What You Should Know about Occupational Licenses for Military Spouses in Nevada

By Chuck N. Baker
Being married to an active duty military individual often means frequent moves. Spouses who earned occupational licenses in one state, such as educators, cosmetologists, police officers, certain medical interns and other professions, often have to apply again when moving to another state. It can involve taking tests again, and investing costly fees once more. Rules vary from state to state and city to city, but some licenses are transferable in different jurisdictions.

Nevada has reciprocity agreements with many states for many occupations. In order to find out which states endorse or at least provide temporary licenses to military spouses, there is an interactive map at www.veterans.gov that can be of help. There is a search function that allows users to search by occupation, specific license, and licensing agencies.

The issue of occupational licensing and reciprocity can be complicated. There are different levels and categories of licensing and there are costs involved. By Googling Employment Reciprocity, there is a 50-state review that gives brief descriptions of which states allow reciprocity for which licenses. States that allow some type of reciprocity are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota and Tennessee.

Nevada has been accepted as part of the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) through the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. SARA is an agreement among member states, districts and territories that establishes comparable national standards for interstate offering of postsecondary distance education courses and programs. It is intended to make it easier for students to take online courses offered by postsecondary institutions based in another state. SARA is overseen by the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA) and administered by four regional education compacts.

Because of a maze of regulations concerning reciprocity, interested individuals with questions are encouraged to contact the Nevada Department of Labor at (702) 486-2650 or (775) 684 – 1890 or email: mail1@lanbor.nv.gov.