Living in Iowa, working in Idaho
Can an Iowa nurse work in Idaho?
If your primary state of residence is Iowa and you hold an active multistate license from Iowa, you may generally practice in Idaho under compact privilege — without applying for a separate Idaho license.
Iowa vs Idaho at a glance
| Iowa (home) | Idaho (work) | |
|---|---|---|
| Compact status | Compact | Compact |
| Multistate license for residents | Yes | Yes |
| Compact nurses can practice here | Yes | Yes |
| Board of nursing | Iowa board ↗ | Idaho board ↗ |
Status shown as of 2026-06-17. Compact law changes — confirm anything that affects your license with the state board.
Recommended next step
Verify that your Iowa license is multistate in Nursys, then review any Idaho-specific requirements with the Idaho Board of Nursing.
Verify before you rely on this
Whether you can practice comes down to your actual license type, not just the two states’ status. Look your license up on Nursys to confirm it is single-state or multistate, then check Idaho’s current requirements with the Idaho Board of Nursing.
Where each license is actually checked
These two states do not verify the same way, and the difference matters at different moments: Iowa is what you will be asked to produce, Idaho is what an employer there will run.
Your home state
Iowa
Iowa nursing license verification ↗Iowa publishes free public rosters alongside individual lookup, and neither requires an account. If you are credentialing at volume rather than checking one nurse, that bulk route exists here where most states force you through one-at-a-time searches or ongoing Nursys e-Notify enrollment.
Where you want to work
Idaho
Idaho DOPL board of nursing license search ↗Public search for LPN, RN and APRN records. Idaho’s outbound route is self-service in a way most states are not: a nurse pulls their own certification from their DOPL Online Services account rather than asking the board to produce one. That removes the board’s queue from the timeline entirely — but it also means the nurse has to have account access, which is worth checking before they need it rather than during a move.
How long each has been part of this
Both Iowa and Idaho began recognizing compact privilege in 2018. A pairing of two states that arrived together is the simplest case there is: neither has a transitional quirk the other lacks.
The law behind each side
Compact privilege is not a courtesy between states — it is each legislature having enacted the compact into its own code. These are the provisions that do it.
Your home state
Iowa
Iowa Code ch. 152E (Nurse Licensure Compacts) ↗Iowa titles the chapter in the PLURAL — "Nurse Licensure Compacts" — because it carries the APRN compact alongside the RN/LPN one in the same place. That is unusual and easy to misread: finding APRN compact language in Iowa law does not mean APRN privilege is available, only that Iowa has legislated for it. Keep the two compacts separate when reading this chapter.
Scope is set separately. What you may actually do here comes from Iowa Code ch. 152 (Nursing) ↗.
Where you want to work
Idaho
Idaho Code § 54-1418 (Nurse Licensure Compact) ↗Idaho keeps the compact in its own section near the end of the nursing chapter, and the section immediately after it — § 54-1419 — is an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Compact. Idaho is the second jurisdiction in this survey, after Iowa, to have legislated for both. As with Iowa, that means Idaho has passed APRN compact law, not that APRN privilege is available; the two compacts are separate instruments with separate activation.
Scope is set separately. What you may actually do here comes from Idaho nursing licensure law (Board of Nursing, DOPL) ↗.
Things to keep in mind
- Compact privilege only applies if your license is multistate, not single-state. Check this in Nursys.
- You must meet Idaho's practice requirements (for example, scope of practice and any continuing-education rules).
- APRN roles are generally not covered by the standard compact — APRNs usually need separate authorization in each state.
Frequently asked questions
Related pages
Sources & last reviewed
- NLC frequently asked questions— NCSBN / NurseCompact (nursecompact.com)
Covers multistate licenses, primary state of residence, the 60-day rule, telehealth, and license type coverage.
- NLC member states map & status— NCSBN / NurseCompact (nursecompact.com)
Identifies full members, partial implementation (Guam), and enacted/awaiting implementation (Massachusetts, U.S. Virgin Islands).
- Nursys QuickConfirm license verification— NCSBN / Nursys (nursys.com)
Recommended destination to verify whether a license is single-state or multistate.
Facts on this page were last reviewed against official sources on 2026-06-17. Compact law changes — always verify with your state board of nursing.