Military Spouse RN Multi-State Privileges... Confusion

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Hello,

I'm married to an active duty military person, my current multi-state license is in Texas, our legal home of record is Texas, and we will be moving to a non-compact state in less than a year.

I'm extremely confused on what to do with my license. I renewed my license for the first time in Texas, and thinking ahead for the next time I will have to renew (will be in a non-compact state), I decided to pay close attention to the options the renewal form had. It does NOT have an option to say that "I am a resident of Texas and I DO NOT have an address." According to the Texas BON (via their website, multiple e-mails, and one phone call), no matter if you are a military spouse or not, you must have an address in Texas in order to re-apply for the multi-state license. If you do not have an address (because you live in another state), you have to apply for a Texas single-state license, which basically does zero good.

I was under the impression that as a military spouse nurse, there was a bill/relief act that allowed us to keep our multi-state licenses in our home of record, so that we may travel and practice in any other compact state on our military spouse's temporary orders. I must have misunderstood this?

If this is true, what is the point of having such a bill? I'm panicking thinking that the next time I renew (being in the non-compact state), I have to settle for a single-state license from either Texas or the non-compact state. We will only be in the non-compact state for a year and a half until we move AGAIN to who knows where. Both will be pointless.

I've realized from moving before marrying into the military life that some states require you to change your driver's license to prove that you're a resident of that state before receiving their multi-state license. So my spouse will be a resident of Texas and I will have to change my legal residency everywhere I go?

This just doesn't make sense! I feel screwed! Where is the relief? Can somebody help make sense of this or tell me what you have done? I'm completely lost on this. I don't know what to do, it seems like a mess and a waste of $ to me.

**I was looking forward to traveling with my husband and being able to do telephonic case management for Worker's Comp or something, but I'm starting to think I might have to kiss that idea good-bye.

This is something I pulled up from a PowerPoint I found online:

Fact:

The benefits of the Military Spouse Residency Relief Act of 2009 do not extend to licensure. The compact is based on primary state of residency. To be eligible for a multistate license, a nurse must declare the compact state as their primary state of residence. A resident of a non-compact state may apply to a compact state for a license, however; the applicant will only be eligible for a single state license, having met all requirements.

Fact:

Eligibility requirements for a multistate license include having primary residency in a compact state. Acceptable evidence of residency include:

  • driver's license with a home address;
  • voter registration card displaying a home address
  • Federal income tax return declaring the primary state of residence
  • Military Form no. 2058 - state of legal residence certificate; or
  • W2 from US Government or any bureau, division or agency thereof indicating the declared state of residence.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Moved to Government and Military forum

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

If you can get a VA or DOD job wherever you spouse is stationed, then the state you are licensed in will be irrelevant. In a federal facility (such as a base hospital or a VA hospital/clinic), you can have a license from any state you want. I would look into that.

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My driver's license, vehicle registration, license plates, and home of record for tax purposes will all remain in Texas. I don't know how much more proof of being a Texas resident the Texas BON needs, but they still require a Texas address on the renewal form to acquire a multi-state license. Is it possible to have a P.O. box or send mail to another residence in Texas (having it forwarded to my actual residence in another state), and use that address on the Texas BON? Has anyone ever done that before?

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Hi there! I am a former military spouse (my husband is now retired) and I have moved around a lot and worked at each location.

My first suggestion: do you have family living in TX? If so, I'm pretty sure you can use their address for the purpose of your home of record and the BON. I was originally licensed in N.Y. and throughout my time in the military (active duty first and then spouse of active duty) all correspondence from the N.Y. BON went to my parent's address and they forwarded it to me.

I can't follow everything you were asking about so I will tell you what I've done and hopefully some of it will help :-)

While I was active duty, I worked under my original N.Y. license.

After I separated from the military, I moved to S.C. and obtained a S.C. license by endorsement. I then allowed my N.Y. license to go into inactive status.

We then moved to TX and I obtained a TX license by endorsement. It was a lot of rigmarole but doable. I did work in a military hospital but I worked as a contract nurse so I did have to have a license in TX. (Wanted to clarify that as a poster above stated you can work in a military/VA facility w/ a license from any state. While this is true, it is only true if you are employed by the U.S. Government. A lot of the civilian jobs at military facilities are contract jobs managed by agencies so you need a license in the state you are employed in.)

At this point I allowed my S.C. license to go inactive along w/ my N.Y. license.

Next we moved to FL. Got my FL license by endorsement and allowed the TX license to go inactive along w/ N.Y. and S.C.

