A professional engineering license is issued by one state, and it lets an engineer practice in that state only. An engineer who takes a job across a state line, or whose firm wins a project in a new state, needs a license there too. Very few have to take the exams again. The process is called licensure by comity, and most boards build theirs on the same model.

That model is the NCEES Model Law, published by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying, the national organization of state engineering and surveying licensing boards. This guide reads the comity section of its August 2025 version. Each state writes its own law, so the routes a given board offers can differ.

Route one: a comparable license

An engineer licensed by another jurisdiction, or by a foreign country, may be licensed without further examination if the requirements behind that license do not conflict with the new state's law and the board judges the credentials comparable to its own licensing act as it stood when the original license was issued. The only exam the board may still require covers its own statutes, rules and other state-specific requirements. This route turns on the board's review of the original file, which can take time when records are old or held by another agency.

Route two: an NCEES Record

An engineer who holds an active NCEES Record, and whose qualifications as shown in the Record meet the new state's requirements, may also be licensed without further examination apart from the state-specific one. The Record is a verified file NCEES keeps for a licensee: academic transcripts, exam results, employment history and verifications, and professional references (NCEES asks for five). Once it is established, NCEES submits it electronically to each board the engineer applies to, so the same documents are not chased down again for each application. For an engineer who expects to hold several licenses over a career, building the Record early saves the most work.

Route three: experienced engineers with a clean record

The Model Law adds a third route for engineers licensed in another U.S. state, the District of Columbia or a U.S. territory, which does not depend on comparing education and early experience. An applicant qualifies if all four of these hold:

  • at least seven years of continuous, verifiable experience as a professional engineer that the new board accepts
  • no disciplinary action related to professional conduct or practice from any jurisdiction in the five years before applying
  • no license ever suspended or revoked in any jurisdiction
  • a passing score on the NCEES PE exam in the discipline of the license sought

The Model Law excludes applicants for licensure in the structural discipline from this route. Structural engineering licenses carry their own exam requirements in the states that issue them.

What it does not cover

Comity is a faster path to a full license, not a temporary permit. An engineer cannot practice in the new state, or offer to, until that state's license is issued. Many boards also have a state-specific exam or questionnaire on their own laws and rules. Disciplinary history follows a licensee, since boards share actions through NCEES, so the answers on a comity application have to match what other boards hold.

Before you apply

Start with the new state board's website, which lists the comity routes it accepts and any state-specific exam. If the board accepts an NCEES Record and the engineer does not have one, opening it now is usually the slowest step, because it depends on references and verifications from others. Keep the current license active throughout: the comity routes in the Model Law are written for licensees in good standing.

Licensure and renewal rules differ by state and change over time. Check the current requirements with your state licensing board before you act on them.

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