Hi there, still in grad school myself so not an expert by any means. Here are my initial thoughts:
I highly doubt you'll be able to find a CACREP-accredited program that is 100% online, as all psychotherapy-qualifying graduate programs require a certain number of hands-on clinical hours as part of the educational experience. You will then need to accrue additional clinical hours, usually thousands, to be able to acquire your clinical license and practice independently. I believe all of these hours must take place within the U.S. While there are accredited online programs, I just don't see any that would allow you to do your field work outside the country- it's way too much liability and complexity for everyone. (Also check out some of the threads here re: online counseling programs, such as
this one).
I would also look into the laws for remote services as governed by CACREP and individual U.S. states. Telehealth can be really complicated and each state is unique in its requirements. Some require you to only be licensed at the originating site (where the client is located), others only at the distant site (where
you are located). But ultimately, many clinicians agree that it's best practice to be licensed in
both places as well as the place you hold your licensure (if different from your Telehealth site), as well as permission from your licensing board, so you're covering all your bases and practicing legally & within your scope. In that case it would mean getting permission from your state's licensing board, the permission of place you render services from, the U.S. state you are licensed in, and the state your client is located in.
When you google this topic, information can be really mixed and it seems like the answer depends on a lot of variables.
Here is a thread I found googling the topic that is discouraging, and
this one seems a bit more promising. I'm sure there are many more you can find that could give you an idea of how complicated this can get. You would really need to do a lot of research to make sure your program is eligible for licensure, your clinical hours count, and then that you're covering all your bases and being legal & ethical in your practice abroad.
Honestly I don't know if there's a way around being physically in the U.S. while earning your hours for school and for post-graduate licensure, so the easiest solution might be to come back for the time that process takes, get independently licensed, and then get your ducks lined up in a row to move where you want to move and do Telehealth from there. But this is just from what I know and understand about the hard & fast requirements for psychotherapy licensure in the U.S., and maybe someone here will know something I don't.
As far as actual Telehealth requirements go... there's a push now for better portability of therapy licenses across states especially with increased need for care during COVID-19, including some legislature and inter-state agreements that hopefully will take effect in the near future. I believe the
counseling compact would apply to the licensure you're looking to earn. While the future of license portability between states in the U.S. looks promising, it's anyone's guess whether that will translate to any changes in out-of-country portability. I definitely wouldn't count on it though. It may help to do some reading up on some of the many considerations that go into conducting therapy from abroad, such as
this blog post.
That's all I got!
