Michigan LMSW Requirements: Hours, Supervision, Exam and Fees

The LLMSW Comes First

Michigan calls the pre-license credential a "limited master's social worker license" (R 338.2947), commonly abbreviated LLMSW. The full credential is the "licensed master's social worker," defined as an individual licensed to engage in the practice of social work at the master's level (MCL 333.18501(1)(c)), with either a "clinical practice designation" (R 338.2953), a "macro designation" (R 338.2951), or both. This page covers the clinical designation, the one earned through the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of mental, emotional and behavioral disorders (MCL 333.18501(1)(g)(iii)).

Michigan issues no LCSW. The clinical credential in this state is the LMSW with the clinical designation, not a separately named license, a distinction covered in LMSW vs LCSW in Michigan.

Supervised work experience may only be earned while holding the LLMSW (R 338.2949(3)(a)), and only after the applicant's program has verified that every graduation requirement is complete (R 338.2953(b)(i)). Hours worked before the degree, or before the LLMSW issues, do not count. For how the LLMSW and the full LMSW differ beyond the hours, see LLMSW vs LMSW in Michigan.

The 4,000-Hour Requirement

An LLMSW needs at least 4,000 hours of post-degree supervised work experience, accrued over not less than 2 years (R 338.2949(1)(b)). The statute states the floor in equivalent terms: at least 2 years of full-time postmaster's or postdoctoral experience, or the part-time equivalent (MCL 333.18509(1)(b)). There is no separate clinical-hour minimum inside the 4,000 and no indirect-hour cap; Michigan counts "supervised work experience" as a single total.

What qualifies as clinical practice experience is defined by rule as activities that "utilize a specialized and formal interaction between a social worker and an individual, a couple, a family, or a group in which a professional relationship is established," and the list runs from assessment, treatment and psychotherapy to advocacy, forensic practice functions, case management for complex and high-risk cases, and clinical supervision or direction of clinical programs (R 338.2953(b)(iii)).

The setting has to qualify too: "an agency, health facility, institution, or other entity approved by the board", meaning an entity where a master's social worker engages in the practice of social work at the master's level (R 338.2947(3)).

The 16-to-40-Hour Window and the 2,080-Hour Cap

Michigan sets both a floor and a ceiling on the pace of the 4,000 hours. The rule requires "an average of at least 16 hours, but not more than 40 hours, of supervised work experience per week" (R 338.2949(3)(e)). An applicant who reaches 4,000 hours without meeting that average may seek a waiver of the requirement from the board (R 338.2949(3)(e)).

The ceiling runs the other direction: an LLMSW "may not accumulate more than 2,080 hours of supervised work experience during any 12-month period" (R 338.2949(3)(d)).

Supervision: 4 Hours a Month, 2 of Them Individual

Supervisory review has to run at least 4 hours per month, with at least 2 of those hours conducted between the applicant and the supervisor individually, in person or by a live telecommunication method (R 338.2949(3)(c)). Any remaining supervision may be in a group modality, provided at least 50% of it includes individual contact reviewing the applicant's active work and records (R 338.2949(3)(b)).

The supervisor has to be a Michigan-licensed master's social worker who holds the clinical designation for clinical hours, in good standing throughout the period of supervision (R 338.2949(2); R 338.2953(b)(ii)). The rule sets no years-of-practice or supervision-training requirement for a Michigan LMSW supervisor.

Whether that supervisor has to be licensed in Michigan specifically depends on when the LLMSW issued. Limited licenses issued on or after March 31, 2021 must be supervised by a Michigan-licensed LMSW. Limited licenses issued before that date, if they never lapsed, may continue to earn supervised hours under an equivalent out-of-state license.

For the full mechanics, including delivery mode and how supervisory review is defined, see Michigan LLMSW supervision requirements.

The LLMSW Renews No More Than 6 Times

The LLMSW is "valid for 1 year. This license may be renewed no more than 6 times. Relicensure of this limited license is counted the same as renewal" (R 338.2947(4)). The statute states the same ceiling in different words: the license is "renewable for not more than 6 years" (MCL 333.18509(2)).

LARA's guide is direct about what happens at the limit: "There are no provisions in the statute that allow for an extension of the 6 renewals/relicensures." Unlike the counseling track's hardship-extension process, no such request exists on this track.

