Title 22 — Foreign Relations and IntercourseRelease 119-73not60

§4089 Portability of Professional Licenses

Title 22 › Chapter 52— FOREIGN SERVICE › Subchapter IX— TRAVEL, LEAVE, AND OTHER BENEFITS › § 4089

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

Allows a Foreign Service member or their spouse to keep using a U.S. professional license in the new area where they move for an assignment, for as long as that assignment lasts, if they meet certain rules. They must give the new area’s licensing agency a copy of their assignment notice, stay in good standing with the agency that issued the license and with any other agencies that issued similar licenses they hold, and follow the new area’s rules for how to practice, discipline, and meet continuing education requirements. If the person is licensed under an interstate licensure compact that lets them work in multiple places, the compact’s rules or the state’s laws apply instead of this rule. Covered license means a professional license or certificate that is in good standing, that was actively used during the two years before the move, and that is not a law license.

Full Legal Text

Title 22, §4089

Foreign Relations and Intercourse — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In any case in which a member of the Foreign Service or the spouse of a member of the Foreign Service has a covered United States license and such member of the Foreign Service or spouse relocates his or her residency because of an assignment or detail to a location that is not in the jurisdiction of the licensing authority that issued the covered license, such covered license shall be considered valid at a similar scope of practice and in the discipline applied for in the jurisdiction of such new residency for the duration of such an assignment or detail if such member of the Foreign Service or spouse—

(1)provides a copy of the member’s notification of assignment to the licensing authority in the jurisdiction in which the new residency is located;

(2)remains in good standing with—

(A)the licensing authority that issued the covered license; and

(B)every other licensing authority that has issued to the member of the Foreign Service or spouse a license valid at a similar scope of practice and in the discipline applied in the jurisdiction of such licensing authority; and

(3)submits to the authority of the licensing authority in the new jurisdiction for the purposes of standards of practice, discipline, and fulfillment of any continuing education requirements.

(b)If a member of the Foreign Service or spouse of a member of the Foreign Service is licensed and able to operate in multiple jurisdictions through an interstate licensure compact, with respect to services provided in the jurisdiction of the interstate licensure compact by a licensee covered by such compact, the member of the Foreign Service or spouse of a member of the Foreign Service shall be subject to the requirements of the compact or the applicable provisions of law of the applicable State and not this section.

(c)In this section, the term “covered license” means a professional license or certificate—

(1)that is in good standing with the licensing authority that issued such professional license or certificate;

(2)that the member of the Foreign Service or spouse of a member of the Foreign Service has actively used during the two years immediately preceding the relocation described in subsection (a); and

(3)that is not a license to practice law.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

22 U.S.C. § 4089

Title 22 — Foreign Relations and Intercourse

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60