5 Hardest States To Get Your Physical Therapy License

One of the obstacles when you are looking to travel the country is the process of getting licensed in each state. While most states make the process pretty painless, these 5 tend to cause a headache. Here are a few things you should know when applying. If you are looking for more state information, go here!

Good news. The Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy is working hard to make it so you can have a COMPACT LICENSE as a PT!  Stay tuned for more information on that process. 

California: CA is known for being a slow process, no matter what healthcare profession you are in. This license takes 6-8 weeks, depending on how many other licenses you have. Once the Juras Prudence exam is set up, things will move along. The Therapy board is slow because the person in California that works on the licenses also works with 19 other career license groups, like construction licenses, electrician licenses, and etc.

Washington: It is challenging for your WA license because it takes roughly 2-3 process time (on average). A few must haves - must pass the WA JP Exam, HIV/AIDS Training Course, Must complete 40 CEU hours and 200 hours of employment every 2 years

Illinois: This will be a minimum of 6-8 weeks. The reason IL has such a delayed process is just due to employee size. Expect a wait for this one, but great opportunities in IL once you have it. 

New Jersey: NJ takes about 3 months to process. They also require a passport style photo submitted with your application and digital finger prints. 

Nevada: The license can take 4-8 weeks.  They require fingerprints which can take 4-8 weeks based on how backed up the FBI is.  If you live in Nevada you can get LiveScan Fingerprints which can speed things up.  If you live out of state, then you will need to email the fingerprint contact which is on the application and take a fingerprint card to a location to get fingerprints and that process because it’s on paper can take 2 extra weeks over the LiveScan.

If you want to know more about how traveling can help your medical career, download our free eBook.