Just wondering....

[Bill West]

does Florida recipocate licensing with North Carolina or Virginia.?
Thanks for your help.
Bill

[harry a saake]

nc does not recripocate with anyone, they have waiver of exam, virginia is real easy, if you have other licenses and experience, contact , betty morris at 1-367-850-8509 then hit 7, 100.00 gets the license, after filling out the required paperwork

[frank]

And Fla. does not recripocate N.C.; or at least they didn't several years ago.

[Judy Canty]

I don't think that true reciprocity exists any where among the states, where licensing exists.

[JCHollaway]

Virginia does reciprocate with NC.

[Judy Canty]

Reciprocity means that because I have a VA license, I also have an NC license without having to take additional tests. I don't think that holds true. Warren? Obxeyeguy?

[rbaker]

While these remarks do not address current opticianry or optometry legislation to grant reciprocity they do indicate the current trend in other trades and professions. There has been plenty of recent legislation aimed at leveling the playing field by allowing licensed individuals of move between the states ans between countries.

Accountants and insurance professionals, among others, have recently signed agreements to permit reciprocity between the states. This legislation will soon be expanded to NAFTA participants as well. It may take some time but the hand writing is on the wall.

[rbaker]

Reciprocity means that because I have a VA license, I also have an NC license without having to take additional tests. I don't think that holds true. Warren? Obxeyeguy?

The key legal principal of reciprocity is "uniform treatment." This means that all participating states agree to license non-residents, who are in good standing in their resident states, without imposing additional restrictions or qualifications not required of residents original state.

[THE MEB]

why hasn't ABO been considered a uniform license for states? Why is it that the ABO test, followed by required CEC courses, not be enough? Seems to me, even if they needed to toughen up the test or requirements, that this would be the practicle answer to reciprocity and ease of going from state to state, country to country. Is it political? Is it a control issue? Please help me understand

[vcm]

Some of it is political. There are still several states that accept your out of state credentials as long as your continuing ed requirements are at least the same. Some states like NY don't accept reciprocity for any license. To answer the original question your best bet is to contact the FL Dept of Health and ask them.

[obxeyeguy]

Can't find the link I saw the other day, but this should help.

https://www.nao.org/AddInfo/state.cfm

Judy, when I came to NC, I was licensed in NY. They gave me an exam exemption, just paperwork, and $$$. New york will not take any other license.:finger:

[JCHollaway]

My wife had a NC license and when we moved to VA, all she had to do was send in proof and money. No test involved.

[Judy Canty]

Great! That takes care of 2 states. What's up with the other 19?

[vcm]

Ohio accepts receprocity and so does Vermont.

[Judy Canty]

Great! With every licensed state or only states whose requirements are considered comparable?

[vcm]

I believe both OH and VT the continuing education requirement has to be comparable. When we moved from VT to OH in 1992 we had to submit paperwork from the VT State Board that we were in good standing; pay the fees and the licenses were approved at the next board meeting. At that time both states required three credit hours per year. OH is a duel license state one for Eyeglasses & one for CL's. VT is only for Eyeglasses unless they have changed in the last 16 years

[Judy Canty]

That's what I'm talking about. There is no uniform reciprocity because there are no uniform requirements for licensure in the states requiring licensure. When that happens, Opticians are in a much better position to promote uniform requirements and licensure in every state.

Unfortunately, getting Opticians to agree on anything is like herding cats and I don't think I'll live that long.:shiner:

[Bill West]

Reciprocity means that because I have a VA license, I also have an NC license without having to take additional tests. I don't think that holds true. Warren? Obxeyeguy?

I did it.
Bill

[hcjilson]

I did it.
Bill

You didn't exactly do it Bill! what you did was obtain a North Carolina license by endorsement rather than reciprocity. They accepted your credentials as equal to their requirements.To my knowledge, there are no reciprocal states. Arizona was reciprocal for a while but discontinued the practice because no other state would join it.

[jediron1]

You didn't exactly do it Bill! what you did was obtain a North Carolina license by endorsement rather than reciprocity. They accepted your credentials as equal to their requirements.To my knowledge, there are no reciprocal states. Arizona was reciprocal for a while but discontinued the practice because no other state would join it.

HC your right. Back in 1975 I believe I was thinking about moving to Florida from NY and at that time they did offer me reciprocity. Now for the fun of it I contacted Hawaii to ask for reciprocity, they said NO and on top of that I would have to train their for two years and take the ABO which was to big deal but they would not take my NY license in reciprocity.

[Bill West]

You didn't exactly do it Bill! what you did was obtain a North Carolina license by endorsement rather than reciprocity. They accepted your credentials as equal to their requirements.To my knowledge, there are no reciprocal states. Arizona was reciprocal for a while but discontinued the practice because no other state would join it.

Actually, I sat for the NC Boards and applied and recieved my VA license by reciprocity and that was the term used by the state of VA, not me. True the requirements must be the same, at least in their minds. I can't imagine that I could encounter anything optical in any other state that I have'nt already come across in the last 48 years. Plain old BS by the state boards. Holds dowm competition.:cheers:

[hcjilson]

Bill,

In the over 30 years that I have been a state board member, I have only seen Arizona use the term reciprocal. I have just checked the rules and regs of VA and didn't see the word anywhere. I did see that they would accept the credentials of an optician which were "substantially equivilent" to theirs and allow licensing without examination. This is known as licensure by endorsement, not reciprocity. VA endorsed your NC credentials. Had you done it in reverse order, using your VA credentials, you might have had a different outcome and learned the difference between the two terms.

I begn a short lived campaign in favor of pursuing a "compact" between licensed states which would have allowed the licensee to practice using the license granted by the "home" state, but practicing under the rules and regs of the state of current registry.This would have allowed the licesnsee to practice in other states without having to go through multiple licensing procedures.It would be a godsend for those practicing near multi state borders. Needless to say there was little interest,...... I'm not going to live that long either.

I think you are somewhat short sighted in your appraisal of state licensing boards and their function. They exist for the protection of the consumer, not to limit competition. If you doubt this, just ask any board member of the 2 states in which you are licensed and they'll be happy to tell you the same. Better yet, their meetings are all public, why not attend one and find out what goes on. I think you will come away with a better understanding and appreciation of their function.

[harry a saake]

harry, here in NC where i am licensed the correct term is WAIVER OF EXAMINATION, this is what the atate board does and the actual way they term it, we do not have reciprocity, endorsement or anything else, each individual applicant is considered one by one by the board, and at that point the board can choose to waive the exam, or they can choose to say no, or they can choose to make you take part of the exam.

[hcjilson]

Thanks Harry, I watched Sean go through the process a couple of years back, and I think Andrew Weiss is in process as well. I am familiar with the term.When a license is granted with a waiver of exam, it is called endorsement. I think the thing to stress is that each state is trying to insure their consumers are well treated by competent opticians, but they do act provincially at times. :)

[ziggy]

Ohio accepts receprocity and so does Vermont.

Not any more, at least no in OH. When comming from out of state you must be in good standing with your state and you must have passed your ABO/NCLE with in the last 12 months prior to applying for your license. So if you passed your ABO/NCLE in 1992 and moved here in 2003 you have to retake the ABO/NCLE again prior to getting a license in OH. We do not have a practical exam so the use the ABO/NCLE in lue of one.