July 31, 2024, Rebecca Biggio, PHD, Author and Active Duty Military Spouse

Active-Duty Military Spouses: Does Your Career Depend on
State Certification or Licensure?

Are you an active-duty military spouse whose career depends on a certification or license to work in your field?

Are you PCSing to a new state? The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) includes a new provision, as of January 2023, to help military spouses transfer professional licenses and certifications when relocating due to PCS orders. This provision also applies to servicemembers.

The current SCRA Professional License Portability Provision follows a call issued by then-First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden in 2011, in which they challenged all 50 state governors to take action to help ease the burden of state licensing regulations for military families. You can read a 2016 White House press release describing the history of the Joining Forces initiative and its work to simplify state licensing requirements for military spouses here:
?FACT SHEET: First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden Announce that All 50 States Have Taken Action On Military Spouse Licensing.

How Do I access the SCRA Professional Licensure Portability Provision?
If you are an active-duty military spouse relocating to a different US state as a result of PCS orders, follow these steps to see if your certification/license is covered under the portability provision:

1. Check to see if your license is already covered under an existing portability compact.
If there is already an interstate compact that applies to your situation, you don’t need to worry about the SCRA portability provision. You can transfer your license under the existing compact. The Defense-State Liaison Office: List of Occupational Licensure Compacts provides a list of existing compacts by occupation as well as details about member states and multistate licenses.

Compacts currently exist for nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, emergency medical services providers, psychologists and counselors, audiologists and speech-language pathologists, teachers, physicians, massage therapists, cosmetologists, dentists and dental hygienists, and social workers. Compacts for school psychologists and dietetic nutritionists are expected in 2024. Note that compacts are limited to member states.

2. If your occupation/location is not yet covered by an existing interstate compact, reach out to your new jurisdiction’s licensing authority for your occupation and provide them with a copy of your current license or certification and your PCS orders.

MYSECO provides a good overview of the process here: Relocating? What To Know About the Federal Licensing Portability Provision.

3. Make sure you are eligible. The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division provides a document entitled Portability of Professional Licenses and Certificates for Servicemembers and Their Spouses which includes a list of the five eligibility requirements for the SCRA License Portability Provision. You must:

This document also provides links to legal assistance and for reporting violations of the SCRA portability provision to the civil rights division of the Department of Justice.

Be Proactive! Plan ahead. When a certification or license is required for your career, research state requirements prior to a PCS so you know what is required in your next state.

CareerOneStop has created a finder tool to determine which occupations require licenses in which states: https://www.careeronestop.org/toolkit/training/find-licenses.aspx. Some states require licenses in certain fields, while others do not.

Here is a list of occupations that MAY require a license, compiled from multiple web searches:

Actuary
Anesthesiology assistant
Architect
Auctioneer
Barber
Bus driver
Certified public accountant
Cosmetologist
Dental hygienist
Electrician
Engineer
General contractor
Financial analyst
Funeral attendant
Geologist
Hedge fund manager
Home inspector
Insurance agent
Interior designer
Investment banker
Landscape architect
Land surveyor
Lawyer
Licensed professional counselor
Nurse
Nutritionist
Pharmacist
Physical therapist
Physician
Plumber
Private investigator
Psychologist
Real estate broker
Residential painting contractor
Speech-language pathologist
School counselor
Social worker
Stockbroker
Surveyor
Talent agent
Teacher
Truck Driver
Veterinarian

Rebecca Biggio, PHD, Active-Duty Military Spouse, Author of this article.
Rebecca Skidmore Biggio is a professional writer, editor, and educator joining the Ten Steps to a Federal Job® Training Certification Program as Writer/Editor/Researcher and Credentialing Manager. Rebecca brings more than 15 years of experience in research and writing, classroom instruction, curriculum design, and community education to Resume Place’s Government Training Programs. She has also contributed her developmental and copyediting skills to Kathryn’s project of re-envisioning her Ten Steps to a Federal Job® Coach and Trainer’s Guide and The Stars Are Lined Up for Military Spouses, 2nd ed. Rebecca completed the Kirkpatrick Four Levels® Evaluation Certification Program, Bronze level, in February of 2024, and is now a Kirkpatrick Certified Professional.

If you want to hire a consultant to review your resume, give you advice on improving the content, accomplishments and keywords, we provide this at Resume Place.

$210 one hour consultation

Purchase $210 one hour consultation here

If you are an employment specialist or career counselor, you would like our Certified Federal Job Search Trainer® / Certified Federal Career Coach® program.

We teach our Ten Steps to a Federal Job® trainers and coaches on writing CCAR accomplishments for Federal Resume Writing, Interview Preparation and Annual Self-Assessments.

Information about the CFJST / CFCC program is here.