I see, how does it work in the US? how many departments of educations you have? I thought there was one in each state. I didn't know about a higher department of education. So the accreditation they claim in Florida has zero value.
I. Degree granting
1. PhDs are granted by Universities.
2. There are some PsyDs that are granted by specialized schools.
II. Federal Accreditation of the school.
1. The federal Dept of Education accredits some schools.
a. There are some screwball schools that are not accredited. These are often religious places, because America.
b.
2. Higher education is typically funded by loans and grants that are given out by the federal government.
3. The federal government will not provide funding for places that are not accredited by the DoE.
III. State Accreditation
1. Universities have banded together into approximately 5 regional groups.
2. These groups have NOTHING to do with the government.
3. The regional groups basically get together and agree that university X is "real", while Trump University is not.
4. The regional groups have no real power.
5. Florida is a weird state, that accredits things that no one else does. If you watched the Joe Exotic documentary, you will notice the drug dealer guy is licensed to own a ton of tigers.... because Florida.
IV. APA Accreditation
1. The APA accredits programs.
2. Most state license boards require you to complete an APA approved program, or something identical to an APA program.
3. Because of those laws, it can be risky to go to a non APA approved program.
4. APA requires a specific curriculum, then a minimum of 2 years of part time practice that is supervised by a licensed psychologist (i.e., practica), followed by a formal year long, full time supervised internship that is administered through a formal program.
5. In your final year of training, students apply to that year long internship via a national matching service. It HAS to be that service. Students' applications are reviewed by various training locations, then are interviewed, then they rank which place they prefer. After all of that is done, there is a single day where students are notified about where they are going. It is almost always in another location.
V. Licensing/Laws
1. After you complete a program that meets the legal requirements, you have to:
a. take a national test
b. complete another year long, supervised, full time job/post doc
c. complete an application to practice, in your specific state
d. potentially complete an open book test on laws
e. potentially complete an oral examination
The above all vary by state.
V. Your Question (assuming you are attempting to immigrate)
1. If you are attempting to immigrate, this plan will not be sufficient. If you are from a non-English or Spanish speaking location, it might be much more difficult.
2. The various states' psychology licensing boards will expect you to complete the two years of supervised work inside the USA, followed by another year of supervised work in the USA that HAS to be administered by the matching service.
3. So, there is ONE program that does distance education that would meet your standards (i.e., Fielding University). It is not well regarded by most, and has many problems.
4. There are several other schools that will not lead to you being able to work as a psychologist. Beware of statements like, "...may be able to get licensed".
5. Assuming you went to that school, you would still need to complete 2 years of part time practica. Your supervisor would have to be licensed in the USA for that to work. I don't know how you would do that by flying in every now and then.
6. You would also need to complete the year long internship, and a year long post doc. Again, I don't know how that meets your requirements for flying in every now and then.
7. IIRC, there would likely be visa issues. Students are paid for internship and post doc, which I assume affects student visa status. But maybe not.
