Living in Tennessee, working in West Virginia
Can a Tennessee nurse work in West Virginia?
If your primary state of residence is Tennessee and you hold an active multistate license from Tennessee, you may generally practice in West Virginia under compact privilege — without applying for a separate West Virginia license.
Tennessee vs West Virginia at a glance
| Tennessee (home) | West Virginia (work) | |
|---|---|---|
| Compact status | Compact | Compact |
| Multistate license for residents | Yes | Yes |
| Compact nurses can practice here | Yes | Yes |
| Board of nursing | Tennessee board ↗ | West Virginia 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 West Virginia-specific requirements with the West Virginia RN Board / LPN Board.
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 West Virginia’s current requirements with the West Virginia RN Board / LPN Board.
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, West Virginia 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
West Virginia
WV RN Board (registered nurses) ↗The one state where you must know the credential BEFORE choosing where to look. West Virginia runs two independent boards with two separate lookups: the RN Board at wvrnboard.wv.gov, and the Board of Examiners for Licensed Practical Nurses at lpnboard.wv.gov. Searching the RN board for an LPN returns nothing — not because the license is invalid, but because it lives in a different agency. The RN board also regulates dialysis technicians, and notes that not every license type it holds is available through online verification. Our own board link for West Virginia points at the RN board, so treat it as RN-only.
How long each has been part of this
Both Tennessee and West Virginia 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
West Virginia
W. Va. Code art. 30-7F (Nurse Licensure Compact) ↗The article letter matters here more than usual. 30-7F is the compact; 30-7E is nurse health programs, and the two are one letter apart in a chapter that also runs 30-7, 30-7A and 30-7B. Getting it wrong lands you in a genuinely different subject rather than on an error page. This is also the state that runs SEPARATE boards for registered and practical nurses, so West Virginia rewards checking twice on both counts.
Scope is set separately. What you may actually do here comes from W. Va. Code art. 30-7 (registered nurses); art. 30-7A (licensed practical nurses) ↗.
Things to keep in mind
- Compact privilege only applies if your license is multistate, not single-state. Check this in Nursys.
- You must meet West Virginia'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.