Finally, we moved back to TX. All I had to do was re-activate my TX license. At this point it had been inactive 9 yrs. It was very painless. All I had to do was show proof of the appropriate CEU's and fill out a few forms.

So, the takeaway is that you should be able to apply for license by endorsement in the state that you are moving to and allow the TX license to go inactive. When you are back in TX you can re-activate it.

If you don't want to allow your TX license to go inactive then you will need to find a TX address for your home of record.

Maybe some of the traveling nurses could help you out as well if you post this on their forum.

Sorry for rambling. I hope some of this helped. Of course, get ultimate advice from the TX BON.

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This does help! Thank you! It does sound like it is possible to use a Texas address and have mail forwarded. I could go from state-to-state and keep applying for licenses, however, I'd really love to skip all the red tape and hold onto a multi-state license so that I may do telephonic case management for Worker's Comp or something, it would make it a lot easier than trying to acquire multiple licenses everywhere I go. My niche is now in occupational health (I currently work for J&J at a manufacturing site), so I am no longer interested in working in a hospital setting.

Another question: In order to get a multi-state license in another state (and let another go inactive), do you have to be a resident of that state? For example, if I move to a non-compact state and don't have a Texas address by the time I need to renew, I will lose my Texas multi-state privileges. If I happen to move to another compact state after that and want another multi-state license, do I have to have a driver's license or become a resident of that state in order to acquire the multi-state license?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm just so confused with all of this... :down:

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Hi again! When you say "multi-state" license are you referring to a license w/ privileges in compact states? For the job you are planning, which state's licenses are you required to hold?

Honestly, I've never dealt w/ the whole compact state issue. At the time I was licensed in other states, those states were not in compact w/ any others. Plus, I've only ever required one state's license at a time.

I would not want to go to the trouble of changing my residency w/ each assignment. I think I would find it easier to get a single state license in each state. But, it sounds like you need a compact (multi-state) license. I have never had any trouble getting a license fairly quickly (the temporary license usually comes in 2-4 wks) so I've always gone w/ a single state's license at a time.

Hopefully someone else will jump in here and answer some of the questions I can't...

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My driver's license, vehicle registration, license plates, and home of record for tax purposes will all remain in Texas. I don't know how much more proof of being a Texas resident the Texas BON needs, but they still require a Texas address on the renewal form to acquire a multi-state license. Is it possible to have a P.O. box or send mail to another residence in Texas…

Per the Texas Board of Nursing Nurse Licensure Compact Information, in addition to declaring Texas as your primary state of residency, the applicant must “Reside in Texas as his/her legal residence” as well. This is consistent with information contained on the National Council of State Boards of Nurse Licensure Compact website. I would not recommend using a relative’s address in Texas as the Texas Board of Nursing might view this as an attempt to circumvent board rules.

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Per the Texas Board of Nursing Nurse Licensure Compact Information, in addition to declaring Texas as your primary state of residency, the applicant must "Reside in Texas as his/her legal residence" as well. This is consistent with information contained on the National Council of State Boards of Nurse Licensure Compact website. I would not recommend using a relative's address in Texas as the Texas Board of Nursing might view this as an attempt to circumvent board rules.

Thank you for posting that.

I think being a military spouse, she can legally be a TX resident w/o residing in TX. That was why I recommended using a family member's address. I didn't mean to suggest it as a means to get one over on the TX BON :-).

When I was A.D. and then spouse of A.D., I always maintained my parents address as my home of record. It was considered my legal state of residency. I had to file N.Y. state income taxes every year.

The OP could always go to the legal office and/or finance office on base to clear things up concerning residency. As recommended in my prior post, TX BON rules is what will absolutely need to be followed.

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I think being a military spouse, she can legally be a TX resident w/o residing in TX. That is why I recommended using a family member's address. I wasn't suggesting it as a means to get one over on the TX BON.

I wasn't suggesting you were, and apologize if the tone of my message insinuated that you were. My intent was to note that the Texas Board of Nursing, as well as the National Council of State Boards of Nursing both include residing within the state as a requirement.

Again, my apologies for the lack of clarity in my previous post.

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I wasn't suggesting you were, and apologize if the tone of my message insinuated that you were. My intent was to note that the Texas Board of Nursing, as well as the National Council of State Boards of Nursing both include residing within the state as a requirement.

Again, my apologies for the lack of clarity in my previous post.

No problem at all. I wasn't upset. It's hard to convey tone in these posts :-)

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