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Licence Fee Exemption, CE Exemption and Military Spouse Temporary Licence

No licence fee for any calendar year in which you serve any period of active military duty, no continuing education while on active duty, a one-year temporary licence for a military spouse posted here, and military training credited toward licensure.

Verified August 22, 2026

What this benefit is

No licence fee for any calendar year in which you serve any period of active military duty, no continuing education while on active duty, a one-year temporary licence for a military spouse posted here, and military training credited toward licensure.

What it's worth: A fee-free licence year for any year with active duty service

  • Shown as a range because the fee depends entirely on the profession — a cosmetology renewal and a medical renewal are not in the same order of magnitude.
  • The exemption is per calendar year, and one day of active duty carries the whole year.
  • The military spouse temporary licence and the training-credit provisions carry no dollar figure of their own.

Who is entitled to it

  • Article 6 reaches the servicemember or veteran and the military spouse.
  • Your home is in South Carolina.

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: Claim the fee exemption for the calendar year of the duty, at renewal
  1. 1For the fee exemption, tell your board which calendar year you served any period of active duty in, and send the orders. §40-1-620 exempts the fee for that whole year.
  2. 2For continuing education, cite §40-1-610 — CE is not required for the period of active duty, and you do not need to make it up.
  3. 3A military spouse should apply for the temporary licence under §40-1-630 with four things: proof of the marriage, a certificate showing a current licence elsewhere in good standing, the servicemember's orders assigning them to a duty station in this state, and a fingerprint background check if the profession ordinarily requires one.
  4. 4Ask the board to apply military education, training and experience under §40-1-640 — the statute uses the phrase "in the manner most favorable" and it is worth quoting back.
Form
Each board sets its own; LLR runs a military mailbox for the spouse route
File with
The board that licenses your profession, at the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation
Documents you will need
dd214
At each renewal
Claimed again whenever the underlying licence or registration renews.
CorrectionThe military spouse temporary licence expires one year from issuance and cannot be renewed. It is a bridge while you complete full licensure here, not a licence you can live on — plan the full application from the day the temporary one is issued.
Worth knowingThe fee exemption in §40-1-620 turns on "any period of active military duty" in a calendar year, not on a minimum length. A short activation exempts the fee for the entire year.
Worth knowingThese sections sit in Title 40 and bind boards "governed by this title". A profession licensed outside Title 40 is outside the article.

Sources

Why only one source type: Read from the General Assembly's own publication of the Code. The Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation's military page (llr.sc.gov/military.aspx) refused every connection from this session, so no operating page has been paired with the statute and no board-level procedure is described here.

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