Licence renewal process
The annual licence renewal process is an important part of the College’s work as the regulator of the veterinary profession in Ontario. Through the renewal process, licensed members provide the College with information about their places of employment, employment functions and areas of practice.
As well as maintaining the Public Register, the licence renewal process helps to identify trends and policy development areas. All licensed members are obligated to submit information and payment for licensure no later than November 30th each year. The College uses an online licence renewal form.
Licence renewal 2025
As a licensed member of the College, you must complete the annual licence process each year to continue practising as a veterinarian in Ontario. Renewing your licence involves updating information about your place(s) of employment, employment function, areas of practice, answering declaration questions and paying an annual fee. You are required to report the number of Continuing Professional Development hours that you complete each year, and this information is collected during the licence renewal process.
The online licence renewal system will open on Wednesday, October 16, 2024 and will remain open until the deadline for submission on Saturday, November 30, 2024 at 11:59 pm EST. Licence renewal notification letters are mailed to licensed members in early October.
Licensed members who fail to complete the annual renewal and pay the renewal fee by November 30th will receive a letter indicating that the College has not yet received their licence renewal form and payment. Those licensed members will have two months to complete the renewal process and a late fee of $200 will be added to their annual licence fee.
Late renewals will be accepted up to Monday February 10, 2025 at 11:59 p.m., after which the licences of those who have not renewed their licences will be cancelled as of Tuesday February 11, 2025. A record of this cancellation will appear on the Public Register. Having your licence cancelled will have an impact on your Accreditation Certificate and Professional Corporation Certificate of Authorization.
Enhanced Security
The College takes its responsibility to protect your personal information seriously. Cybersecurity best practices continue to evolve. The current standard for data protection involves multifactor authentication at login and therefore we have taken steps to add this process in addition to our existing security features.
When you log into the portal you will need to answer three previously set security questions. If the answers provided do not match our records, your account will be locked after three attempts. You will then be directed to contact the College for further assistance.
Frequently Asked Questions
The information provided on your annual licence renewal form is your official report to the College. Once it has been submitted, you can view your 2023-2024 CPD hours and activities in the CPD Activity Log, but you can no longer make changes or additions. You may retroactively log activities in the CPD Activity Log for the 2023-2024 reporting period (November 1, 2023 to October 31, 2024) until you submit your annual licence renewal form.
If your CPD question was not answered here, please email qualityassurance@cvo.org.
A block of your total hours for the year can be entered for a specific activity in the CPD Activity Log. Simply enter the total number of CPD hours accumulated for the specified activity and select Oct 31 or today’s date (if before Oct 31).
If your CPD question was not answered here, please email qualityassurance@cvo.org.
The College recommends that all licensed veterinarians complete 150 hours of CPD over a three-year period. As part of your licence renewal, you are required to report the number of CPD hours you completed during the preceding 12-month period ending on the 31st day of October.
If your CPD question was not answered here, please email qualityassurance@cvo.org
The CPD Activity Log is a tool provided by the College to assist veterinarians with logging their continuing professional development activities throughout the year. It is not a requirement that you use the CPD Activity Log to track your activities; however, reporting CPD hours is a mandatory component of annual licence renewal.
If you used the CPD Activity Log to track your CPD throughout the year, your total hours for all specific activities will be pre-populated on the licence renewal form. To log additional hours for specific activities, you will need to return to the CPD Activity Log to finish logging your activities before submitting your renewal.
If you choose not to use the CPD Activity Log, simply enter the total number of hours you wish to report for any unspecified activities on the annual licence renewal form.
If your CPD question was not answered here, please email qualityassurance@cvo.org
Your username to access the Professional Practice Portal is your licence number. If you are not sure what your licence number is, please contact licensure@cvo.org.
Your password is confidential, and the College does not have access to this information. If you are unsure of your password, click ‘Forgot Password’ on the Professional Practice Portal login screen. You will be prompted to provide your email address and you will then be sent an email with a link to reset your password.
Once you are logged in, click 2025 licence renewal button.
