Transfer a Veterinary License to North Dakota

Verified July 2026 · 22 official sources

No endorsement needed: any-age NAVLE, 80% open-book exam

North Dakota skips endorsement because it doesn't need one: your NAVLE transfers at any age, and the state exam is open book, online, emailed to you, passing at 80 percent, the lowest bar in the country. No fingerprints, no notarization, and a clean file is issued by the executive director without waiting for a board meeting. A $45 sixty-day permit covers relief stints with no exam at all, and a 2025 law even lets an existing home-state vet-client relationship continue into North Dakota by telehealth with no license.

First year: about $310Renewal: $110 / yrWait: not published; director issues clean filesWork while waiting: Yes, $45 temp until you pass the examTravel required: None (online exam)

What carries over to North Dakota, and what does not

Comes with you

Your NAVLE or NBE/CCT, any age (via AAVSB, which ND wrote into its statute)
Your degree (AVMA; ECFVG, PAVE, or the Canadian CVMA certificate)
No fingerprints, no background check, no notarization

New for this state

Online open-book state exam, 80% to pass, emailed to you
License verifications from every state ever (VAULT Premium preferred)
A recent photo and a signed read-the-rules attestation

Working in North Dakota without a North Dakota license

To advise another vet Free and broad: anyone 'engaged in consultation' with a North Dakota-licensed vet is exempt, with no time cap and no specialist requirement.

For visits or one-time work The $45 sixty-day permit is the sleeper relief tool: full practice, no exam, issued by the executive director, once per calendar year (a December permit can stack with a fresh January one). Barred only if you ever failed North Dakota's state exam.

For remote care The friendliest rule in our set: if the relationship already exists from hands-on care in your home state, you may continue it into North Dakota by telehealth with NO North Dakota license. New relationships still need an in-person start, and teleadvice and teletriage need no relationship at all.

Your send-off checklist

YOUApply in the portal with a recent photo, a diploma copy or transcript, and the signed attestation. $80 Apply (portal)

YOUWant to work while it processes? Add the $45 temporary license, valid until you pass the state exam. $45 optional

YOUOrder the AAVSB transfer; any-age NAVLE or NBE/CCT counts. $105 AAVSB VAULT

STATE BOARDSEvery state ever licensed verifies, via VAULT Premium or the board's form. (From Pennsylvania: PALS, $15.) PALS portal

YOUThe board emails the open-book online state exam once your file is complete; pass at 80 percent. A failure costs the $80 fee per retake and permanently bars both temp permits, so take it seriously despite the open book.

YOUPay the $110 license fee. After licensure: June 30 renewals, and only 6 of your 24 CE hours may be prerecorded. $110

Where documents go. Everything runs through services.ndbvme.org; the part-time Lisbon office answers email in 1 to 2 weeks, so pad every deadline. Third parties direct: AAVSB (score transfer, or the VAULT Premium package the board prefers for verifications), each past board otherwise.

The money

Application	$80
Initial license	$110
Score transfer (VAULT)	$105
VER
TOTAL First year, typical	~$310
Then: renewal every year	$110

Watch out in North Dakota

Never fail the state exam: each retake re-triggers the $80 application fee, and one past failure permanently disqualifies you from BOTH temporary permits.
The board's own fee-schedule PDF is stale; the rules effective April 2026 control ($80 application, $110 license, $45 permits).
The whole practice act was renumbered in 2025, so most national summaries cite repealed sections.
The office is a part-time, one-vet operation in Lisbon, population 2,000. Email everything and allow 1 to 2 weeks per reply.

After you are licensed

Renew $110 every June 30 (late adds 50 percent). A lapse up to 5 years is curable by paying every missed year; past 5 years means a new application and the state exam again.
CE is 24 hours per 2 years with a trap: only 6 hours may be prerecorded; 18 must be in person or live virtual.
The 60-day permit resets by calendar year, so a November permit can stack with a fresh January one for about 4 continuous months.

Official links for North Dakota

Board. North Dakota Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners · Portal. services.ndbvme.org · Phone. 701-683-4705

Keep going

The veterinary planner, which builds a plan across several states at once.
What transfers when you move a veterinary license, covering NAVLE, VAULT and DEA.
All three professions we cover.

Every other jurisdiction

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