Moving to New Jersey as a master electrician: every state's rule

New Jersey has no license called 'master electrician'; its highest person-held electrical credential is the Electrical Contractor license, issued by the Board of Examiners of Electrical Contractors to an individual who establishes five years of qualifying experience and passes the Board's three-part written examination (electrical contractor, business and law, and alarm systems). This file treats that license as the master level. Under N.J.S.A. 45:5A-9 as amended by P.L. 2021, c.479, the five years must consist of a completed four-year U.S. Department of Labor-approved apprenticeship followed by at least one year (2,000 hours) as a journeyman; the Board's overview also describes alternatives such as a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering plus two years of hands-on work, and the exam application lets a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering or technology count for three of the five years. The individual license alone does not permit contracting: the licensee's business must also hold a Board business permit backed by a $1,000 surety bond and $300,000 of general liability insurance, and every licensee must be over 21 with a high school diploma or equivalent. Licenses and permits run on a three-year cycle. N.J.A.C. 13:31-2.9 allows licensure without examination for electrical contractors from jurisdictions that give New Jersey equal reciprocity and have substantially equivalent requirements, but the Board publishes no list of such states.