Registered Opticians and Inactive Opticians are required to renew their certificate of registration on or before January 15th on an annual basis.
For specific information regarding the renewal process, please visit the Renewal section of our website.
Intern Opticians are no longer required to renew their certificate of registration on an annual basis. Intern optician certificate remains valid for three years from the date of registration, or until successful completion of national examinations, whichever comes first. To extend your intern optician certificate of registration beyond the expiry date, you must apply to the Registration Committee to be granted a renewal or extension.
All registrants who are eligible for renewal are sent a renewal notice at least 60 days before the renewal deadline. Renewal notices are sent via email to the email address on file with the College.
All Registered Opticians and Inactive Opticians must renew their certificate of registration on an annual basis. Intern Optician certificates are valid for 3 years from the date of registration and do not need to be renewed annually.
There could be a few reasons as to why you did not receive your renewal notice:
If the renewal notice has been redirected into your junk or spam folder, please mark all emails from the College as “safe sender” to ensure you receive important notices in a timely manner in the future.
Please make sure the College has your most up-to-date email address on file. If your email address has changed, please update it on your registrant portal or notify the Registration Team at registration@collegeofopticians.ca.
If you are a Registered Optician or an Inactive Optician and whose certificate of registration has been administratively suspended (i.e. for non-renewal/non-payment of fees), you will not receive a renewal notice. Registrants who have been administratively suspended must first reinstate their certificate of registration before being eligible to renew. For more information see the Reinstatement and Changing from Inactive to Active Practice Policy.
To access your renewal portal:
There could be a couple of reasons as to why you did not receive your updated password:
If the email has been redirected to your junk or spam folder, please mark all emails from the College as “safe” to ensure you receive important notices in a timely manner in the future.
Please make sure the College has your most up-to-date email address on file. If your email address has changed, please update it on your registrant portal or notify the Registration Team at registration@collegeofopticians.ca.
If your email address is updated with the College and the email does not appear in the inbox, junk, or spam folders, please contact the College at (416) 368-3616 ext. 200 for assistance.
For privacy and confidentiality reasons, the College cannot accept credit card information over the phone. When you pay online, your information is processed in a secure manner and no information is stored. To ensure the safety of your information, please make the renewal payment online.
If you meet all the requirements for renewal, you will receive an email approving your renewal. Your wall certificate and badge decals and/or badge will be mailed to you shortly following the approval.
If you complete your online renewal but do not submit all required documents, your renewal will be considered incomplete and will be put on hold until the information/documents are received. It is your responsibility to ensure that any outstanding information/documents are uploaded to the portal before the January 15 deadline.
Opticians whose renewal is still incomplete after the January 15 deadline will receive a notice that their registration will be administratively suspended on February 18, 2025.
If you have decided not to renew, you may still log in to the Registrant Portal and select “I am not renewing my certificate of registration”. You will be asked to indicate your reason for not renewing.
Registrants who do not renew their certificate of registration are administratively suspended following a 30-day notice period and may not practice opticianry.
If you intend to resume practice in the future, please note that under the College’s new Registration Regulation, registrants who are suspended will be automatically revoked after three years of inactivity. Suspension may also impact your ability to maintain ongoing currency once reinstated and/or result in additional fees.
Registrants who are planning to take a break from practice may wish to consider joining the new Inactive Optician class instead. Click here to learn more before deciding on the course of action that is right for you.
Opticians who wish to transfer between the Registered Optician class and the Inactive Optician class must submit a request for class change before renewing their certificate of registration.
Important: Requests for a class change during the renewal period must be made by no later than January 5. Any requests received between January 6 and January 15 will be processed AFTER the renewal deadline of January 15.
To submit your request for class change, please log in to your registration portal, access the renewal portal by selecting ‘Renew your Registration’ on the right side of the screen, select that you wish to change your class of registration, and complete the class change request form.
Please note that class change is not an immediate process and may require up to 10 business days for the College to process your application. Once your application for class change is approved, we will notify you when you may log into the portal and renew in your new class of registration.
