State Liaison and Educational Opportunity at the Defense Department has announced that 16 states have adopted laws, or are close to doing so, to make it easier for military spouses to maintain professional licenses as they move from state to state.
The Office has promoted two strategies for mitigating the licensing challenges faced by military spouses. The first -- and favorite -- is for states to permit licenses by endorsement of the last state license. The second option allows a temporary license to expedite the spouse’s employment options.
States that have enacted laws for endorsement of licenses -- or those waiting for a governor’s signature -- are Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, North Carolina, New York and Texas. States that allow temporary licenses are Alaska, Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina and Tennessee. Utah allows nonresident military spouses to use out-of-state licenses, and Virginia allows military spouses who leave the state to re-use the license upon their return.
June 2011
