Moving between states / Virginia

Flag of MichiganMichigantoFlag of VirginiaVirginia

Moving from Michigan to Virginia for work

What moves with you from Michigan to Virginia: your licence, your take-home pay, and the programs that pay people to come. Every line below is computed from the two states' rules.

What the move does to your paycheck

Michigan and Virginia take about the same from a $60,000 salary; the difference is under $150 a year either way.

SalaryMichigan state taxVirginia state taxDifference a year
$40,000$1,700$1,610+$90
$60,000$2,550$2,415+$135
$90,000$3,825$3,622+$203

Rough figures for a single filer: exact in the flat-rate and no-tax states, approximated at 70% of the top bracket in the progressive ones. In Michigan: Detroit and some cities add a local income tax. Property and sales tax are not in it.

CNA: Michigan to Virginia

Transfers by reciprocity. Your Michigan certificate stays on the Michigan Nurse Aide Registry (administered by Prometric for the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs); to work in Virginia you apply to the Virginia Board of Nursing, Certified Nurse Aide registry for reciprocity. It accepts an active certificate in good standing from another state; there is no retest if your record is clean. Most registries list you within two to six weeks.

RN and LPN: Michigan to Virginia

Endorsement, six to twelve weeks. Michigan is not in the compact, so your Michigan licence is single-state. Apply to the Virginia board for licensure by endorsement (Nursys verification, fingerprints, the board's fee); six to twelve weeks is normal, so start before you give notice. Because Virginia is a compact state, ask for the new licence to be issued as a multistate licence: from then on it works in every compact state.

Electrician: Michigan to Virginia

Reciprocity likely. Virginia licenses electricians at state level through the Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, Board for Contractors, and reciprocity for journeymen and masters licensed in a state with a comparable exam. Your Michigan licence comes from the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Electrical Administrative Board, a state body, which is what a reciprocity application needs: ask it for a verification letter before you move.

CDL: Michigan to Virginia

Transfers at the DMV. A commercial driver's licence transfers like any licence: within 30 days of becoming a Virginia resident you surrender the Michigan CDL at a Virginia driver licence office, pass the vision test, pay the fee, and your endorsements carry over. A hazmat endorsement needs a fresh TSA threat assessment in Virginia. Your driving record follows you through the federal CDLIS system.

No statewide program in Virginia pays people to move in. Towns sometimes list an offer through MakeMyMove, and employers in short-staffed trades pay relocation themselves; ask for it in writing before you accept.

Openings filed in Virginia

137 open positions filed with the Department of Labor by Virginia employers who could not fill them locally.

Your own route from Michigan to Virginia

Tell us your trade and your licence. We write the steps for your case, check the job offer for scams, and keep your resume ready for Virginia employers.

Plan my move to Virginia

Same move, by trade

CNA: Michigan to Virginia · RN or LPN: Michigan to Virginia · Electrician: Michigan to Virginia · Truck driver: Michigan to Virginia

From Michigan to the states next to Virginia

Maryland (progressive, top rate 5.75%) · West Virginia (progressive, top rate 4.82%) · Kentucky (flat 4% state income tax) · Tennessee (no state income tax) · North Carolina (flat 4.25% state income tax)

To Virginia from the states next to Michigan

Ohio · Indiana · Wisconsin

Everything about working in Virginia · All moves between states · All 50 states

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Licence transfer, what the state takes from your pay, and who pays you to come. Free, no account.

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