• Associations
• Licensing
• Certification

Associations 

The major associations for massage professionals in the U.S. are:

Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals (ABMP) - http://www.abmp.com/

American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) - http://www.amtamassage.org/

Licensing

There is no consistency from state to state in the U.S. for whether massage is licensed or what the requirements are for licensing.  A therapist could work for 20 years in one state, then move to another state and be considered unqualified to apply for licensing.  On the converse, there are states with no requirements whatsoever to be allowed to practice; a massage therapist in such a state may have no more training than a weekend workshop before they hang out their shingle.

Here is a page that discusses requirements in different states: http://www.amtamassage.org/about/lawstate.html

In most states with licensing, getting licensed requires graduation from a massage program of a certain number of hours (500 hours is the most common requirement, but some states require as many as 1000 hours), and successfully passing a multiple choice exam.  The two most common exams are provided by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork (NCBTMB http://www.ncbtmb.org/) and the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB http://www.fsmtb.org/). 

Certification 

As licensing is a state by state process, it is not possible for anyone to be a nationally licensed massage therapist.  However, a person could be nationally certified.  This is done by passing the NCETMB (see NCBTMB above) and complying with that organization's ethics and continuing education requirements.