Contractor license reciprocity checker

Filed under State requirements

Reciprocity is an agreement between two boards about examinations. It is not a transfer, it does not skip the application, and it never covers the bond or the fees. This tool states only the relationships a board itself publishes.

Reciprocity never transfers a license. At most it addresses an examination — usually the trade half, almost never the law half.

Nevada to California

California's board names Nevada in its reciprocity programme. With an active Nevada license in good standing for the previous 5 years, in a classification on the reciprocal list, CSLB may waive the trade portion of the exam — it keeps the right to require it, and the business and law portion is still required. You still file a full California application, still post the California bond, and still pay California's fees.

Ask the target board this

“I hold an active general contractor license in Nevada. Do you have a reciprocity or endorsement arrangement with Nevada? If so, which examination components does it waive, and what do I still have to file, bond and pay?”

Source for the one relationship stated above: CSLB — Reciprocity, read 2026-10-18.

Embossed relief of two seals linked by a ribbon
Two seals on facing pages, linked by one ribbon.

§ 1What this checks

Whether either board in the pair you pick publishes a reciprocity relationship that we have read. California’s board publishes a list of 5 partner states — Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina — and that is the one relationship on this site read from source.

Where we have not read an agreement, we say so.

A reciprocity table that asserts fifty states’ arrangements from memory is a table that will send somebody to an exam centre they did not need to visit, or worse, to a job they were not licensed for. The tool hands you the question to ask instead.

§ 2Questions for the other board

What an agreement waives, and the steps it never touches, are set out step by step in how contractor license reciprocity works. Before you file, put these to the board you are applying to — in writing, so the answer is on record:

  1. Does your agreement with my home state name my classification, or only some classifications?
  2. How many years must my home license have been active and in good standing?
  3. Which part of your examination is waived, and which part must I still sit?
  4. Do you need a verification letter from my home board, and how recent must it be?
  5. What bond, insurance and fees apply to me as a new applicant in your state?

§ 3Budget it as a second license

Even a successful reciprocity route leaves you with two licenses, two bonds and two renewal cycles. California’s original application alone is $450, and the $25,000 bond has to be posted whatever agreement got you past the exam. Our license cost calculator prices the second state properly, and the renewal tracker keeps both renewal dates in one place.

Checked against

Not legal advice. Fees, bond amounts and deadlines are set by statute and change without notice — confirm with the board that issues your license before you file.

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