Living in Rhode Island, working in Vermont
Can a Rhode Island nurse work in Vermont?
If your primary state of residence is Rhode Island and you hold an active multistate license from Rhode Island, you may generally practice in Vermont under compact privilege — without applying for a separate Vermont license.
Rhode Island vs Vermont at a glance
| Rhode Island (home) | Vermont (work) | |
|---|---|---|
| Compact status | Compact | Compact |
| Multistate license for residents | Yes | Yes |
| Compact nurses can practice here | Yes | Yes |
| Board of nursing | Rhode Island board ↗ | Vermont 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 Rhode Island license is multistate in Nursys, then review any Vermont-specific requirements with the Vermont 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 Vermont’s current requirements with the Vermont 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: Rhode Island is what you will be asked to produce, Vermont is what an employer there will run.
Your home state
Rhode Island
Rhode Island Department of Health licensee search ↗Free lookup showing disciplinary actions and orders, plus downloadable licensee lists that include contact details — more than the bulk exports Iowa and Oklahoma publish, which stop at status. Rhode Island also splits its outbound paperwork by destination: it publishes a verification form explicitly labelled for NON-Nursys states, so which form you need depends on where the license is going rather than on Rhode Island.
Where you want to work
Vermont
Vermont OPR — Find a Professional ↗Unusually generous: the free online lookup is itself the OFFICIAL verification, and it is primary source for education, training and examination history — detail most states charge for or omit. A mailed hard copy still costs a fee, but Vermont publishes a turnaround of 3–5 business days for it, making Vermont the second state found to commit to a figure at all (after Montana). Vermont regulates nursing through the Secretary of State’s Office of Professional Regulation rather than a standalone board.
How long each has been part of this
Vermont has recognized compact privilege since February 1, 2022; Rhode Island since January 1, 2024 — a gap of about 2 years. That is worth knowing because the newer member is where employers, staffing agencies and HR systems are most likely to still be working from an out-of-date understanding of what a multistate license covers.
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
Rhode Island
R.I. Gen. Laws ch. 5-34.3 (Nurse Licensure Compact) ↗Rhode Island is the one state in this survey that left the compact and came back: it REJOINED effective 1 January 2024, with licenses issued to qualified residents from that date being multistate. Every other jurisdiction here has only ever moved in one direction. It is the practical counterpart to the exit machinery Nebraska and New Mexico legislate for and nobody else uses — and a reason to date any claim about Rhode Island’s status rather than treating it as settled. The compact is its own chapter, 5-34.3, separate from ch. 5-34 (Nurses).
Scope is set separately. What you may actually do here comes from R.I. Gen. Laws § 5-34 (Nurse Practice Act); scope adopted under § 5-34-7(3) ↗.
Where you want to work
Vermont
26 V.S.A. ch. 28, subch. 5 (Nurse Licensure Compact); enacted by Act 64 of 2021 ↗Vermont is one of the most recent joiners and the dates are unusually clean because of it: Act 64 signed 7 June 2021, membership effective 1 February 2022 — an eight-month gap between enactment and usability, which is the same enacted-is-not-implemented distinction that catches people in much older adopters. The board’s executive director serves as state administrator.
Scope is set separately. What you may actually do here comes from Vermont nursing statutes & rules (OPR, Secretary of State) ↗.
Things to keep in mind
- Compact privilege only applies if your license is multistate, not single-state. Check this in Nursys.
- You must meet Vermont'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.