Michigan Professional License Status During Military Service

1945 PA 189 is two sentences and it removes an entire category of problem. The status of any member of the armed forces of the United States, any auxiliary of them, or the merchant marine or a nurse, who was duly licensed to engage in any profession or occupation by this state, or was registered in meeting the preliminary requirements for such a license, at the time of induction or entering into that service, shall remain unchanged and in full force and effect, without further action on the part of any such person, until discharged or until leaving that service. The three phrases that matter. "Without further action on the part of any such person" means no renewal application, no continuing education filing, no fee, and no request to the board. The license does not lapse and there is nothing to do to stop it lapsing. A licensee who deploys mid-cycle does not have to arrange anything before leaving. "Or was registered in meeting the preliminary requirements for any such license" covers someone partway through qualification, the candidate who has registered for an apprenticeship, internship or examination sequence but has not yet been licensed. Their registration is preserved too. "Until discharged or until the leaving of any such service" is when protection stops, which means the ordinary renewal obligations resume on separation rather than on return to Michigan. Section 35.552 is the override: the provisions of this act shall be construed to supplement the laws of this state and shall stand notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary. A licensing board's own statute or rule requiring renewal on a fixed date does not defeat it. The merchant marine and nurses are named separately because in 1945 neither was uniformly within "armed forces", and the drafting has been left alone since. Two adjacent acts complete the picture. 1946 PA 27, at MCL 35.581 to 35.582, deals with licensee qualifications interrupted by war. And section 339.213 of the Occupational Code and the various health profession provisions carry the modern machinery for expedited licensure of military spouses and for crediting military training, which is administered by the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs rather than by this act. Federal law sits above the state's expedited route for a family moving in on orders. Since December 23, 2024, 50 U.S.C. 4025a, as rewritten by section 587 of Public Law 118-159, requires Michigan to treat as valid, within its scope of practice, a licence in good standing that a service member or spouse holds in another state when they relocate to Michigan on military orders, on application with the orders, a marriage certificate for a spouse and a notarized affidavit; a board that cannot act within 30 days may issue a temporary licence meanwhile. Licences held under an interstate compact follow the compact. The federal rule covers people serving and their spouses, not veterans after separation. What it does not do. It does not keep a license alive for someone who was not licensed or registered before entering service, and it does not waive the substantive requirements for renewal once the protection ends.