Can a professional buy a practice before being licensed in that province?

A professional licensed in one province who wants to buy a practice in another faces two separate questions: who may own the practice, and who may provide its services. Each provincial regulator answers both for its own profession, which is why a buyer licensed elsewhere cannot assume the answer from home. This page looks at timing, not at whether a particular purchase is permitted.

Ownership can be limited to registrants

The College of Opticians of Ontario states that all officers, directors and shareholders of an optician’s professional corporation must be registrants of the College, and that the corporation needs a certificate of authorization. A buyer who is not yet a registrant cannot expect to hold shares in that kind of corporation until the registration is in place.

Offering services can need a licence by itself

The Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia says members offering public practice services must hold a public practice licence, and that a member of another provincial body must meet its extra-provincial licensing and registration requirements to offer those services in the province. A corporation that is itself a public practice firm, or that holds a direct partnership interest in one, also needs an incorporation permit.

Mobility rules help with some licences only

The Bereavement Authority of Ontario says a funeral professional licensed in good standing in another Canadian province is eligible to apply for a personal licence in Ontario under the Agreement on Internal Trade. It lists operator licences for funeral establishments separately from personal licences, so one licence does not answer every question about owning the business.

Ask the regulator before you set the timetable

Because the answer sits with the regulator, the practical order is to ask it first and write the timetable around what it says. Whether the agreement should make licensing a condition of closing, and what happens if approval arrives late, are drafting questions for your lawyer. The related answer on whether a non-professional can own a regulated practice covers the ownership side.