An update on how recent federal legislation, court precedent, and DOJ guidance are reshaping professional license portability for military spouses after a permanent change of station. This article was written by Leslie Adrian, FSBPT, Director of Professional Standards.
As the United States military struggles with poor retention, the federal government has searched for answers. “Despite spending nearly six billion dollars on recruiting and retention in recent years, people are leaving the military at some of the highest rates of the last decade.”1 Military service is often disruptive to the family; relocating to the next duty station upends a military family’s support system, schools, and employment. More than 2.5 million spouses and children under the age of eighteen are members of military families, underscoring the significant role family circumstances play in a service member’s decision to remain in or leave the military.2 The military has identified that one of the main factors leading to separation from the armed forces is military spouse under-employment and unemployment.
The finances of many military families are tenuous. The 2021 Active Duty Spouse Survey found that one in four active-duty spouses were food insecure; 15% reported low food security, and 10% reported very low food security.3 At lower pay grades, the problem is more significant: approximately 45% of junior enlisted spouses reported being food insecure.3 For many military families, delays in securing work in the new duty station can have a detrimental impact. The unemployment rate for military spouses is significantly greater than that of the general population.4 This is often not by choice, but by the circumstances a spouse finds themselves in due to a permanent change of station (PCS) move required by the military; nearly 81% of military families experience a PCS relocation.3
For several years, the Department of Defense/War has sought ways to enhance employment opportunities for military spouses. One initiative was to accelerate the development of occupational licensure interstate compacts. The Physical Therapy Compact (PTC) includes provisions to reduce burdens on military members and spouses by expanding the options for designating a home state.
In early January 2023, President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan law titled the Military Licensing Relief Act (MLRA), a provision within the Veterans Auto and Education Improvement Act that amended the Service Members Civil Relief Act (SCRA). Impacting the nearly 130,000 civilian spouses of military members who require a professional license to work, the MLRA eased the ability to have a license recognized in another jurisdiction after relocation due to a PCS. However, without federal regulations to add clarity, state licensing authorities were not sure how to implement this law.
The 2023 federal court case of Porteé v. Morath in the Western District of Texas was the first case brought under the SCRA. Hannah Magee Porteé was a licensed school counselor and military spouse who relocated to Laughlin Air Force Base in Texas with her husband, Air Force Captain David Porteé, on military orders. Porteé attempted to become licensed via the SCRA provisions; however, the Texas Education Agency and Texas State Board for Educator Certification would not recognize her out-of-state licenses from Ohio and Missouri. Mike Morath, in his capacity as the Commissioner of Education in Texas, was included as a defendant in the suit.
Texas argued that Porteé, in her role as a substitute counselor, had not used her license continuously for the previous two years prior to relocation and thus did not qualify for SCRA. In the Justice Department’s filed statement of interest with the Court, it argued that “the new jurisdiction should be interpreted to require only that the license have been used at some point during the prior two years.”5 At that time (July 2023), no court had yet interpreted the language. The plaintiff was granted a preliminary injunction, a significant action in a case of this type, to stop Texas’s enforcement of her application. Finally, on November 20, 2023, Federal Judge Robert Pitman ruled in favor of Porteé. In the final order, creating legal precedent, the court held that the state agency was violating the SCRA and could not deny her license, and she was entitled to recover court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees.
SCRA was updated in December 2024 to improve the automatic recognition of a servicemember or spouse’s valid professional licenses from other jurisdictions. Perhaps as a response to the Porteé case, the requirement for the servicemember or spouse to have actively used the license during a two-year period before the application was removed. It was clarified that a state may require a background check prior to recognizing the license or issuing a temporary license. If a state cannot issue a license within thirty days of receiving an eligible application, a temporary license must be issued. Finally, SCRA was expanded to cover law licenses that were not originally included. For a license to be considered eligible and valid for the SCRA provision, the individual must satisfy the following criteria:
Possess a covered license A. In good standing B. No revocation or discipline C. No investigation pending regarding unprofessional conduct D. No voluntary surrender
Move states due to military orders
Submit an application A. Military orders B. Marriage certificate (if the spouse) C. Notarized affidavit (full list of requirements for the affidavit are given)
The Civil Rights Division (OCR) of the Attorney General has been granted the enforcement authority of SCRA. OCR issued guidance that a jurisdiction requiring anything of the servicemember or spouse that is not included in SCRA, such as test scores or transcripts, is illegal.
Service members or spouses who use interstate licensure compacts are also affected. With the updates to the law in 2024, “servicemembers or spouses who hold a covered license to operate in multiple States pursuant to an interstate compact are subject to the requirements of the compact or the applicable provisions of law in the new State and are no longer eligible for portability under the SCRA.”6 As compacts are unique from one profession to the next, it is unclear how Compacts such as the PTC that use Compact Privileges and not multi-state licenses (nursing) are impacted.
Almost a year after Congress amended the licensing portability provision, on December 22, 2025, the United States Department of Justice issued notification letters to state licensing authorities and a fact sheet detailing changes from the updated law.
Letter to State Licensing Authorities re SCRA License Portability
Servicemembers and Veterans Initiative | 2025 Update: Portability of Professional Licenses
State licensing authorities will find these resources very helpful in navigating the requirements of SCRA. The OCR recommends that jurisdictions issue a new license to the servicemember or spouse, but alternatively, if the actual license will not be issued quickly, the jurisdiction should be ready to provide the individual with alternative documentation that the existing license (from the other state) is now valid in the new state, and they may practice legally. OCR encourages states to be knowledgeable about the SCRA process and to communicate with eligible servicemembers and spouses through updated websites, portals, and public-facing materials. What is clear from this guidance is that jurisdictions cannot rely on their standard licensure processes to ensure that eligible servicemembers or military spouses are compliant with federal law.
Mulrine Grobe, Anna, “After Years of Sluggish Enlistments, the US Military Gets a Surge of Recruits.” The Christian Science Monitor, August 11, 2025, https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2025/0811/military-recruiting-trump-defense.
US Department of Defense. 2021 Demographics: Profile of the Military Community, Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy, 2021, https://download.militaryonesource.mil/12038/MOS/Reports/2021-demographics-report.pdf.
Office of People Analytics. 2021 Active Duty Spouse Survey (ADSS). Department of Defense, 2023, https://download.militaryonesource.mil/12038/MOS/Presentations/2021-active-duty-spouse-overview-briefing.pdf.
US Department of Labor, Veterans’ Employment and Training Service, Military Spouses Factsheet, https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/VETS/files/Military-Spouses-Fact-Sheet-2024-12-13.pdf.
Statement of Interest of the United States, Porteé v. Morath, No. 1:23-cv-00551-RP (W.D. Tex. July 13, 2023), https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/file/1305511/dl?inline.
See 50 U.S.C. § 4025a(e).
Leslie Adrian
Leslie Adrian, PT, DPT, has served as the Director of Professional Standards for the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT) since 2008. Her education includes a Doctor of Physical Therapy from Shenandoah University, Master of Science in Physical Therapy and Bachelor of Science in Clinical Science from Ithaca College and a Master of Public Administration from Virginia Tech. Leslie has over fifteen years of professional regulatory experience with both the American Physical Therapy Association and FSBPT. Leslie’s responsibilities include responding to the needs and requests of member state boards, researching and authoring resource papers, tracking legislative and regulatory activities relevant to physical therapy, and developing standards for internationally educated physical therapists.