§ 6501 — Admission to a profession (licensing)

§ 6501. Admission to a profession (licensing). 1. Admission to\npractice of a profession in this state is accomplished by a license\nbeing issued to a qualified applicant by the education department. To\nqualify for a license an applicant shall meet the requirements\nprescribed in the article for the particular profession and shall meet\nthe requirements prescribed in section 3-503 of the general obligations\nlaw.\n 2. a. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, any\napplicant seeking to qualify for a license pursuant to this title who is\nthe spouse of an active duty member of the armed forces of the United\nStates, national guard or reserves as defined in 10 U.S.C. sections 1209\nand 1211, and such spouse is transferred by the military to this state\nshall be afforded an expedited review of his or her application for\nlicensure. Such application shall be on a form prescribed by the\ndepartment and shall include an attestation by the applicant of the\nmilitary status of his or her spouse and any other such supporting\ndocumentation that the department may require. Upon review of such\napplication, the department shall issue a license to the applicant if\nthe applicant holds a license in good standing in another state and in\nthe opinion of the department, the requirements for licensure of such\nother state are substantially equivalent to the requirements for\nlicensure in this state.\n b. In addition to the expedited review granted in paragraph a of this\nsubdivision, an applicant who provides satisfactory documentation that\nhe or she holds a license in good standing from another state, may\nrequest the issuance of a temporary practice permit, which, if granted\nwill permit the applicant to work under the supervision of a New York\nstate licensee in accordance with regulations of the commissioner. The\ndepartment may grant such temporary practice permit when it appears\nbased on the application and supporting documentation received that the\napplicant will meet the requirements for licensure in this state because\nhe or she holds a license in good standing from another state with\nsignificantly comparable licensure requirements to those of this state,\nexcept the department has not been able to secure direct source\nverification of the applicant's underlying credentials (e.g., receipt of\noriginal transcript, experience verification). Such permit shall be\nvalid for six months or until ten days after notification that the\napplicant does not meet the qualifications for licensure. An additional\nsix months may be granted upon a determination by the department that\nthe applicant is expected to qualify for the full license upon receipt\nof the remaining direct source verification documents requested by the\ndepartment in such time period and that the delay in providing the\nnecessary documentation for full licensure was due to extenuating\ncircumstances which the military spouse could not avoid.\n c. A temporary practice permit issued under paragraph b of this\nsubdivision shall be subject to the full disciplinary and regulatory\nauthority of the board of regents and the department, pursuant to this\ntitle, as if such authorization were a professional license issued under\nthis article.\n d. The department shall reduce the initial licensure application fee\nby one-half for any application submitted by a military spouse under\nthis subdivision.\n