If you are taking a leave from practice, it is not mandatory for you to renew your registration. However, if you intend to resume practice in the future, you may wish to transfer to the Inactive Optician class instead of not renewing.
Opticians who do not renew their registration are administratively suspended and will be required to pay a reinstatement fee + the full annual registration fee upon reinstatement, regardless of when in the calendar year they resume practice.
By contrast, the fee for registrants who transfer from the Inactive Optician class to the Registered Optician class is pro-rated based on when in the calendar year the class change takes place.
Click here to learn more.
Your confirmation of payment receipt is emailed to you once your credit card is charged. The purpose of the receipt is to allow you peace of mind that your card was charged the appropriate amount. The confirmation of payment receipt is not an official tax receipt. To obtain an official tax receipt, please select “Print Your Tax Receipt” on the Registered Optician Renewal page, log in using your renewal login information, and print or save your official receipt. Please note you will not be able to access your official tax receipt until your renewal is approved by the College.
If you are retiring from opticianry, you have several options available to you:
1. Transfer your registration to the Inactive Class. If you wish to preserve the option of returning to practice at some point in the future, you may wish to apply to change your class to the Inactive Class of registration.
Opticians who hold an Inactive certificate of registration pay a reduced (1/3) annual fee and must renew their inactive certificate each year. In 2025, the Inactive Class fee is $347.
You can remain inactive as long as you wish and may request that your status is displayed as “Inactive – Retired”. If you decide to return to practice, you will have to meet the requirements in place at the time, which may include completing a competency assessment and/or refresher program.
Inactive Opticians transferring into the Registered Optician class will be charged a pro-rated Registered Optician registration fee.
2. Resign your registration. If you are not planning to return to practice, you may consider resigning from the College and requesting that your status be displayed as “Resigned – Retired” on the public register. Importantly, once you resign, your certificate cannot be reinstated. Should the optician wish to return to practice they would need to re-apply to the College and meet the registration requirements in place at the time.
If you wish to resign your registration, please login to your registrant portal, access the renewal portal by selecting ‘Renew your Registration’ on the right side of the screen, indicate your choice to resign and the reason for resignation, acknowledge the declaration, and the information will be forwarded directly to us.
3. Take no action. If you retired from practice and decided simply not to renew your registration this year, your status on the register will be changed to “administrative suspension”. Then, three years after the date of suspension, your certificate of registration will be automatically revoked, and your status on the register will be updated to “Revoked”.
Once a certificate is revoked, it cannot be reinstated. Should you wish to return to practice in the future, you would need to re-apply to the College and meet the registration requirements in place at the time.
If you are planning to leave Ontario or Canada, you have several options with respect to your registration:
1. Transfer your registration to the Inactive Class. If you are planning to leave Ontario or Canada but wish to maintain your registration with the College, you may choose to transfer into the Inactive Optician class. This option will allow you to return to active practice in Ontario if/when you choose to do so. To maintain the inactive certificate of registration, you will have to renew it each year. The fee for the inactive class is set at 1/3 of the full registration fee. In 2025, the Inactive Class fee is $347.
2. Allow your Ontario registration to expire. If you choose not to take any action, your certificate of registration will be administratively suspended and automatically revoked three years after the suspension date. Your status will be displayed on the public register as “Revoked”.
Once your certificate is revoked, you will no longer be eligible to reinstate your registration. If you wish to resume practice in Ontario in the future, you will need to re-apply for registration and meet the entry-to-practice requirements in place at the time. If, at the time of your application, you are an optician in good standing who is practising in another Canadian province, you may be eligible to apply for registration in Ontario as a Labour Mobility Applicant. For more information see the Labour Mobility Policy.
3. Resign your registration. If you are not planning to practise in Ontario in the future, you may opt to resign your certificate of registration. Your status will be displayed on the public register as “Resigned”.
