Florida teacher licensure for out-of-state applicants

Route

Route

Order of steps

These four steps lead to your initial Florida certificate

This is the practical reason a Temporary certificate cannot issue before employment. A holder of a valid professional standard certificate from another state qualifies for the Professional certificate without step 3 gating them the same way, which is exactly what makes the tier question on this corridor worth so much.

ChangeChanged 7 Apr 2025

Please note - changes to our Fingerprint Processing Instructions went into effect April 7, 2025.

Who qualifies

Documentation of a valid professional standard teaching certificate issued by another state

s. 1012.56(3)(b), (5)(e) and (6)(c), F.S. (2026 edition). The same phrase appears in all three subsections.

Who qualifies

Who qualifies

s. 1012.56(2)(c), F.S.

Exemption

Documentation of a valid professional standard teaching certificate issued by another state

Section 1012.56(3)(b), (5)(e) and (6)(c), F.S. A currently valid National Board certificate does the same independently under (3)(c), (5)(f) and (6)(d). These are the only two routes that clear all three requirements at once; every other route clears them one at a time.

Teaching meanwhile

The Florida Temporary Certificate is issued after the individual is employed in a Florida school and his/her fingerprints have been cleared.

If you might later leave Florida, read the hazard on Temporary certificates as an out-of-state credential before relying on one.

What to gather

Your application package cannot be evaluated until it is completed, submitted and all items received in the Bureau of Educator Certification.

Processing fees are nonrefundable, and FLDOE says applications with blank or improperly completed sections will not be evaluated.

What to gather

If you hold a valid standard certificate from a state other than Florida or a U.S. territory, submit a photocopy of the front and back of your valid certificate with your completed application.

FLDOE asks for all valid certificates you hold, “regardless of whether you have recently taught in that state”. The stage-or-level line matters on this site’s Florida corridors: it is what Florida reads to decide whether your certificate is comparable to its Professional Certificate.

What to gather

Only official transcripts will be evaluated. Do not submit photocopies, grade reports, or internet printouts.

FLDOE also asks that your Social Security number or Florida DOE licence number appear on each transcript; some registrars show it only on request.

Fee

Authorised by the State Board of Education under Certification Rule 6A-4.0012, F.A.C. Adding a subject is $75 per subject; removing one is $20 per subject; upgrading Temporary to Professional is $75; late renewal is $105.

Fee

the total application fee is $105 ($75 basic renewal fee plus a $30 late application fee)

Fee

The fingerprint processing fees for the required background screening (state and federal) may be borne by the district school board, charter school, employee, or contractor.

Separately, FLDOE warns that prints taken BEFORE Florida employment may need reprocessing at a second fee. If you are printed early in order to hold a certificate for interviews, budget for paying twice.

How long

the department shall issue within 90 calendar days after receipt of the completed application a professional certificate to a qualifying applicant

s. 1012.56(1)(a), F.S. This is a statutory duty rather than a service target.

How long

s. 1012.56(1)(c), F.S.

Deadline

s. 1012.56(2)(d), F.S.

How long

If the results of your fingerprints are clear, your certificate is issued within 30 days of our Bureau’s receipt of your district’s request.

Do not read this as an alternative to the 90-day statutory limit in s. 1012.56(1)(a), F.S. They are measured from different starting points, this one from the DISTRICT’S request and that one from your completed application, so they are not a range.

How it goes wrong

If a U.S. citizen chooses to have his/her fingerprints processed prior to Florida employment for issuance of the Professional Certificate, it may be necessary to have the fingerprints reprocessed, and the individual may have to pay a second processing fee as a condition of employment in a Florida public school.

How it goes wrong

Only passing exam scores earned no more than ten (10) years prior to the date of application are acceptable.

A mid-career teacher whose subject-area examination predates that window has no usable scores for the examination route.

Claim checked

Cite s. 1012.56, F.S. and the Florida Administrative Code text at flrules.org instead.

How it goes wrongTo confirm with the agency

Provides time to complete all requirements for a Professional Certificate while teaching full-time.

What is unresolved: whether a receiving state reads “requirements still outstanding” as “deficiencies indicated”. Texas’s exclusion is at 19 TAC §230.111(c) and TEA makes that call, not us. If you hold a Florida Temporary and are leaving the state, ask the receiving agency before paying a nonrefundable review fee. Holders of a Florida Professional Certificate are not affected.

Open questionTo confirm with the agency

This is the single question that decides whether an applicant sits no Florida examinations or three. Confirm with the Bureau of Educator Certification before paying the nonrefundable fee.

Not publishedNot published by the agency