Nevada to Maryland: journeyman electrician license reciprocity
Nevada does not issue a statewide journeyman electrician license, so there is nothing to transfer. Here is Maryland'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.
Out-of-state journeyperson without a reciprocal agreement
Your out-of-state credentials give no advantage. You meet the destination's requirements from scratch.
A journeyperson licensed in a state that has no reciprocal agreement with Maryland must apply for an original license by examination. The Board's FAQ states that reciprocal licensing is only available where the other state and the Board have entered into an agreement, and the Board lists only Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. The applicant documents at least 4 years of regular, principal employment providing electrical services under the direction and supervision of a master electrician or a similarly qualified governmental employee (the statute does not limit this to Maryland-licensed masters), registers with PSI, passes the 70-question open-book journeyperson exam with 70%, and then pays the $18.50 license fee. Business Occupations and Professions §6-308 does allow the Board, by majority vote, to waive the exam for any state that waives its exam for Maryland licensees to a similar extent, provided the applicant was licensed by examination and has 4 years' experience with at least 2 years before out-of-state licensure; the Board has not published a process for invoking that waiver outside its four agreements.
Whether the Board credits experience gained under an out-of-state master electrician was not confirmed from an official page; the statute and application page say only 'a master electrician'. The PSI bulletin says the Board may allow up to 3 years of credit for formal study toward the journeyperson requirement, and the exam bulletin still references the 2020 NEC.
At a glance
- Trade exam
- Required
- Law / code exam
- Not required
- Out-of-state hours
- Count toward eligibility
What you must already have
- You must document at least 4 years of qualifying work experience.At least 4 years engaged regularly and principally in providing electrical services under the direction and supervision of a master electrician or a similarly qualified employee of a governmental unit (Bus. Occ. & Prof. §6-304); an approved apprenticeship with 576 classroom hours and 8,000 work hours substitutes.
What you'll do to get licensed in Maryland
- 1Trade exam. Pass the destination's trade exam. Maryland Journeyperson Electrician exam administered by PSI: 70 questions, 49 correct (70%) to pass, 210 minutes, open book on NFPA 70.
- 2Exam fee. Pay the exam fee ($65). PSI examination fee, paid to PSI, valid for one exam attempt.
- 3License fee. Pay the license or certificate fee ($18.50). Original journeyperson license fee (non-refundable), effective July 1, 2025.
Published fees on this path total $83.50, excluding exam-vendor fees, bonds, and insurance.
What you'll need to buy or arrange
Exam preparation
Most boards contract PSI, Prov, or ICC for exams. Check which code edition the exam is written to before buying a prep course.
- Trade exam
- Exam fee · $65
How Maryland licenses journeyman electricians
Maryland journeyman electrician · “Journeyperson Electrician”
Statewide license
Issued by Maryland State Board of Electricians (Department of Labor)
Maryland issues a statewide Journeyperson Electrician license through the State Board of Electricians in the Department of Labor. Statewide journeyperson and apprentice licensing began July 1, 2021 under the Maryland Electricians Act; before that the State licensed only master electricians and each county or Baltimore City licensed journeypersons, and those local bodies now issue registrations rather than licenses. A new applicant qualifies with 4 years of electrical work under the direction and supervision of a master electrician (or a similarly qualified employee of a governmental unit) or by completing a MATC- or federally-approved apprenticeship with 576 classroom hours and 8,000 work hours, then passes the PSI-administered journeyperson exam (70 questions, 70% to pass, open book on the NEC, $65). The original license fee is $18.50. The Board has reciprocal agreements with Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia; its application pages list Virginia, Delaware and D.C. as origins for journeyperson reciprocity. Licensed journeypersons work under the direction and control of a master electrician.
Why Nevada has nothing to transfer
Nevada journeyman electrician
Licensed by cities and counties
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)
Common questions
- Do I have to take the Maryland journeyman electrician exam if I'm licensed in Nevada?
- Yes. Maryland requires the trade exam on this path.
- What does it cost to get a Maryland journeyman electrician license from Nevada?
- Published fees on this path total $83.50, not counting exam vendor fees or bonds.
- Do my Nevada work hours count in Maryland?
- Yes. Documented out-of-state experience counts toward Maryland's eligibility requirements.
- Does it work the other way, from Maryland to Nevada?
- Not necessarily. Reciprocity is directed. Going from Maryland to Nevada, the mechanism is not applicable.
Sources
- Maryland State Board of Electricians - Maryland Electricians Act (2021 statewide licensing) · Md. Code, Bus. Occ. & Prof. Title 6 · Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing · Agency Page · verified September 15, 2026Legislation signed May 30, 2021, effective July 1, 2021, renamed the State Board of Master Electricians to the State Board of Electricians and created State apprentice, journeyperson and master electrician licenses. Local jurisdictions lost authority to license electricians (they may issue registrations); individuals holding only local licenses had to obtain a State license by July 1, 2022, with an exam-waiver application deadline of December 31, 2022.
- Maryland State Board of Electricians - Taking the Exam (PSI) · Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing · Agency Page · verified September 15, 2026PSI Examination Services administers the master and journeyperson exams at Baltimore, College Park, Hagerstown, Lanham and Salisbury; the examination fee is $65.00; register at test-takers.psiexams.com/mdelec.
