Do I have to take the Iowa journeyman electrician exam if I'm licensed in Nevada?

No. The trade exam is waived on this path.

How long do I need to have held my Nevada license?

At least 1 year before applying.

What does it cost to get a Iowa journeyman electrician license from Nevada?

Published fees on this path total $75, not counting exam vendor fees or bonds.

Do my Nevada work hours count in Iowa?

Yes. Documented out-of-state experience counts toward Iowa's eligibility requirements.

Does it work the other way, from Iowa to Nevada?

Not necessarily. Reciprocity is directed. Going from Iowa to Nevada, the mechanism is not applicable.

Nevada to Iowa: journeyman electrician license reciprocity

No credit· Start overVerified September 15, 2026· 8 sources

Nevada does not issue a statewide journeyman electrician license, so there is nothing to transfer. Here is Iowa's standard path for out-of-state applicants.

Your origin state does not issue a statewide license at this level, so there is no license to transfer. The destination's standard out-of-state path is shown; expect to meet it in full.

Reference only, not legal advice. Rules change; confirm with the licensing board before you apply. Full disclaimer.

Licensure by verification (states without a reciprocal agreement)

Your out-of-state credentials give no advantage. You meet the destination's requirements from scratch.

An out-of-state journeyman from a state that is not on Iowa's reciprocity list can apply for licensure by verification under Iowa Code 272C.12 and rule 481-401.9. The board issues the Iowa license without examination if the applicant has been licensed in the other jurisdiction for at least one year, the scope of practice there is substantially similar, the license is in good standing everywhere it is held, the applicant passed the exam the origin state required, and there is no revocation, discipline or pending complaint. For electrician licenses the statute additionally requires that the applicant has established Iowa residency (or is the spouse of an active-duty service member on permanent change of station to Iowa). The origin jurisdiction must complete the board's License by Verification form and send it directly to the board, and the applicant pays the regular license fee ($75 for a full three-year journeyman cycle, prorated). An applicant who cannot meet the residency requirement can instead be sponsored for the Iowa journeyman exam on the strength of a current out-of-state journeyman or master license obtained by exam, but must first complete 18 hours of board-approved continuing education and 1,000 hours of work in Iowa as a licensed unclassified person.

DIAL's page tags the License by Verification form as 'Archived' but the form itself is dated 10/20/25 and rule 481-401.9 remains in the December 2025 Administrative Code; confirm current availability with the board before relying on it. The PSI exam fee for the alternative exam route is not published on any DIAL page. Rule 481-401.10 separately allows applicants from jurisdictions that do not license electricians to qualify on three years of full-time work experience within the last four years.

At a glance

Trade exam: Waived
Law / code exam: Not required
Out-of-state hours: Count toward eligibility

What you must already have

You must have held your Nevada license for at least 1 year.Licensed by another issuing jurisdiction for at least one year (481-401.9(1)b).
Your Nevada license must be active and in good standing.
Your Nevada license must have been obtained by examination, not by reciprocity or grandfathering.
You must have no disciplinary action or unresolved complaints on your record.
Scope of practice in the transferring jurisdiction is substantially similar to Iowa's
Has established Iowa residency (rule 701-300.17) or is married to an active-duty service member accompanying them on an official permanent change of station to Iowa

What you'll do to get licensed in Iowa

1License fee. Pay the license or certificate fee ($75). Journeyman Class A license fee for a full three-year cycle (481-401.3); prorated by month when issued mid-cycle.
2Other. License by Verification form completed by the transferring jurisdiction and sent directly to the board.
3Other. Proof of Iowa residency (homestead credit, voter registration, Iowa driver's license, or days-of-residence test) and documentation of complete criminal record.

Published fees on this path total $75, excluding exam-vendor fees, bonds, and insurance.

How Iowa licenses journeyman electricians

Iowa journeyman electrician · “Class A Journeyman Electrician”

Statewide license

Verified September 15, 2026· 5 sources

Issued by Iowa Electrical Examining Board, Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing (DIAL)

Iowa issues a statewide Class A Journeyman Electrician license through the Electrical Examining Board, now housed in the Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing (DIAL); the Class B journeyman license is a closed grandfather class for people working before 1998. A new Class A applicant must have completed a U.S. DOL-registered apprenticeship (8,000 hours of on-the-job training and 576 classroom hours, four years as an apprentice) or a board-approved post-secondary electrical program with 6,000 OJT hours, and pass the PSI-administered journeyman exam with 70% or better (2023 NEC). The license runs on a three-year cycle; a full-cycle license costs $75 and the fee is prorated by month of issue. Iowa has reciprocal agreements with 13 states at the journeyman level, under which the Iowa exam is waived. Licensees from any other state can use Iowa's universal licensure-by-verification process (Iowa Code 272C.12), which also waives the exam but requires Iowa residency, or sit the Iowa exam.