You are welcomed to the Licence Renewal form and provided instructions on how to renew your licence, resign from the College or resign from the College and apply for Emeritus standing.
If you are renewing your licence, click the next button.
Resignation
It is important to let us know if you intend to resign in order to avoid licence cancellation. If you are not planning to practise veterinary medicine or use the title of veterinarian in Ontario, you should resign your licence with the College. You need to complete and submit the Licence Resignation Form. You cannot resign your licence in the Professional Practice Portal. If you choose to resign your licence and re-apply for licensure in the future, you will need to meet the licensure requirements in place at the time of your re-application.
Resignation and application for Emeritus Standing
If you are not planning to practise veterinary medicine or use the title of veterinarian in Ontario and have been a registered member in good standing of the OVA/CVO continuously for 25 years or more, you may resign your licence and apply for Emeritus Standing with the College. You need to complete and submit Part 1 and Part 2 of the Licence Resignation Form. You cannot resign and apply for Emeritus Standing in the Professional Practice Portal.
Once your application for Emeritus Standing has been received by the College, you will receive a confirmation email. Applications for Emeritus Standing are processed in January. Once an application has been approved, the Emeritus certificate is sent in the mail.
Name Changes
To protect the integrity of College data, licensees are unable to change their name online. To change the name listed on the public register, you need to complete and submit the Application for a Name Change.
Home address
If your home address has changed, please make the necessary updates.
Email Address
The College will send you confidential information related to your College member record via this email address. To prevent unauthorized access to your online profile with the College, the email address on file with the College should be a personal address, and not one that is shared with someone else.
Languages
Please indicate all languages in which you are currently capable of providing veterinary services in. This information is provided to members of the public who are seeking veterinary care in a specific language.
Practice Information
Veterinarians must provide information for all locations where they practise veterinary medicine or are employed in a professional activity of any kind (clinical, regulatory, educational, research, industry, consulting and administrative practice). It is not restricted to work in a hospital or clinic.
All licensed veterinarians must complete this section. Here’s how:
Employed as a veterinarian
Enter information about all your current places of practice. You must designate one of your employers to be your primary place of practice address to be displayed on the Public Register.
NOT currently employed as a veterinarian
Update your places of practice information. Select the ‘I am not currently practising veterinary medicine’ option. You must maintain contact information on the public register, you can designate your home address, alternate address or email address to be displayed on the Public Register.
Locum veterinarian
Update your places of practice. You can designate one of the accredited facilities at which you regularly practise as a locum to be your primary practice; or if you choose not to select any single practice as ‘primary’, you may select ‘Locum - No primary practice’ under this section. You can designate your home address, alternate address or email address to be displayed on the Public Register.
Updating your practice information
If you are no longer practicing at one of your practice locations, click ‘Edit’. You must enter an end date for your position at the practice and click ‘Update Practice’.
If you are working at a new practice or for a new employer that is not currently on your file, click ‘Add New Practice’. Choose the type of practice that you are working at and complete all required fields.
If you have changed positions at any of your listed practices, click ‘Edit’. You must enter an end date for the listed position. Then select ‘add new practice’. Enter the required information and click ‘Add Practice’.
If your position has changed to an owner or director at an accredited facility and you have not already notified the College, email accreditation@cvo.org.
Indicate the following information:
- your primary practice employer type;
- the main function of the position held at your primary place of employment;
- the patient types that you serve at your primary practice. Only include patient types that comprise 10% or more of your practice; and
- the areas of veterinary medicine in which you have a special focus, conduct research, or have additional education.
If you have indicated in the practice information section that you are not currently practising veterinary medicine the option to enter professional activities will not be available.
Mailing Preference
Your preference to receive College mail at your primary practice or home address has been prepopulated. If your selection has changed, please indicate your new preference.
Voting Preference
Licensed members who live and/or work in Ontario elect the 13 veterinarians that sit on Council to represent the public interest. Indicate whether your preferred electoral district is your home or work address.
Veterinarians indicating an employer type of the University of Guelph or Federal Government will have their voting preference populated with the appropriate electoral district.
