FAQ

Individuals who are not registered with COBC cannot use protected titles like “optician,” “dispensing optician,” or “contact lens fitter,” or any variation or translation of those titles (e.g., “optical dispenser,” “opticien”). Although opticians perform the unrestricted activity of dispensing eyeglasses, an individual cannot claim to be an optician simply because they dispense eyeglasses. Being an optician requires meeting all of the requirements under the Health Professions Act, the College Bylaws, and COBC’s Standards of Practice—including maintaining your skills and knowledge through COBC’s mandatory Continuing Competency Program. These regulations and standards are set to ensure that the public receives a consistent level of care from all opticians. This level of care cannot be guaranteed by an unlicensed individual selling eyeglasses.

According to the Health Professions Act, the role of a regulatory college is to ensure public safety—not to provide a service to its registrants. In other words, COBC serves the interests of the BC public rather than the interests of opticians. Our work is focused on ensuring that opticians provide safe and competent healthcare services and that there is accountability if an optician’s practice puts a member of the public at risk.
With that being said, there are also many benefits to being registered with COBC. Using the title of “optician” and hanging your Certificate(s) of Registration in your practice environment signal to the public that you have achieved a certain level of education, you’ve passed a licensing exam, you maintain your skills and knowledge through continuing education, and you are committed to maintaining high standards of care. Depending on your registration category, you may be authorized to perform restricted activities. You may also be able to offer direct billing to your clients.
Additional benefits are available to opticians who register with the Opticians Association of Canada (OAC)—the profession association for opticians across the country. While registration with COBC is mandatory, membership with the OAC is optional. The OAC advocates on behalf of opticians.
Learn more about the relationship between COBC and the OAChere.

To become an optician, you must complete an accredited training program or the PLAR process, then pass the licensing exam(s) and submit all of the documentation detailed in our Supplemental Package for Registration.

Yes. COBC uses the Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) process to ensure that applicants who did not complete an accredited Canadian education program have the same skills and knowledge as those who did. Learn more about this process here.

For your own protection, you must hold professional liability insurance for a minimum of $1,000,000 per occurrence/claim at all times as a practicing optician. Insurance is not required for non-practicing registrants.

COBC’s annual licence renewal period runs from mid-February through March 31 each year. All opticians in BC must renew their licensure during this time, regardless of the date of their initial registration. Renewal notices are sent by email throughout February and March.

Learn more about suspension and reinstatement here.

You can go to your local public library, ask a friend or family member, or call COBC for assistance. You may also be able to complete the renewal process using a mobile device (e.g., a cell phone); however, our system is not optimized for mobile, so the process may be less intuitive and the text very small.

Yes. COBC ensures the security of your private information, including your credit card number. Our payment system does not store or track credit card information, nor is this information visible to staff. Personal information is kept in a secure, internal, password-protected database, which is not hosted online.

Yes. If your employer is paying your fees, they will need to select one of the payment options listed in the online renewal application. They can make a credit card payment by entering their credit card information directly into the applicable fields within the application, or they can send an e-Transfer on your behalf; however, they must do so within 48 hours of your renewal application being submitted. (They must also include your name and licence number in the “memo” section of the e-Transfer, to ensure COBC can match the payment to the registrant.)

Receipts can be downloaded through your online account. You can expect your renewal receipt to become available within 2–3 business days of your payment being processed.

COBC’s current fee schedule can be found here. 

The CCP is the mandatory continuing education program administered by COBC, which must be completed by all registrants, whether they are practicing or non-practicing. It is a quality assurance tool that supports registrants in their professional development, to ensure they maintain a consistently high level of practice throughout their careers. The program includes a method of competency assessment and enables registrants to enhance their competence within the context of their practice. It was launched in 2018, replacing the credits-based program.

Registrants can work on the CCP at their own pace, over the course of a three-year period. Each registrant is expected to complete their program requirements by the end of their three-year period. The cycle then begins again, with the same requirements to be completed over the next three-year period.

No. While the CCP still requires registrants to complete continuing education activities, the requirements are no longer credits-based, so the collection and submission of credits is not required. Instead, the program is competency-based; this means that registrants can independently choose learning activities that are relevant to the goals they are trying to achieve. These activities are tracked in their Online Learning Plan.

A detailed information guide, step-by-step instruction manuals with screenshots, and a full walkthrough video have all been created to assist registrants with the program. These and other program materials can be found on our Guides & Tools page, along with a much more expansive and detailed Frequently Asked Questions document, specific to the CCP.