The Ultimate Guide to Nursing Compact States

The Nursing Licensure Compact (NLC) is legislation that permits mutual recognition of nursing licenses between member states. In other words, it’s an agreement that allows registered nurses who are legal residents and have a nursing license in a compact state to practice nursing in any of the other compact states.

An RN can get posted or transferred to any compact states and begin work without applying for additional licensure. But, a nurse who is a legal resident of a specific compact state can’t have a license from other member states at the same time.

Nonetheless, if a nurse decides to permanently relocate from their legal state of residence to another, they must also transfer their license by applying for licensure in the new state.

Nursing compact states:

NLC State
Partial Implementation
Pending NLC legislation
Non-NLC State

At the time of this writing (May 2021), a total of 34 states had enacted the NLC legislation. These include:

Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
Colorado
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky

Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
New Hampshire
New Jersey (partial implementation)
New Mexico
North Carolina

North Dakota
Oklahoma
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Virginia
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming

The following states/territories have pending NLC legislation:

Alaska
California
Guam
Illinois
Massachusetts
Michigan
Nevada
Ohio
Oregon
Rhode Island
Vermont
Washington

What the NLC means for nurses

As a nurse, holding a multi-state license gives you increased career development opportunities and job flexibility. Nurses with these licenses may practice in as many as 34 states without any complications, extra application charges, or barriers.

Travel nurses are, without a doubt, the greatest beneficiaries of the NLC legislation. There are no more worries about having to spend extra time and money applying for or renewing your nursing license across multiple states since it’s taken care of in the NLC.

If you are in a state with pending legislation, you don’t have to do anything until the bills are passed. After your state joins the nursing compact, the state board will reach out to you and all the other registered nurses in the state. Nurses must make sure their permanent address is updated with the state board before they determine compact license eligibility.

If you are curious about whether your nursing license is compact or not, you can check on Nursys. This site is a database for nurses to verify their licensure. You see if your license is current or out of date and you can get live notifications about updates to the compact status within your state.

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Eligibility for a multi-state license

To apply for healthcare workers’ compact licensure successfully, one must meet the following bare minimums:

Be a legal resident of any of the eNLC states, and declare the state your primary area of residence.
Possess an active license as a registered nurse (RN), licensed professional nurse (LPN) or licensed vocational nurse (LVN).
Meet all the licensure requirements put in place by your home state, and as a practicing nurse, you must also adhere to all the standards of the area of current practice.
Have academic certifications from a board-approved education program or an internationally-accredited education program.
Has no state or federal felony convictions
Has a valid Unisted States Social Security number

Important Note: The application requirements and the licensure fees may vary depending on the state you reside in. In such cases, you’ll obtain a license either by an endorsement or through examination.

If you’re currently holding a single-state license and are looking to upgrade, the first step is to complete the application on your state’s Board of Nursing website. Among other crucial details, the website contains a Declaration of Primary State of Residence (DPSR) form where you’re supposed to declare your official residential state.

Moving scenarios

Many nurses move states at least once during their careers. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing requires the following for nurses moving states:

Noncompact to Compact: The nurse must apply for licensure by endorsement in the new state of residence. The nurse can either apply before or after the move. They can receive a multistate license once they meet residency and eligibility requirements.
Compact to Noncompact: The nurse has to apply for licensure by endorsement in the new state of residence. The nurse can apply either before or after the move. Once the nurse changes legal residency, their multistate license changes to a single state license.
Compact to Compact: When the nurse decides to move to another nursing compact state, they have to apply for licensure by endorsement. They must complete this by the time they move. The nurse can practice with the old state license only until the new license is issued. Once the new multistate license is activated the old one is rendered inactive.

History of the NLC

For decades, nurses had to abide by the single-state nursing format where a nurse was required to obtain an exclusive license for every state they intended or desired to practice. This was tiresome and task-demanding, especially if a nurse wished to practice in numerous states.

Inspired by the widespread dissatisfaction among healthcare professionals, the Pew Health Professions Commission was established in 1989. The commission’s main objective was to manage the challenges of the fast-evolving healthcare system and evaluate the effectiveness of the regulations.

In 1995, the commission released a comprehensive report recommending that states should standardize entry-to-practice requirements to facilitate the professional and physical movement of healthcare workers.

The report was an eye-opener for the National Council of States Board Nursing (NCSBN), who saw the need to promote and protect public health and safety. Nurses finally had a reason to smile when the NLC legislation officially came to light on January 1, 2000. The pioneering states included Utah, Texas, Maryland, and Wisconsin.

The number of member states grew steadily to 25 by 2015, then it suddenly stalled. Reason? Some nursing organizations were reluctant to join the NLC and raised concerns about public safety, state sovereignty, and regulation.

This led to the NCSBN forming the Enhanced Nursing Licensure Compact (eNLC). It was an upgrade of the existing NLC meant to implement changes that would boost confidence and influence the reluctant states to join. The establishment of eNLC seemed to have paid off as it has (at the time of this writing) brought in eight new member states.

State NLC requirements

We’ll look at the NLC states’ nursing license requirements for RNs plus their respective state board agencies.

Alabama

State Board Agency: Alabama Board of Nursing
Testing Requirements: NCLEX-RN
Fees: $100 application fee, $50 temporary license fee, $3.50 transaction fee
Continuing Education Requirements: 24 CEUs every two years plus 12 hours of individual study through CEU

Alaska

State Board Agency: Alaska Board of Nursing