Veterinarians who either live or work outside of Ontario must select the option that falls within Ontario.
Veterinarians who live and work outside of Ontario are not permitted to vote in elections.
Specialty Board Certification
If you have become a board certified specialist , you will need to submit proof of your specialty board certification to the College in one of the following ways to have this designation added to your record.
- Provide a copy of the specialty certification only if your specialty certification information can also be found on the specialty organization’s website
- Provide the original specialty certification or a notarized copy.
- Have the specialty organization send the College a letter that contains information about the specialty certification that you have achieved.
Report hours for any CPD activities you completed between November 1, 2023 and October 31, 2024. You may choose to report hours for unspecified activities in the field provided, log specific activities using the CPD Activity Log, or both.
If you used the CPD Activity Log to track your CPD throughout the year, your total hours for all specific activities will be pre-populated on the licence renewal form. To log additional hours for specific activities, you will need to return to the CPD Activity Log to finish logging your activities before submitting your renewal.
If you choose not to use the CPD Activity Log, simply enter the total number of hours you wish to report for unspecified activities in the field provided on the licence renewal form.
The information provided on your annual licence renewal form is your official report to the College. Once it has been submitted, you can view your 2023-2024 CPD hours and activities in the CPD Activity Log, but you can no longer make changes or additions.
Licensed members are asked a set of questions so that current suitability to practise can be confirmed. The College must ensure that the member’s conduct and health will not put the public at risk.
You are required to make declarations prior to being able to renew your licence. If you provide false or misleading information on your renewal form it can be viewed as professional misconduct. Please review the questions carefully. Your licence cannot be renewed without completing these declarations.
If you answer “yes” to any of the questions, the College will follow up and ask for additional information if necessary.
You are not required to report any ongoing College complaint or discipline matters in this section.Throughout the year, if any of your answers to the Professional Conduct questions change, the College’s By-Laws require you to notify the College within 30 days of the change.
Committee Interests
If you are interested in assisting the College, please indicate in what capacity: Registration Committee, Quality Assurance Committee, Discipline Committee, Complaints Committee, Accreditation Committee, Providing Independent Opinions, Policy Related Task Forces. This is optional. You will only be contacted if there is an opening for the purpose that you have designated. The College does not recruit for all Committees every year.
Declaration
The completion of your licence renewal form is a formal submission of your personal information to the College. You are required to check off a declaration stating that you are the licensed member submitting the form and that the information provided is true and correct. This activity cannot be delegated to others.
General, Restricted, Academic, Postgraduate & Resident, Public Service licence fee is $1085.00 + HST
Educational licence fee is $250.00 + HST
We only accept Visa and Mastercard credit card payments. Visa/Debit cards can be used but only under the Visa payment option and cannot be used as a normal debit payment.
After completing the online renewal, you will see a confirmation on screen, and you will receive a confirmation email that verifies that you have renewed your licence.
Once renewal has been completed, you will be able to access your official licence receipt and an updated electronic version of your wallet card in the Professional Practice Portal.
If the error message is about your internet service, and it is not restored within a few minutes, you may need to contact your internet service provider.
If the error indicates that information is missing, look for fields with an alert explaining that an answer is required before you will be able to move on.
If the error happens when you are providing payment, contact the payment processor you are using (Visa or MasterCard) to ask for customer service regarding your account.
If the error message includes codes or programming language that you do not understand, please contact the College.
A screen shot will assist us in determining what the problem is. To take a screen shot and paste it into the body of an email to send to the College, please follow these instructions:
- Press the “Print Screen” (or Prt Sc) key on your keyboard.
- Go into your email account and start a new email message.
- Paste the screen shot into the body of the email message by holding down the Ctrl key and pressing the letter V at the same time; Or by right clicking your mouse and selecting ‘Paste’.
- Send the picture and a description of the issue you are encountering to licensure@cvo.org and a Licence Renewal Coach will provide assistance. Please include as much information as possible. Please note the device (phone, laptop, etc.) and browser you were using. Information about steps leading up to the error message is also very helpful to help us investigate the issue.