Moving to Iowa Leaving Iowa

Why Nevada has nothing to transfer

Nevada journeyman electrician

Licensed by cities and counties

Verified September 15, 2026· 10 sources

Issued by Nevada State Contractors Board (contractor licensing only); journeyman cards issued at county/city level

Nevada has no statewide journeyman electrician license. The Nevada State Contractors Board (NSCB) licenses electrical contractors under classification C-2 (NRS/NAC 624) and states that it does not issue licenses to individual journeymen, so an out-of-state journeyman license has nothing to transfer to at the state level and is not required for employment by a licensed C-2 contractor in most of the state. Journeyman cards are instead required by local building codes in the urban jurisdictions: Clark County, the City of Las Vegas, the City of Henderson and the City of Reno all require a master electrician, electrical qualified individual or journeyman electrician to be on site for permitted electrical work, and their journeyman credential is a Nevada Electrical Qualifications Card obtained by passing the ICC national G17 Journeyman Electrician (or G18 Residential Electrician) exam at 70% and applying to Electrical Safety Professionals (ESP), the third-party card administrator, with 2,000 documented hours of electrical work or apprenticeship (a requirement added January 1, 2024). No jurisdiction publishes a waiver of the ICC exam for an out-of-state license; Clark County recognizes only certificates from its accepted testing agency or from other Nevada political subdivisions within the county, and Reno lets holders of a reciprocal license from another city, county, state or country work for 12 months inside the city before obtaining the Reno certification. Cards are valid three years and renewed with ESP continuing education.

How local licensing works in Nevada

How local licensing works. NRS Chapter 624 licenses only contractors; a C-2 Electrical Contracting license is issued to a business and qualified by an individual with four years of journeyman-or-higher experience, and the NSCB's own FAQ says Nevada does not license individual journeymen. Whether a working electrician needs a personal credential is decided by each county's or city's building administrative code. The southern Nevada jurisdictions and Reno run a common program: exams are the ICC National Electrician exams (G17 Journeyman Electrician, G18 Residential Electrician, G16 Master Electrician) taken through Pearson VUE, and photo ID cards are issued by Electrical Safety Professionals (ESP), the Nevada non-profit that took over the Clark County ID card program on September 1, 2019.

Clark County (unincorporated Las Vegas valley, Laughlin, Mesquite area). Clark County Code §22.02.250 requires the contractor to have a master electrician or electrical qualified individual, or a journeyman electrician, present in a supervisory capacity whenever permitted electrical work is under way. §22.02.255 defines a journeyman as someone who has passed the journeyman examination accepted by the Building Official; §22.02.260 lists Journeyman Electrician (all electrical work), Journeyman Residential Electrician (one- and two-family dwellings), Journeyman Sign Electrician and Technician (low voltage) categories and requires certificates to be kept current with the county's accepted third-party testing agency. The only equivalency in the code is for a current certificate from an accepted independent testing agency or from a political subdivision of Nevada within Clark County; there is no provision for other states' licenses. Since 2019 the accepted exam is the ICC G17/G18 and the card comes from ESP.

City of Las Vegas. The City of Las Vegas Administrative Code (2019 edition) §306 carries the same on-site supervision rule (master electrician or electrical qualified individual, or a journeyman electrician). The city uses the same ESP card as Clark County.

City of Henderson. ESP's program notice lists Henderson among the municipalities that require at least a journeyman electrical card for installing electrical systems; Henderson's own building pages could not be opened for this record, so its ordinance text is unverified.

City of Reno (Washoe County). Reno Municipal Code Title 14 prohibits electrical installations, alterations or additions unless done by a person holding a valid journeyman certificate, with exceptions for homeowners, licensed contractors under direct supervision arrangements, and contractors with reciprocal licenses from another city, county, state or country, who must obtain the Reno certification after 12 months of work in the city. The ICC G17 or G18 exam needs no pre-approval; the applicant then sends the score report to ESP for a card valid three years.

ESP card requirements (all of the above). Pass the ICC exam (70% journeyman, 75% master); since January 1, 2024 a new card also needs 2,000 documented hours of electrical work or apprenticeship; renewal every three years with 15 CEU hours for journeymen (30 for masters) including an 8-hour NEC update class; a card expired more than one year requires re-examination. ESP's card and exam fees are not published on the official jurisdiction pages and were not verified.

Out-of-state holders. None of these jurisdictions publish a reciprocity or endorsement path for a journeyman license from another state. Reno's 12-month grace period for reciprocal licenses is the only accommodation found. In practice an arriving journeyman takes the ICC G17 exam once and obtains the ESP card, which is honored by Clark County, Las Vegas, Henderson and Reno. Rural counties and Carson City were not surveyed.

