Living in Maryland, working in South Dakota
Can a Maryland nurse work in South Dakota?
If your primary state of residence is Maryland and you hold an active multistate license from Maryland, you may generally practice in South Dakota under compact privilege — without applying for a separate South Dakota license.
Maryland vs South Dakota at a glance
| Maryland (home) | South Dakota (work) | |
|---|---|---|
| Compact status | Compact | Compact |
| Multistate license for residents | Yes | Yes |
| Compact nurses can practice here | Yes | Yes |
| Board of nursing | Maryland board ↗ | South Dakota 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 Maryland license is multistate in Nursys, then review any South Dakota-specific requirements with the South Dakota 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 South Dakota’s current requirements with the South Dakota 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: Maryland is what you will be asked to produce, South Dakota is what an employer there will run.
Your home state
Maryland
Maryland CHART license lookup ↗Maryland runs its own lookup through CHART, separate from Nursys, and it is primary-source verification updated daily — printable for the facility file. What makes Maryland unusual is that the board argues AGAINST paper: it warns that paper licenses are only accurate at the moment they are printed, are easy to forge, and are used for identity fraud, and it treats a paper verification form as the fallback for the rare employer who will not accept the online result. That is the opposite instruction to North Carolina, which asks you to print the confirmation because the printout IS your proof. Both are right about their own systems, which is precisely why “just get a copy of the verification” is not portable advice.
Where you want to work
South Dakota
South Dakota Board of Nursing license verification ↗Conventional public verification, with no fee gate, credential split or identifier requirement found in this review — the second such case after Utah. Structurally, South Dakota sits its board inside the Department of Health rather than running a standalone agency, the same arrangement as Hawaii under DCCA and Georgia under the Secretary of State. That affects where you look, not what you get.
How long each has been part of this
Both Maryland and South Dakota 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
Maryland
Md. Code, Health Occupations §§ 8-7A-01 to 8-7A-05 (Nurse Licensure Compact); board authority at § 8-205(a)(1) ↗Maryland gives the compact its own subtitle (8-7A) within the Health Occupations Article, with the operating detail in regulation at COMAR 10.27.22. Worth knowing for anyone tracing the history: Maryland joined the original compact in 1999, before the enhanced NLC existed, so its compact law long predates the 2018 rewrite that most states are working from.
Scope is set separately. What you may actually do here comes from Md. Code, Health Occupations, tit. 8 (Nurses) ↗.
Where you want to work
South Dakota
S.D. Codified Laws §§ 36-9-98 to 36-9-99 (Nurse Licensure Compact) ↗South Dakota gives the compact no chapter of its own — it is two sections at the end of ch. 36-9, the registered and practical nurses chapter, which is why a search for a South Dakota compact CHAPTER finds nothing and why this citation went unconfirmed here for so long. § 36-9-98 carries the whole compact: “The Nurse Licensure Compact is enacted into law and entered into with all other jurisdictions that legally join the compact.” The section after it is the unusual one. § 36-9-99 is headed “General funds not to be used to support compact” — South Dakota legislated the compact and, in the very next breath, legislated how it may not be paid for. Most states say nothing about funding at all.
Scope is set separately. What you may actually do here comes from South Dakota nursing licensure law (Board of Nursing, DOH) ↗.
Things to keep in mind
- Compact privilege only applies if your license is multistate, not single-state. Check this in Nursys.
- You must meet South Dakota'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.