Indiana charges $100 to apply under 844 IAC 2.2-2-8, with an optional $50 temporary permit on top. The permit solves exactly one problem — letting you start work before the full license issues — and buying it for any other reason is $50 spent on nothing.
Indiana is a straightforward state with one decision in it, and the decision is worth $50 either way.
What the rule charges
844 IAC 2.2-2-8 sets a $100 application fee, explicitly non-refundable and non-transferable. That second word matters: file in error and the money is gone, and it cannot be moved to a different application.
The temporary permit is $50, in addition to rather than instead of the application fee.
The one problem the permit solves
You have a start date. The full license will not issue by then. The permit lets you begin working while the file completes.
That is the entire use case. It is a real one — a delayed start date can cost weeks of income, or the role itself — and against that, $50 is nothing.
When it is wasted money
If your start date is three months out, the full license will very likely be there. If you have no start date yet, the permit has nothing to bridge. If you are adding Indiana for portability rather than to practice there, the permit is entirely beside the point.
People buy it anyway, on the theory that more paperwork means faster. It does not. The permit does not accelerate the full license by a single day; it runs alongside it.
How to decide
Ask when the license would realistically issue — two to four months in most states, driven by fingerprinting and verification — and compare that to the date you need to be working. If the second is earlier than the first, buy the permit. If not, do not.
That is a five-minute calculation and it is the only analysis the question deserves.
Non-refundable is the word to notice
Both fees are non-refundable. Withdraw, get denied, or discover you filed under the wrong pathway and the money stays with the board. That is standard across states, but Indiana says it in the rule rather than burying it in a portal footnote.
The practical consequence is to get eligibility right before paying rather than after. Confirm your NCCPA certification is current, confirm your program’s accreditation status as of your conferral date, and confirm you have no disclosure issue that pushes the file out of the routine track.
Indiana is a compact member
Worth knowing separately from the fee. Indiana enacted the PA Licensure Compact, so an Indiana license is a qualifying license — it will support privileges into every other member state once the Commission opens applications, currently projected for early 2027.
That makes $100 for an Indiana license a materially better purchase than $100 for a license in a non-member state, because it does work beyond its own borders. For a PA choosing where to place a second license, membership is the variable that matters far more than the fee.
Common questions
- What does an Indiana PA license cost?
- $100, non-refundable and non-transferable, under 844 IAC 2.2-2-8. A temporary permit is an additional $50 and is optional.
- Should I buy the Indiana temporary permit?
- Only if you have a start date that falls before the full license is likely to issue. If your start date is flexible or distant, it buys nothing.
- How long does a temporary permit last?
- Temporary permits are bridge instruments with a defined validity period and are not renewable indefinitely. Confirm the current term with the board, since it is the constraint that decides whether the permit helps.
- Is Indiana in the PA compact?
- Yes. Indiana is a member state, so an Indiana license will support compact privileges once the Commission opens applications.
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