Military Active Licensure Status

Florida may not be a compact state but the Florida Board of Nursing (FBON) does its part to help military spouses keep their license! FL is one of the few states that allows military spouses to change their licensure status to military active. This means that you don't have to pay a renewal fee OR do any CEUs! When I heard this I thought it was too good to be true, so I called the Florida Board of Nursing to confirm. I was on hold for 30 minutes but the wait was worth it. An extremely helpful gentleman confirmed what I had learned and told me all I had to do was submit an address change, name change, a copy of my husbands military orders, a copy of our marriage license, and the appropriate request forms.

Now perhaps you're thinking, "Wouldn't it be easier to just do all the CEUs and pay the fee?!" Not if you are from Florida! Florida has some of the strictest and most complicated CEU requirements. Completing all the paperwork wasn't nearly as hard as I expected it to be. FBON provided me with the request forms via email and a fax number to return them to. The forms can also be mailed. Piece of cake! I received my license in the mail about a week later.

A few things are important to note:

1) Only spouses who are out of state because of military order qualify for this. If I were to move back to Florida then I would be subject to the same fee and CEU requirements as everyone else.

2) If an employer were to look up your license to verify it, it will say "military active" on the website and on your paper copy. This is a dead give away to employers that you are a military spouse. If you plan on hiding that fact to avoid discrimination, it may be worth it to renew the traditional way. That being said, employers are likely to only verify a license in the state you are living/applying in. This would only be a problem if you were moving back to FL and hadn't changed your status back to clear/active before looking for a job.

3) I am not completely excused from CEUs and fees. Since I live and work in North Carolina I have to complete CEUs and pay a renewal fee according to their standards.

I am currently doing research to see which states offer a military active status to spouses or something similar to it. It's a working progress and I will update this post as I learn more.

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Florida- Offers Military Active status to spouses

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Texas- Special Wavers for military spouses: Reactivation fees, fines and continuing nursing education requirements may be waived for nurses who are spouses of active duty military personnel. See Rule 217.6 (j) Military Spouse

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