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licenses & feesstate

Professional Licence Fees Waived — Initial and One Renewal, Within Five Years of Discharge

Every licensing board, agency and department in this state must waive the initial application fee and one renewal fee for an applicant discharged honorably or generally, where the fee would otherwise fall within five years of that discharge.

Verified August 22, 2026

What this benefit is

Every licensing board, agency and department in this state must waive the initial application fee and one renewal fee for an applicant discharged honorably or generally, where the fee would otherwise fall within five years of that discharge.

What it's worth: Initial application fee plus one renewal fee, waived by whichever board licenses your profession

  • The amount depends entirely on the profession — licence fees in this state run from tens of dollars to several hundred, so no single figure describes it.
  • The statute binds "a licensing board, agency, or department", which is every one of them, not a list of participating boards.

Who is entitled to it

  • You served.
  • Your discharge is honorable or general under honorable conditions.
  • You are in this state.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

Deadline: The fee must fall within five years of discharge
  1. 1Claim the waiver when you file, not afterwards — it removes a fee that would otherwise be charged, and boards do not generally refund a fee already paid.
  2. 2It covers the initial application fee and one renewal fee. The second renewal is charged in full even if it still falls inside the five-year window.
  3. 3The five years run from the discharge date, so a veteran who waits before entering a licensed trade can lose the waiver without ever knowing it existed.
  4. 4A separate subsection waives any licence fee for a first-time applicant in this state whose household income is at or below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines. That route is not veteran-specific and has no five-year clock — worth checking if the discharge window has closed.
Form
Licence application, with the fee waiver claimed on it
File with
The board, agency or department that licenses your profession
Documents you will need
dd214
No renewal
Once granted it does not need renewing.
CorrectionThis is routinely described as "licence fees waived for veterans", which reads as permanent. The statute waives an initial application fee and exactly one renewal fee, and only where the fee would be charged within five years of discharge. After that the veteran pays what everyone pays.
Worth knowing§272C.12A runs alongside it and does something different: it makes every board expedite an application from a veteran or from the spouse of an active duty member who is licensed elsewhere in a similar scope of practice, issue a temporary licence where the scope is not substantially similar, and adopt rules crediting military education, training and service toward licensure. That reaches spouses; the fee waiver does not.

Sources

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.