army civilian nursing, license question

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Hi everyone!

I was wondering if anyone could give me advice/information on becoming an army civilian nurse. My husband is in the army, so I am looking into army civilian nursing jobs. Do the same state licensure rules apply to government jobs (since you may move anywhere including overseas in the army). We recently moved to Virginia, and I have only ever worked in Texas. Do I need to apply for a Virginia state license?

-Thanks

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Yes, you do need to have a current license in the state in which you're employed as a DOD civilian RN. The military rules don't apply to the DOD civilian workforce.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
Yes, you do need to have a current license in the state in which you're employed as a DOD civilian RN. The military rules don't apply to the DOD civilian workforce.

Are you sure? Some of the civilians I work with don't have Georgia licenses, I had this conversation with a coworker the other night about why he wasn't getting a Georgia license. Pretty sure you can work in a DOD facility with a license from any state.

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I think I found out the answer! According to the Texas BON, they said as long as you are working in a federal facility (in a state that recognizes the multi-state compact) as a civilian nurse you do not have to apply for a different license. In fact, I called the Virginia BON to double check and they said I did not need to apply for a Virginia state license. However, if I decided to work outside of a federal facility in Virginia or in a state that is not apart of the multi-state pact (even in a federal facility) I would have to apply for that state's license. I hope this is helpful to other people who may be confused like I was!

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Pixie.RN is correct. If you are employed in a federal government facility, all that is required is licensure in any US state or territory.

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That's odd. At my facility, the nurses are required to be licensed by the state in which we're located. I was just talking license renewal with one of my friends.

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The Office of Personnel Management's Nurse Series 0610 page lists the following licensure requirement:

Applicants must have active, current registration as a professional nurse in a State, District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or a territory of the United States. An applicant who has graduated from an approved nursing educational program within the past 12 months may be appointed pending State registration as a professional nurse within 6 months of appointment…
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Huh! Well, I'm left throwing my hands up on this one.

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