- Maryland State Board of Electricians - Licensing FAQs · Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing · Faq · verified September 15, 2026Q11-12: the Board 'currently has reciprocal agreements with Delaware, West Virginia, Virginia, and the District of Columbia'. West Virginia (State Fire Marshal) licensees who passed the West Virginia exam and have held the license at least two years in good standing, Virginia and D.C. licensees who passed those jurisdictions' written exams, and Delaware licensees in good standing for at least five years who passed the Delaware exam may apply without taking the Maryland written exam. Also: 30 days before an exam retake, 60 days between later attempts; a Maryland license obtained by local-jurisdiction reciprocity cannot be used to reciprocate to another state or D.C.
- Maryland State Board of Electricians - Fees (effective July 1, 2025) · COMAR 09.09 · Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing · Agency Page · verified September 15, 2026Original license: master $25.00, journeyperson $18.50, apprentice $12.00. Renewal: master $31.50, journeyperson $18.50, apprentice $12.00. Reinstatement $28/$63/$126 by lateness; letter of good standing $50; status change $63. Examination and re-examination fees are paid directly to the testing service.
- Maryland State Board of Electricians - Home · Md. Code, Bus. Occ. & Prof. §6-604 · Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing · Agency Page · verified September 15, 2026States that all electrical work in Maryland must be performed by a licensed master, journeyperson or apprentice electrician, and that licensees must carry general liability insurance of at least $300,000 and property damage insurance of at least $100,000 with the State Board named as certificate holder.
- Maryland State Board of Electricians - Licensing Applications (how to apply) · Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing · Agency Page · verified September 15, 2026Describes each application path: journeyperson by examination (4 years under a master electrician), by MATC/FOA apprenticeship (576 classroom hours and 8,000 work hours), by local-jurisdiction reciprocity, and out-of-state reciprocity, which this page says is 'currently only' with Virginia (license obtained by examination or a Virginia apprenticeship program, held at least 1 year, must state it is journeyperson level). Master by examination (7 years, up to 3 years education credit) and master by reciprocity from 'a local jurisdiction, or the states of Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia or the District of Columbia' with a letter of verification and certificate of insurance. All Board fees are non-refundable.
- Maryland State Board of Electricians - Other Electrical Licenses in Maryland · Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing · Agency Page · verified September 15, 2026Before July 1, 2021 the Board issued only master licenses and local jurisdictions licensed apprentices and journeypersons; since then the State issues all three and local jurisdictions issue registrations. Lesser local categories (limited, low voltage) are still issued by local jurisdictions.
- Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions §6-304 - Qualifications of applicants · Md. Code, Bus. Occ. & Prof. §6-304 · Maryland General Assembly · Statute · verified September 15, 2026Master: at least 7 years providing electrical services under a master electrician or similarly qualified governmental employee, with up to 3 years credit for formal education/training and full credit for an approved apprenticeship. Journeyperson: at least 4 years under the same supervision, or an approved apprenticeship. All applicants must pass the State Board examination.
- Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions §6-306 - Examinations · Md. Code, Bus. Occ. & Prof. §6-306 · Maryland General Assembly · Statute · verified September 15, 2026Exams are objective and written, based on applicable electrical codes, with a passing score of 70%; the exam fee may not exceed the actual cost.
- Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions §6-307 - Waiver of examination for local registrants · Md. Code, Bus. Occ. & Prof. §6-307 · Maryland General Assembly · Statute · verified September 15, 2026The Board waives the exam for a holder of an active Maryland local registration who was licensed in the local jurisdiction before December 31, 2022 after passing an equivalent local exam and meeting equivalent requirements, with a good-standing statement from the local jurisdiction.
- Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions §6-308 - Waiver of examination for out-of-state licensees (reciprocity) · Md. Code, Bus. Occ. & Prof. §6-308 · Maryland General Assembly · Statute · verified September 15, 2026On a majority vote the Board may waive the exam for a master or journeyperson electrician licensed in another state who pays the application fee, meets Maryland's qualifications, holds an active equivalent license in good standing, was licensed there by examination after substantially equivalent requirements, and has 7 years' experience (at least 4 before out-of-state licensure) for master or 4 years (at least 2 before licensure) for journeyperson. Waivers are granted only if the other state waives its exam for Maryland licensees to a similar extent; not available to applicants licensed solely outside the United States. The Board 'shall pursue a policy of reciprocal recognition'.
- PSI - Maryland Master and Journeyperson Electrician Qualification Information Bulletin · PSI Services LLC for the Maryland State Board of Electricians · Other · verified September 15, 2026Master exam: 90 questions, 70% to pass, 240 minutes; journeyperson exam: 70 questions, 49 correct (70%), 210 minutes; both open book on NFPA 70 NEC 2020; exam fee $65, valid for one exam. Restates the §6-308 out-of-state waiver conditions and the West Virginia/Virginia/D.C./Delaware master agreement terms. Its journeyperson section still says out-of-state waivers are 'coming soon' and none are in place, which the Board's newer application pages supersede.
Verified dates are when a person last opened each source and confirmed the facts above. Cite the board, not us.