how to go about getting your cali license for traveling?

[amedRN]

SO I want to do traveling and I know I want to end up in California for at least one of my assignments, but does that mean I should apply for a license there now?

And I've been to the California BON website but I feel like it's all so overwhelming. If I'm in Arizona, is it faster to just go to California to do the fingerprinting? I'm really not that far from San Diego so I could just go there and do it, and then you submit online ?

Or do people actually drive to Sacramento and give their application in person to speed things up?

Any advice from anyone who has gotten their cali license would be much appreciated :)

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

I have heard that the process is very long, so however you approach it, start early! Usually if you can get to the actual state to do fingerprinting, that is helpful depending on whether they accept electronic prints by vendors or require actual cards from outside states. Your plan sounds like a good one! A friend of mine waited months and months on her Cali license when she was moving from Georgia, and it finally came through the day before her job was to start.

[NedRN]

Yes, far faster to get fingerprinted while on the way to the beach in San Diego. And yes, better to get the license in advance. Most hospitals will not even let agencies submit travelers who are not licensed there yet because of the dangers of delay.

[Argo]

Start 4 to 6 months out. If you can go to Sacramento it will be quite a bit faster but doing the livescan in San Diego will help shave weeks off of the process. Make sure you send out for transcripts in advance too as some schools take their sweet time. If you plan to travel in the next year I would just start now.