Living in Tennessee, working in Kentucky
Can a Tennessee nurse work in Kentucky?
If your primary state of residence is Tennessee and you hold an active multistate license from Tennessee, you may generally practice in Kentucky under compact privilege — without applying for a separate Kentucky license.
Tennessee vs Kentucky at a glance
| Tennessee (home) | Kentucky (work) | |
|---|---|---|
| Compact status | Compact | Compact |
| Multistate license for residents | Yes | Yes |
| Compact nurses can practice here | Yes | Yes |
| Board of nursing | Tennessee board ↗ | Kentucky 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 Tennessee license is multistate in Nursys, then review any Kentucky-specific requirements with the Kentucky Board of Nursing.
Going the other way?
Tennessee and Kentucky hold the same compact status, so the answer runs the same way in reverse — but the boards, the statutes and the license lookups are still each state’s own. See Kentucky to Tennessee for that side of it.
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 Kentucky’s current requirements with the Kentucky Board of Nursing.
Tennessee and Kentucky share a border
Both are on the same side of the compact, so crossing this particular border does not change your licensure position the way it would at a compact seam. The usual cross-border questions still apply — where you actually reside, and which state each employer sits in.
Where each license is actually checked
These two states do not verify the same way, and the difference matters at different moments: Tennessee is what you will be asked to produce, Kentucky is what an employer there will run.
Your home state
Tennessee
Tennessee Department of Health licensure verification ↗Tennessee has designated Nursys a primary-source equivalent, so either is acceptable for license status — but the state system additionally returns disciplinary profile and abuse-registry data that a Nursys lookup does not, which matters if you are credentialing rather than just confirming a license.
Where you want to work
Kentucky
Kentucky Board of Nursing verification portal ↗The only state in this cohort whose portal lets you search by NCSBN ID as well as by name or license number. That matters for a common name: the NCSBN ID is the stable cross-state identifier, so it resolves the "is this the same nurse?" question that a name search cannot. Kentucky moved to the ORBS system in March 2023, so guidance describing an older portal is out of date.
How long each has been part of this
Both Tennessee and Kentucky 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
Tennessee
Tennessee has enacted the compact, but we have not yet confirmed the exact citation against the state’s own published code. We would rather say that than print a section number we cannot stand behind.
Scope is set separately. What you may actually do here comes from T.C.A. tit. 63, ch. 7 (Nursing); RNs at §§ 63-7-103, -104, LPNs at §§ 63-7-108, -109 ↗.
Where you want to work
Kentucky
KRS 314.475 (Nurse Licensure Compact) ↗Kentucky gives the compact its own titled section inside the nursing chapter rather than a separate act, and names the board’s executive director as the “head of the state licensing board” for compact purposes — so the person with compact authority is identified in statute rather than by internal delegation.
Scope is set separately. What you may actually do here comes from KRS ch. 314 (Nursing); RN licensure at KRS 314.041, APRN at 314.042 ↗.
Things to keep in mind
- Compact privilege only applies if your license is multistate, not single-state. Check this in Nursys.
- You must meet Kentucky'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.