The 2030 Criteria come into effect for any and all applications received on or after January 1, 2030. This is almost 4 years from now. That means that if you are currently enrolled in a graduate degree, you have almost 4 years to complete that program and apply under the current (2023) Criteria. If you are about to begin said program (say in 2026), you would still have about 3 years to complete that program and apply. If you cannot complete your program and apply under the current Criteria (i.e., before January 1, 2030), then you will need to ensure that your program meets the new 2030 Criteria and/or you are prepared to fulfill all remaining requirements extra to (or outside) your degree(s). 

Said another way, if you are already enrolled in a graduate program in hopes of registering as a psychologist in the future, you should either:

1. Submit a COMPLETE application to have your academic credentials reviewed prior to January 1, 2030. In this case, the current (2023) Criteria in effect will apply and your application will not be evaluated using the 2030 Criteria. OR:
2. Ensure that your program fulfills our 2030 Criteria if you plan to apply on or after January 1, 2030. (If it doesn't, you may begin to seek out alternative options for fulfilling the 2030 Criteria.)

This is very important. A complete application is an application that includes a correctly and fully completed application form, accompanied by all corresponding documents, and fee payment.

Sometimes applicants will partially or even entirely fill out and submit an application form, thinking this constitutes an application by a certain date. However, it does not. An application must be complete to be considered for review by CAP. Thus, the date that will determine which criteria are used in an evaluation is the date when a complete application is received by CAP. If an application form is filled out incorrectly, this causes delays that also constitute an incomplete application, even if payment and documents have been received.

You should start your application process as early as possible, including reading everything on our webpages, preparing all parts of your application, and having your required documents sent to CAP as early as possible. You cannot apply before you graduate, just as always, but you can be on top of what the process requires to reduce delays. If you wait until the last minute (i.e., the last few months of 2029), it may be very difficult to ensure your documents and a correct application are received by us. 

CAP-approved programs are currently collaborating with CAP regarding updated approvals under the 2030 Criteria. If you are expecting to graduate before 2030, you should apply to CAP before January 1, 2030 to ensure you are accepted under our current criteria. 

If you are expecting to graduate in 2030 or after, please check back frequently for updates, as well as consulting with your program, regarding applying through the CAP-approved program pathway.

Indeed, the 2030 Criteria for Evaluating Doctoral Academic Credentials are not about licensure. These criteria are used in two main ways:

1. An already registered psychologist completes a doctoral degree and then, as per the HPA, wants authorization from CAP to call themselves a doctor in connection with practice as a psychologist without specifying the area of their doctoral study. Thus, they submit an application for doctoral title authorization. This has no bearing on registration status, just the permission to call oneself doctor in connection with professional practice and without qualifying the nature of their degree to clients. 
2. A non-registered applicant is applying for registration and doctoral title authorization at the same time. Thus, we use our 2030 Criteria for Evaluating Academic Credentials to evaluate their application for registration, and we use our 2030 Criteria for Evaluating Doctoral Academic Credentials to evaluate the doctoral degree they completed just in terms of their permission to use the doctoral title without specification. 

Without specification means, for example, introducing yourself to a client as "Dr. Surname" and signing your emails as "Dr. Surname" or Name Surname, PhD, Registered Psychologist. That is using the title without specification. But, if you had a doctoral degree that was not approved for title authorization, this would mean specifying the area of study that your degree involved such as signing your emails as Name Surname, PhD (Special Education), Registered Psychologist. 

The purpose of title authorization is to protect the public from being misled about a psychologist's level and area of expertise. Specifying non-authorized titles protects clients from believing a doctoral-level psychologist has doctoral-level expertise in professional psychology when in fact the psychologist's doctorate is in, say, human resources or mathematics or business.

The new 2030 Criteria for Evaluating Doctoral Academic Credentials simply govern any doctoral authorization applications we receive on or after January 1, 2030. These criteria are meant to further protect clients from being misled about a psychologist's doctorate and the degree to which it confers typical doctoral-level expertise in professional psychology that is or should be expected by the public.

There is no way to tell you for sure since every application is evaluated on a case-by-case basis against the Criteria. However, it is important to read this closely:

3.2 The doctoral program coursework must be delivered substantially through real-time synchronous instruction. For the purposes of this section, "real-time synchronous instruction" means structured instructional activities in which instructors and students engage simultaneously, whether in person or through live interactive audiovisual technology. CAP may consider the overall structure of the program in determining whether this requirement is met.

Some of the most important language there involves simultaneous engagement, and being "substantially" delivered through real-time synchronous instruction. Some examples:

• If your program contains no real-time synchronous instruction or simultaneous engagement, then it will not satisfy 3.2. For example, perhaps you never have a live lecture across your entire doctoral program and you are responsible for learning everything on your own. Even if you had marked assignments or weekly discussion posts, this does not constitute synchronous instruction or simultaneous engagement.
• If your program contains little real-time synchronous instruction, then it will not be approved. Perhaps your program has some live lectures or live discussions, but you are still largely responsible for learning material independently and rarely attend any synchronous activities. This would not satisfy 3.2.
• If your doctoral program courses are delivered almost entirely through real-time synchronous instruction, then 3.2 will likely be satisfied. Either online or in person, perhaps you have classes each week with peers and an instructor where a lecture and discussions occur, but one or two courses across the 4 or 5 years of your program were asynchronous and for good reason. This could satisfy 3.2. 

Although it is difficult to create a definitive cut-off point, a typical clinical psychology or counselling psychology doctoral program contains no asynchronously instructed courses or nearly zero asynchronously instructed courses. Thus, the standard is high for doctoral title authorization regarding real-time synchronous instruction.