Clark County (Department of Building and Fire Prevention)
City of Las Vegas (Department of Building and Safety)
City of Henderson (per ESP program notice; ordinance not verified)
City of Reno (Development Services)

Moving to Nevada Leaving Nevada

Common questions

Do I have to take the Iowa journeyman electrician exam if I'm licensed in Nevada?: No. The trade exam is waived on this path.
How long do I need to have held my Nevada license?: At least 1 year before applying.
What does it cost to get a Iowa journeyman electrician license from Nevada?: Published fees on this path total $75, not counting exam vendor fees or bonds.
Do my Nevada work hours count in Iowa?: Yes. Documented out-of-state experience counts toward Iowa's eligibility requirements.
Does it work the other way, from Iowa to Nevada?: Not necessarily. Reciprocity is directed. Going from Iowa to Nevada, the mechanism is not applicable.

Sources

Iowa Code Chapter 103 - Electricians and Electrical Contractors (2026) · Iowa Code §§103.10, 103.12, 103.21 · Iowa Legislature · Statute · verified September 15, 2026§103.10: Class A master requires one year as a licensed Class A or B journeyman plus exam. §103.12: Class A journeyman requires a DOL-registered apprenticeship (or board-rule equivalent) plus exam. §103.21: board may license without exam, same grade and class, an electrician licensed at least one year by a state that provides for similar action.
Iowa Code 272C.12 - Licensure of persons licensed in other jurisdictions (2026) · Iowa Code 272C.12 · Iowa Legislature · Statute · verified September 15, 2026Universal-recognition statute: a license shall be issued without examination to a person currently licensed in good standing by another state in the same occupation with a substantially similar scope of practice, who met that state's education/experience requirements, passed its exam if any, has no revocation, discipline or pending complaint, and pays the fees; for chapter 103 and 105 licenses the person must have established Iowa residency (or be a military spouse on PCS orders). Boards may still require an exam specific to Iowa law, in which case a three-month temporary license (renewable once) must be issued. PDF read with a local text extractor.
DIAL - Electrical Licensing FAQs · Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing (DIAL) · Faq · verified September 15, 2026Lists the Iowa license classes (Electrical Contractor, Class A/B Master, Residential Master, Class A/B Journeyman, Residential, Apprentice, Special, Unclassified), the reciprocal states, and that PSI has tested on the 2023 NEC since Jan. 1, 2024.
DIAL - Electrical Licensing (Electrical Examining Board) · Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing (DIAL) · Agency Page · verified September 15, 2026Program home page; links the online licensing portal (iowaelectrical.gov), the fee schedule, the testing sponsorship sheet, and the License by Verification from Another State form.
DIAL - Electrical License Fees for the 2026-2028 license cycle · Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing (DIAL) · Other · verified September 15, 2026Journeyman Class A or B: $75 for a license issued in 2026, prorated monthly ($50 in 2027, $25 in 2028). Master Class A or B and Electrical Contractor: $375 in 2026, prorated ($250 in 2027, $125 in 2028). Late renewal 10% per month.
State of Iowa Testing Sponsorship Requirements and Information (rev. 12/14/2023) · Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing (DIAL) · Other · verified September 15, 2026Passing score 70% on the PSI exam. Journeyman candidates: completed DOL-registered apprenticeship (8,000 OJT and 576 classroom hours) or a board-approved PSEP with 6,000 OJT hours. Master candidates: one year's experience as a licensed Class A or B journeyman. Board sends a sponsorship code used to register with PSI.
Iowa Electrical Examining Board - License by Verification Form (Iowa Code 272C.12), rev. 10/20/25 · Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing (DIAL) · Form · verified September 15, 2026Must be completed by the transferring jurisdiction and sent directly to the board; records license type, issue date, whether the license was obtained by exam, time active, good standing and discipline history.
481 IAC Chapter 401 - Electrician and Electrical Contractor Licensing Program: Licensing Requirements, Procedures, and Fees (IAC 12/10/25) · 481 IAC 401.2(3), 401.2(6), 401.2(14), 401.2(15), 401.3, 401.9 · Iowa Legislature / DIAL · Admin Rule · verified September 15, 2026401.2(14) and 401.2(15) set the reciprocal journeyman and master conditions (agreement state, origin exam passed with 70+, license held continuously one year, plus completed apprenticeship or 16,000 hours licensed work by affidavit). 401.2(6)c is the exam route for out-of-state licensees (18 CE hours and 1,000 hours in Iowa as an unclassified person). 401.3 fee table: journeyman $75/3 years, master $375/3 years, prorated. 401.9 licensure by verification requires Iowa residency.

Verified dates are when a person last opened each source and confirmed the facts above. Cite the board, not us.

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