Section 73E. Application for registration as a dispensing optician may be made by any citizen who pays a fee to be determined annually by the commissioner of administration under the provision of section three B of chapter seven and furnishes the board with proof that he has received at least three years training and experience in such dispensing under the personal supervision of a licensed dispensing optician, registered physician or optometrist, or that he has completed a regular day course of not less than twelve months or a regular night course of not less than eighteen months nor in any case less than six hundred hours in an approved school or college which maintains educational requirements satisfactory to the board. The board shall thereupon give such applicant a written or practical examination, or both, to determine whether he possesses the ability, knowledge and fitness properly to engage in practice as a dispensing optician. If the applicant passes such examination and has reached the age of eighteen years, he shall be granted a license signed by the chairman and secretary of the board; if he passes such examination and has not reached said age, he shall be granted such license when he is eighteen years of age.

Any applicant who fails to pass such examination shall be entitled to take additional examinations, and for each subsequent examination a fee as determined under the aforementioned provision shall be paid by such applicant.

Any person who shall have been a licensed or registered optician in another state and shall present to the board a copy of his certificate of registration or license, certified or attested under the seal by the board of registration of opticians or similar board in any other state where the requirements for registration are, in the opinion of the board, equivalent to those in this commonwealth, may be licensed as provided herein, without written examination, upon payment of a fee as determined under the aforementioned chapter seven provision; provided, that such state accords similar privilege to those holding licenses issued by this commonwealth; and provided, further, that the applicant shall not have previously failed to pass an examination required in this commonwealth within five years, and that he intends to reside and practice as a dispensing optician in this commonwealth. Every dispensing optician shall conspicuously display his license in his place of business or employment, and shall, whenever so required, exhibit it to the board or its authorized representatives.