Travel nurse licensing tips

[Wolf at the Door]

Things we never talk about Licensing.

It is ideal to let the agency reimburse you for fees. Licensing can be very expensive especially for those not in compact states. If you get licenses on your own you may find some agencies reimburse you for fees if you have never worked in that state.

For those reading this that want to travel to CA, get that license LAST. Some states want all verifications of every license you own. If you have a CA license that means you pay $100 bucks each time that verification is needed and it takes 6-8 weeks for them to send it to that state.

EX. Your license by exam in FL and endorsed in California. Now you want to apply for a NY license. Well NY requires ALL state verifications. You pay nursys 30 bucks. You send a snail mail request to CA for $100 and then you watch paint dry.

EX. Your license by exam in FL and endorsed in CA. Now you want to apply for WA license. Well they only want where you were licensed by exam which is FL...No CA verification required.

Apply for where you want to go at the same time if possible. Yes, it takes money DUH!

EX If you hold a FL license and apply for endorsement to CA, MN, NC, HI, AK, PA all for the first time...Send the paperwork off around the same time. PA will give you a temp license in 2-3 business days. Temp license do not count as something that needs to be verified. If you got PA temp license Monday and apply for Illinois Friday, you can only send verification for FL. You can still apply for other states and only have to get FL verified if none of the others have issued you a perm license.

[CrazyGoonRN]

I sent off for my Georgia license last week and I recieved an email from them the next day with a link to where I can log in and see updates. Also, I had to get ink fingerprinted and mail it to a company in California for my background check. They only accept electronic fingerprints if you go to specific locations within the state of Georgia. The nurse manager at the hospital I have been hired at says it typically takes 3 weeks to get a Georgia license. I just hope there is no delay so my start date is not pushed back.

[Wolf at the Door, BSN]

I sent off for my Georgia license last week and I recieved an email from them the next day with a link to where I can log in and see updates. Also, I had to get ink fingerprinted and mail it to a company in California for my background check. They only accept electronic fingerprints if you go to specific locations within the state of Georgia. The nurse manager at the hospital I have been hired at says it typically takes 3 weeks to get a Georgia license. I just hope there is no delay so my start date is not pushed back.

Did you get your license?

[CrazyGoonRN]

Did you get your license?

Yes, it ended up only taking 1 week before I recieved an email saying I had received my license. Much quicker than expected! :)

[MissyNik]

So if someone is looking to do travel nursing how soon do you get a license for a state if you have no idea what state you will be in first?

[NedRN]

Most states issue licenses quickly. So you get a job first which generally has a start date 2 to 4 weeks later and apply for a license then. That doesn't work for slow states and you cannot get a job in those without a license in hand. Your recruiter will help you with this planning.

[8-ball, BSN]

Basically get your CA last b/c they hold up all others. Unless you only plan to work in CA. I already had my compact so that gave me lots of options. Then I applied for OR, WA, Wy, and CA knowing CA would take forever. I got my OR and WA pretty quickly then my Ca about 6-8 weeks later. Oddly enough WY lost my fingerprints so I have to do those again, which at this point will probably be delayed by CA.

[Wolf at the Door, BSN]

So if someone is looking to do travel nursing how soon do you get a license for a state if you have no idea what state you will be in first?

what? pick a state then you have a real time frame.