering or Taking a Leave

Are you retiring, taking a parental leave, or moving to another province?  If you will not be working or using the title occupational therapist in Nova Scotia, you may choose to surrender your licence.  Surrendering means you will not be able to work as an occupational therapist, use the title of occupational therapist, nor any abbreviation, in Nova Scotia until you are re-registered with the College.  Please review the options below before resigning from the College.

Option 1: Maintain Your Licence 

Maintaining your licence allows you to return to practise in Nova Scotia at any time throughout the year.  If you choose to maintain your licence, you must be in compliance with all College requirements, including professional liability insurance, continuing competence requirements, and currency hours.  In addition, you will need to renew your licence by the May 31 deadline.  Failure to renew your licence by the deadline will result in your licence being suspended for non-payment of fees.  The suspension may only be lifted on payment of all outstanding renewal, late, and re-registration fees.  

Option 2: Surrender Your Licence

This means you will no longer be licensed by the College.  If you decide to surrender, you will be required to re-register prior to returning to practise in Nova Scotia.  Generally, re-registration with the College involves the following:

• Completing an online re-activation form
• Submitting evidence of professional liability insurance
• Submitting a regulatory history form if you have practised in another jurisdiction
• Demonstrating currency hours
• Submitting a Vulnerable Sector Check
• Paying applicable fees

You are not required to resubmit documentation that the College already has on file, for example, transcripts or NOTCE results.  For more information on re-registering, see the Re-Registration page.

How to Surrender Your License

To surrender your licence, write an e-mail to admin@cotns.ca clearly stating your intention to surrender your license as of a specific date.

Considerations

When determining whether to renew or surrender your licence, consider the merits of maintaining professional liability insurance, the duration of the period you intend to be on leave, and the comparative costs associated with each scenario. 

The Registration Regulations provide for the following options for registration fees:

• Re-Register after February 28th: Pay one-half of the registration fee plus applicable application fee.  You will be required to pay the full registration fee at renewal.
• Re-register after April 1st:  Pay full registration fee plus applicable application fee.  This will cover April and May at the time of registration, and the next registration year. 
• Surrender by August 31st:  Pay one-half of the registration fee at renewal.  Before returning to practice, you will required to complete the re-registration process and pay applicable fees.

To be eligible for re-registration, you will need to meet the College's currency hours requirement of 600 hours in the past 3 years.  

The College does not issue partial refunds.