Transfer Your Engineering License to South Dakota: Reciprocity & Endorsement (2026)

Comity is South Dakota's normal route for an already-licensed engineer, and the word describes what the South Dakota Board of Technical Professions actually does: it extends professional courtesy to your existing PE license after confirming your record meets South Dakota's practice act, rather than re-examining you. The lever that makes this smooth is your NCEES Record — NCEES compiles your transcripts, experience, references, and FE/PE results and transmits them straight to South Dakota, and a Model Law Engineer designation speeds many boards further. One prerequisite is absolute: your current license must be active and unencumbered, so clear any open disciplinary matter before you file.

Read the exam line on this page closely before you assume the move is exam-free. Most boards add nothing to the FE and PE, but a few require a state-specific examination — seismic, surveying, or a statutes-and-rules review — that comity does not waive, and where South Dakota requires one it is listed above rather than folded silently into the process.

Comity licensure: South Dakota issues a new PE license after verifying an active out-of-state (or foreign) license; the applicant must be fully licensed before practicing. A verified NCEES record is expressly accepted as evidence of meeting comity requirements (ARSD 20:38:34; application items in 20:38:29). Underlying standard is an EAC/ABET degree plus qualifying experience under SDCL 36-18A. No interstate compact exists for engineering.