Out of the Inbox

Licensure issues keep coming into my life recently. Here’s a recent email I received that offers some food for thought on tricks to get around licensure hassles. Share any tricks you have used!

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Question:

Hi!

I am a recent grad (2013) and have been doing travel PT with my boyfriend for the past year in Wisconsin and Texas. We’re now looking at getting our next license. Since everyone talks about how annoying it is to get a verification sent from each state you’ve ever had your license in to the state you’re applying for, we thought of a better idea… but aren’t sure if it would work and wanted your opinion.

We were thinking that we should apply to about 5 more states at the same time so that we only need verification from Wisconsin & Texas for each of those 5 states, in the end, saving us the hassle of sending 2, and then 3, and then 4, and then 5 verifications to each state we apply for in the future. Would this work?

2nd question: We looked at Texas’ verification request form which allows us to send it to multiple states for one $50 fee. Can we send it to 5, 6, 7 states even if we haven’t applied for those states yet? Then in the next year or so, apply for those states which already have our Texas verification without having to pay another $50 fee?

Not sure if you know the answer to these questions but just thought they were 2 ways to save money with the multiple state license applications and fees that go along with it.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.
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Response:

I like the way you’re thinking about licensure – getting all of those done at once by verifying only the 2 current states is a good plan and will definitely save you time and frustration. Although, over time, I don’t think it will save you any money, just because of renewal fees and that sort of thing, but it may be worth it for the trade off in reduced frustration.

I like the idea of getting multiple licenses at once, but I would only do the states you are sure you want to go to at some point. That way, if another state comes up that you want to get a license for, you don’t have to verify licenses you held but never used. Also, check the renewal process on these states ahead of time – check cost, CEU requirements, and timing. By timing, I mean that in some states everybody’s license expires on the same day – i.e. If every license in a state expires on January 1st and you just got your license today, you would have to pay a renewal fee in only 4 months.

As far as the Texas question, I think it’s a great idea to send as many verifications as you can if it’s all covered under one fee. I don’t see a downside. Typically, when a state receives any licensure paperwork on you (like a verification from Texas), they start a file. Some states keep an incomplete file 6 months, some keep it a year, some might keep it longer. You likely won’t have unlimited time to start the licensure process before they discard your verification, but I see no harm in requesting the verifications just in case you do decide to go.

After requesting all your verifications, I would follow up by phone to make sure they have all been sent/received. Also, I would send yours and your boyfriend’s in separate envelopes. In my experience, when my wife and I try to share an envelope, one of our verifications usually gets forgotten and our new license is delayed. Sadly, requests getting lost is the rule rather then the exception.

Hope this helps, I like your thinking!

James

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