Puerto Rico Technician Requirements

You must hold a pharmacy technician certificate issued by the Puerto Rico Pharmacy Examining Board and registered with the Office for the Regulation and Certification of Health Professionals before working as a pharmacy technician. Note that you cannot perform regular technician duties while waiting for the certificate. Puerto Rico has two tiers : pharmacy technician intern and fully certified pharmacy technician.

Before completing practical training in a pharmacy, you must obtain a pharmacy technician intern registration certificate. Interns may perform authorized training activities under the direct and immediate supervision of an approved pharmacist preceptor but may not work independently as pharmacy technicians.

You must be at least 18 years old to obtain a pharmacy technician certificate.

You must have completed high school diploma, GED, or equivalent.

You must complete a pharmacy technician course at an accredited or recognized educational institution in Puerto Rico, elsewhere in the United States, or through the United States Armed Forces. An out-of-territory program must meet Puerto Rico’s minimum educational requirements.

You must complete at least 1,000 hours of internship training in a pharmacy under the direct supervision of an approved pharmacist preceptor. The internship must be authorized, and hours completed before obtaining the required intern registration may not be accepted.

You must pass Puerto Rico’s pharmacy technician licensing examination, commonly called the reválida. The examination covers pharmaceutical mathematics, pharmacotherapy, technical and administrative pharmacy practice, and Puerto Rico pharmacy law.

PTCB or NHA certification is not a substitute for Puerto Rico certification. Puerto Rico law allows the Pharmacy Examining Board to offer a national pharmacy technician examination as part of its examination process, but an applicant using that option must also pass Puerto Rico’s pharmacy-law examination and satisfy the education and internship requirements.

Applicants must submit a current certificate showing no criminal record. Note that renewal applicants must provide a Puerto Rico criminal-record certificate—and one from their place of residence if they live outside Puerto Rico—issued within the preceding 30 days.

Internship and reválida applications use forms provided on the Puerto Rico Department of Health’s Junta Examinadora de Farmacia webpage. After qualification, the permanent certificate must be registered with the Office for the Regulation and Certification of Health Professionals.

Online registration, recertification, and license-verification services are available through the Portal Servicios en Línea – ORCPS | JLDM. Applicants upload the required documents and pay the requisite registration fee.

Puerto Rico’s Pharmacy Act lists a $10 internship-authorization fee, a $50 pharmacy technician examination-application fee, and a $50 fee for the pharmacy technician certificate. Applicants should confirm the amount shown on the current application because the Pharmacy Examining Board may revise fees through regulation.

Pharmacy technician certificates must be recertified every three years. Renewal requires completion of the applicable continuing-education requirements, submission of the required documents, and payment of the renewal fee.

The Puerto Rico Department of Health’s current pharmacy technician renewal sheet lists a $75 recertification fee. This replaces the older $25 amount shown in the original statutory fee schedule for current renewal applications.

Under Puerto Rico Act 123-2023, which amended the Puerto Rico Pharmacy Act, qualified pharmacy technicians may administer vaccines recommended by the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to designated populations under the direct supervision of a pharmacist authorized to vaccinate. Technicians must obtain a separate vaccination certificate, complete six hours of ACPE-accredited vaccine-administration training, and maintain current basic CPR certification. The current requirements are further implemented through Pharmacy Examining Board Resolution FAR-2025-186.