Transferring a Virginia teaching licence to North Carolina
Virginia is a member of the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact and North Carolina is not, so the compact does nothing for this move. NCDPI evaluates a Virginia teacher on completion of an approved preparation programme, and issues the Initial or the Continuing Professional License depending on experience, exams and effectiveness data.
Which framework applies to you
| Virginia | Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact member (enacted 2026) |
| North Carolina | Not a compact member |
The compact governs movement between member states. Because one end is not a member, the compact route does not exist for you at all — whatever the other state's membership is publicised as doing. Why that matters →
The question that decides this corridor
Will NCDPI accept your Virginia summative evaluation as the “effectiveness data” that decides between the Continuing and the Initial Professional License?
Without effectiveness data from the state where you held a current licence, NCDPI says you may only qualify for the Initial Professional License: three years, non-renewable, with North Carolina’s exams to be attempted in the first year and passed by the third unless your Virginia exams are accepted as comparable. DPI’s example is a final summative evaluation signed by both your supervising school official and you, with a link to the model behind the rating — a document you need from your Virginia school before you leave it.
Who to ask: NCDPI Licensure, 919-716-1800 (press 2 for a Licensure Specialist; calls Monday–Friday 10:00–17:00 Eastern) or 800-577-7994 toll-free within North Carolina; asklicensure@dpi.nc.gov
ambiguous_confirm_with_state — this is a real gap in the
published record, not a gap in our reading of it. We checked on
10 September 2026. Anyone who gives you a confident answer to this is guessing;
the agency is the only place it can be settled.
Moving on military orders? Federal law gives a military spouse a separate route: a covered teaching certificate is valid in the new state on three documents. North Carolina's education agency names that route on its own pages, and still prints a two-year condition the federal law dropped in 2024. What federal law and North Carolina publish →
What North Carolina requires
Each card carries the rule or agency page it comes from and the date we read it. Where a source states something verbatim, we quote it rather than paraphrase.
NC defines reciprocity as the acknowledgement of completion of an educator preparation program in another state or jurisdiction outside of NC.North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI), Educator Licensure, Forms and FAQs — read 10 September 2026
If effectiveness data is not provided with your NC CPL application you may only qualify for the IPL.North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI), Educator Licensure, Further Educator License Information (Convert an IPL to a CPL; CPL; alternate routes; CTE) — read 10 September 2026
a final official signed (by both the supervising school official and NC license applicant) summative performance evaluation from the state where you were employed with current licensure and a link to the definition of the model leading to the performance rating.
This is the fourth destination in this project, after New Jersey, New York and Georgia, where a deciding document has to come from a school you have left.
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI), Educator Licensure, Further Educator License Information (Convert an IPL to a CPL; CPL; alternate routes; CTE) — read 10 September 2026Initial License (IPL) is for 3 years and is non-renewableNorth Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI), Educator Licensure, Forms and FAQs — read 10 September 2026
the North Carolina required licensure exam(s) must be attempted in the first year of the license and passed before or during the third year of the license.North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI), Educator Licensure, Forms and FAQs — read 10 September 2026
Yes, provided North Carolina has a comparable license area and you have 3 or more years of classroom teaching experience.North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI), Educator Licensure, Forms and FAQs — read 10 September 2026
The applicant demonstrates an exam(s) score(s) that meets or exceeds the passing score(s) recommended by the test developer, regardless of the passing score adopted by the other state.
A teacher who passed at their own state’s cut score may not have passed by North Carolina’s measure. Neither score is published on the pages captured.
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI), Educator Licensure, Forms and FAQs — read 10 September 2026No, if you completed another state's approved EPP leading to the Elementary Education and/or Exceptional Children: General Curriculum license, and have fewer than 3 years of classroom teaching experience.North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI), Educator Licensure, Forms and FAQs — read 10 September 2026
have the option to either pass NC SBE required licensure testing (see file linked at bottom of page) or complete state-approved foundations courses in reading and math to convert the IPL to the CPL.North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI), Educator Licensure, Forms and FAQs — read 10 September 2026
either edTPA or PPAT are required for all applicants (in-state and out-of-state) who are awarded educator preparation program degrees or complete approved educator licensure programs on or after September 1, 2019.North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI), Educator Licensure, Forms and FAQs — read 10 September 2026
Non-refundable service fees range from $30 - $100.
The amount for an out-of-state initial application is unresolved until the State Board fee policy can be read or DPI confirms it.
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI), Educator Licensure, Forms and FAQs — read 10 September 2026Alternative route programs that lead to licensure must be verified by letter from the state's department of education or licensing board where the approved route was completed.North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI), Educator Licensure, Apply for a NC Educator License — read 10 September 2026
North Carolina allows military personnel (and spouses) with out-of-state teaching credentials to immediately begin teaching in NC public schools.
