Transferring a Cosmetology License to Florida

Florida grants a cosmetology license to an out-of-state cosmetologist by endorsement on one condition in the statute: holding a current active cosmetology license in another state. No examination, no hours test, no substantial-equivalence review. The Board’s rule adds one requirement the statute does not mention.

The statute is a single sentence

(6) The board shall certify as qualified for licensure by endorsement as a cosmetologist in this state an applicant who holds a current active license to practice cosmetology in another state.

That is the whole of s. 477.019(6). “Shall”, not “may”. No minimum hours, no comparison of the other state’s standards, no examination.

The rule adds the HIV/AIDS course

The implementing rule sets out three conditions, and the second is not in the statute (Rule 61G5-18.007):

The Department of Business and Professional Regulation shall issue a license to an applicant without examination who: (1) Makes application and pays to the Department the fee specified in Rule 61G5-24.002, F.A.C.; (2) Demonstrates the applicant has completed a board approved HIV/AIDS course; and (3) Demonstrates the applicant holds a current active license to practice cosmetology under the law of another state.

So reading the statute alone under-states what is required. The course is the same board-approved HIV/AIDS course an applicant by examination must complete.

“Current” and “active” are both doing work

The requirement is a current active license in another state. A lapsed, inactive or delinquent license in the other state is not the thing the statute describes, and endorsement is the route for people who hold one now — not for people who held one once.

Endorsement skips the examination entirely — which is the practical difference between this route and licensure by examination.

Specialty registrations are a different, stricter standard

This page is about the cosmetology license. Endorsement of an out-of-state specialty registration runs under a separate rule with materially different conditions. Do not read this page as covering it; see specialty registrations for what those credentials are.