Verifying the Hours and the Exam

Once the 4,000 hours are complete, each supervisor completes a "Supervisor's Verification of Social Work Experience for Master's Social Worker License" (LARA/BPL-SOCIALWORKMASTERSVERIF, Rev. 10/24). A separate form is required from each supervisor. The applicant completes the first page, including a "Social Work Function" checkbox for clinical or macro, and the supervisor certifies on the second page that the hours were accumulated within the 16-to-40-hour weekly window and the 2,080-hour annual cap, that supervision met the monthly rate above, and the total hours with a start and end date.

LARA's guide describes the next step plainly: "Once you have accrued 4,000 hours ... submit the completed Supervisor's Verification of Social Work Experience for Master's Social Worker License form(s) to bpldata@michigan.gov and please put 'SW Exam Eligibility' in the email subject line."

The clinical designation requires the ASWB Clinical examination; the macro designation instead requires the ASWB Advanced Generalist examination, and LARA's guide confirms both are accepted (R 338.2925; R 338.2951(a); R 338.2953(a)). The passing score is the one ASWB sets.

Adding the Macro Designation Later

An LMSW who holds one designation and wants the other needs "an additional 2,000 hours of post-degree social work experience, accrued over not less than 1 year, in the second specialty designated area with at least 50 hours of supervisory review," plus the second exam (R 338.2949(4)). The second designation's hours and supervision are separate totals from the first 4,000.

Licensed in Another State? Endorsement to the LMSW

The LMSW verification form (LARA/BPL-SOCIALWORKMASTERSVERIF) records an endorsement option on its first page: an applicant certifies either 10 or more years actively licensed at the master's level, or fewer than 10 years with 4,000 supervised hours certified the same way a first-time applicant's hours are certified.

What LARA Publishes for Fees

Fees are current as of the LARA licensing guide revised January 26, 2026, paid by card through MiPLUS. LARA's guide does not list an application or renewal fee for the full LMSW license; no archived guide publishes one.

LMSW Renewal: Every 3 Years, 45 CE Hours

The full LMSW license runs a 3-year term, and each renewal needs 45 continuing education contact hours, with 5 of those hours in ethics, 2 in pain and symptom management, and 2 in human trafficking, at least half of the total completed live or synchronous (R 338.2961; R 338.2963(1)).

That CE load is specific to the LMSW; Michigan sets no continuing education requirement for the LPC or LMFT tracks beyond the implicit bias and human trafficking training every licensee owes. Every renewal also carries the agency-wide implicit bias training that applies across all three Michigan tracks.

Two Deadlines That Apply Whether or Not You're Finished

All licensure requirements must be completed within 2 years after LARA receives the application, or the fees are forfeited and the application is void (MCL 333.16307(3)). That clock runs from the application date, separately from the LLMSW's own 6-renewal limit.

A license that isn't renewed by its expiration date can still be renewed within 60 days after expiration, with a late fee, and practice is allowed during those 60 days. After 60 days the license is "null and void." Relicensure is available within 3 years of expiration; more than 3 years after expiration, the person has to apply as a new applicant and retake any required exam (MCL 333.16201(2) to (4)).

Common Mistakes on the Michigan LMSW Track

A Timeline at 32 Hours a Week

Take an LLMSW logging 32 hours a week, comfortably inside the 16-to-40-hour window. At that pace, 4,000 hours arrives in 125 weeks, about 29 months. That clears the "not less than 2 years" floor (R 338.2949(1)(b)) with room to spare, and it stays under the 2,080-hour annual cap: 32 hours a week across a year comes to 1,664 hours, well inside the ceiling (R 338.2949(3)(d)).

Twenty-nine months of supervisory review at the 4-hour-a-month rate works out to roughly 116 hours. That figure is arithmetic, not a stated total, since the rule sets a monthly rate rather than a cumulative requirement (R 338.2949(3)(c)). Someone working closer to the 40-hour ceiling reaches 4,000 hours faster on paper but runs into the 2,080-hour annual cap, which stretches the hours to about 23 months; the stated floor of not less than 2 years then governs.

Compare the two paces side by side: 32 hours a week clears 4,000 hours in about 29 months without ever touching the 2,080-hour ceiling in any 12-month stretch. 40 hours a week, the top of the weekly window, produces 2,080 hours a year exactly, which means the first year uses the entire annual allowance and the remaining 1,920 hours still need roughly 11 more months, for a total of about 23 months. That is inside the "not less than 2 years" floor, so the 40-hour applicant still waits for the 2-year mark; the 32-hour pace clears both the cap and the floor on its own.

Related Michigan Social Work Guides

FAQ: Michigan LMSW Requirements