Mission: Family: Effort to ease spouses’ licensing woes gaining steam - Navy Community, Navy Spouse and Family Resources - Navy Times

Mission: Family: Effort to ease spouses’ licensing woes gaining steam

Nurses, lawyers, teachers, civil engineers, cosmetologists, physical therapists and other professionals who are military spouses have a common problem: State licensing requirements impede their ability to get a job when they move from state to state.

Defense Department state liaison officials and others, including the National Military Family Association, are plugging away at this issue, working with states to make them aware of the challenges military spouses face in maintaining careers.

“The constant fees and testing are enough to drive spouses out of the workforce due to sheer frustration alone, regardless of the financial toll,” one Army spouse, a teacher, wrote on a DoD Facebook forum about the licensing issue. More than 100 spouses wrote in to describe their challenges.

To date, 16 states have adopted laws, or are about to do so, to ease the pressure on spouses when they transfer.

There are two ways states are doing this that are favored by defense officials and family advocates:

• Some states permit licenses by endorsing the last state license, which is the option favored by DoD and the NMFA. The states that have enacted laws for endorsement of licenses, or are waiting for a governor’s signature, are Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, New York, North Carolina and Texas.

• The second option is to allow temporary licenses. Alaska, Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina and Tennessee have this provision, which can be helpful if a spouse must complete state requirements or pass a state exam.

In addition, Utah allows nonresident military spouses to use out-of-state licenses, and Virginia allows military spouses who leave the state to use their license when they return.

NMFA provided testimony and anecdotal information from military spouses in helping seven states expand their licensing opportunities this year. It is encouraging spouses to share their experiences as the association helps expand professional license opportunities in other states.

You can go to the association’s Facebook page, or send comments by email at info@militaryfamily.org. Include information about your career field, the amount of time it takes to get a professional license in a new state, the cost to obtain a license in the new state and the cost to maintain a license in a previous state. If you were unable to obtain a new license, explain why and in which state.

Your advocates are chipping away at this issue state by state. Help them by providing some ammunition!

Karen Jowers is the wife of a military retiree. Email her at kjowers@militarytimes.com.