CONFLICT WITH FEDERAL LAW, recorded 10 September 2026. The two-year active-use condition on NCDPI’s page is the wording of 50 U.S.C. §4025a before Congress amended it on 23 December 2024. The Justice Department states there is no longer any active-use requirement for SCRA portability. Which condition NCDPI applies to a teacher today is unresolved.
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI), Educator Licensure, Military Licensure Pathways — read 10 September 2026The provision will remain in effect until the military orders expires or June 30th of that same year, whichever is later.North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI), Educator Licensure, Military Licensure Pathways — read 10 September 2026
The Provisional License is a nonrenewable license valid for a period not to exceed three years issued to an individual who has allowable deficiencies for full licensure as set forth in this chapter.Virginia Board of Education (Virginia Administrative Code, published by the Virginia General Assembly), 8VAC20-23-50 Types of licenses; dating licenses — read 10 September 2026
The applicant will be restricted to teaching only in the area or areas of concentration listed on the teaching license.Virginia Board of Education (Virginia Administrative Code, published by the Virginia General Assembly), 8VAC20-23-170 Middle education 6-8 — read 10 September 2026
Upload all requested documentation into the online application for licensure.North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI), Educator Licensure, Apply for a NC Educator License — read 10 September 2026
the law does not permit requesting transcripts or test scores.
The Justice Department also reports that spouses who asked explicitly about SCRA portability have been told no such pathway exists. Whether the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact is the kind of compact that removes this route under §4025a(e) was not established; North Carolina is not a compact member either way.
U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Professional License Portability (SCRA) — guidance and FAQ, updated 19 December 2025 — read 10 September 2026the licensing authority may issue to the applicant a temporary license that confers the same rights, privileges, and responsibilities as a permanent licenseUnited States Congress — 50 U.S.C. §4025a as amended by Pub. L. 118-159 §587 (text as published by the Mississippi Real Estate Commission), 50 U.S.C. §4025a — Portability of professional licenses of servicemembers and their spouses — read 10 September 2026
The Collegiate Professional License is a 10-year, renewable license available to an individual who has satisfied all requirements for licensureVirginia Board of Education (Virginia Administrative Code, published by the Virginia General Assembly), 8VAC20-23-50 Types of licenses; dating licenses — read 10 September 2026
The endorsement, side by side
| Virginia | North Carolina | |
|---|---|---|
| Certificate or endorsement | Mathematics | Secondary (9-12) licence in mathematics |
| Grade band | 6–12 (the regulation groups it under “secondary grades 6-12”) | 9–12 |
| Named examination | <span class="muted">not captured</span> | <span class="muted">not captured</span> |
Note the grade-band mismatch. Virginia issues 6–12 (the regulation groups it under “secondary grades 6-12”); North Carolina issues 9–12. Whether that matters depends on whether the destination applies an identity test or a comparability test — and those are different tests with different outcomes.
What works in your favour
North Carolina recognises approved educator preparation programmes from all states.
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI), Educator Licensure, Forms and FAQs — read 10 September 2026With three or more years of classroom teaching, your Virginia licensure exams can stand in for North Carolina’s wherever North Carolina has a comparable licence area.
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI), Educator Licensure, Forms and FAQs — read 10 September 2026A military spouse with a current Virginia licence used in the last two years can start teaching in a North Carolina public school immediately, on the North Carolina salary schedule.
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI), Educator Licensure, Military Licensure Pathways — read 10 September 2026Areas you added to your Virginia licence by exam can be granted with your first North Carolina licence, where North Carolina has a comparable area.
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI), Educator Licensure, Forms and FAQs — read 10 September 2026What it costs to get this corridor wrong
Every figure below is set by a rule or published by the agency, and cited on its row. These are not our estimates.
Nothing here is a prediction about your file. It is what the published rules say happens, and what the agency charges, if a step is taken in the wrong order or on the wrong document.
Licence classes on this corridor
The requirements above are the ones that apply whatever you teach. These are the classes whose subject-specific requirements we have researched for North Carolina.
| Licence class | Corridor | Pack |
|---|---|---|
| Secondary mathematics | Virginia → North Carolina | Facts on this page · pack not written yet |
| Elementary | Virginia → North Carolina | Facts on this page · pack not written yet |
| Middle grades | Virginia → North Carolina | Facts on this page · pack not written yet |
| Secondary science | Virginia → North Carolina | Facts on this page · pack not written yet |
| Secondary English language arts | Virginia → North Carolina | Facts on this page · pack not written yet |
| Special education | Virginia → North Carolina | Facts on this page · pack not written yet |
A class listed without a pack is not a gap in the research — its facts are on this page and on the state pages. It means we have not yet written the step-by-step pack for it.
Where these facts come from
This page cites 9 sources. Every one is named on the card that uses it, with the date we read it. The full register, including what we archived and what we could not retrieve, is at every source we cite.
Everything we have verified about North Carolina → · About Virginia →