Once resigned, you will no longer be eligible to reinstate your registration. If you wish to resume practice in Ontario in the future, you will need to re-apply for registration and meet the entry-to-practice requirements in place at the time. If, at the time of your application, you are an optician in good standing who is practising in another Canadian province, you may be eligible to apply for registration in Ontario as a Labour Mobility Applicant. For more information see the Labour Mobility Policy.
If you wish to resign your registration, please log in to your registrant portal, access the renewal portal by selecting ‘Renew your Registration’ on the right side of the screen, indicate your choice to resign and the reason for resignation, acknowledge the declaration and the information will be forwarded directly to us.
4. License holders in other Canadian jurisdictions. If you are planning to transfer your registration to another Canadian province, you may be required to maintain your Registered Optician status in Ontario in good standing until the other province has approved your application for registration. To request a Letter of Standing to submit with your application, click here.
Effective July 1, 2024, Registered Opticians must demonstrate, on an ongoing basis, that their skills and knowledge are “current”, e.g. up to date, based on recent practice experience. You will be required to declare your practice hours every year at annual renewal. Those who have engaged in at least 500 practice hours within the previous three-year period will be considered current.
During this renewal cycle, Registered Opticians will be asked to declare their practice hours for 2024 for the purpose of information gathering only. The actual requirement to demonstrate currency hours will only start to be counted in 2025 onward.
Detailed information about the currency requirements may be found here.
Once you have completed your renewal, please allow up to 48 hours for your tax receipt to become available. To access your receipt, please login to the Registrant Portal, click the Documents tab, and select the year in which you made your payment.
If you have legally changed your name, you are required to update your information with the College and request a new wall certificate and an identification badge. Please contact the College at registration@collegeofopticians.ca and provide the following information:
Please note that requesting a name change is not part of the renewal process.
To practise as a Registered Optician, you are required to have Professional Liability Insurance coverage in the amount of no less than $1,000,000.
To assist you in selecting the appropriate option for your circumstances when you are updating your professional liability insurance, please review the following information:
“Personal Liability Insurance” If you have purchased professional liability insurance that does not specify an employer, which covers you regardless of where you are working, please select “personal” as your insurance type.
“Business Liability Insurance” If your place of employment has provided you with professional liability insurance, please select “business” as your insurance type. Please note: If your employer provides your insurance, and you are employed by multiple employers, you are required to submit proof of insurance for each employer. If you are insured under a group plan through your employer, your certificate is no longer required to have your name on it.
To watch an instructional video on how to upload your proof of insurance, please click here.
Please note: you must provide proof of insurance coverage for 2025. Insurance certificates that expire on or before December 31, 2024 will not be accepted.
If you wish to renew your Certificate of Registration but do not have Professional Liability Insurance at the moment, you may sign an undertaking not to practise until proof of your Professional Liability Insurance is submitted to the College. Your status on the public register will be displayed as “Not entitled to practise”.
Please bear in mind that that this is a short-term option intended for opticians who are temporarily unemployed or in the process of changing jobs and do not have insurance coverage. If you do not intend to practise for an extended period of time, consider joining the Inactive Class of registration instead.
If your photo needs to be updated, you will see a message on the main page of your registrant portal prompting you to upload a new photo. To meet our requirements, please use a passport photo that:
To watch an instructional video on how to upload a photo, please click here. If you prefer to submit a hard-copy photo, it must contain your signature on the back.
You can update your immigration status on the renewal portal. Please note you will be required to upload your new document to avoid having your renewal placed on hold.
Please click here for the list of acceptable documents.
The acceptable file formats are .pdf, .jpeg, .doc, .docx.
The maximum upload file size is 980 kilobytes.
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90 Adelaide Street W., Suite 300, Toronto, ON M5H 3V9
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© 2024 College of Opticians of Ontario
The College of Opticians of Ontario
90 Adelaide Street W., Suite 300, Toronto, ON M5H 3V9
Find an Optician Make a Complaint
Site Map | Privacy Policy | Accessibility |
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© 2024 College of Opticians of Ontario
