Living in Texas, working in Delaware
Can a Texas nurse work in Delaware?
If your primary state of residence is Texas and you hold an active multistate license from Texas, you may generally practice in Delaware under compact privilege — without applying for a separate Delaware license.
Texas vs Delaware at a glance
| Texas (home) | Delaware (work) | |
|---|---|---|
| Compact status | Compact | Compact |
| Multistate license for residents | Yes | Yes |
| Compact nurses can practice here | Yes | Yes |
| Board of nursing | Texas board ↗ | Delaware 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 Texas license is multistate in Nursys, then review any Delaware-specific requirements with the Delaware 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 Delaware’s current requirements with the Delaware 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: Texas is what you will be asked to produce, Delaware is what an employer there will run.
Your home state
Texas
Texas BON license verification ↗Texas runs two different things under the word “verification”, and confusing them costs weeks. The online lookup answers “is this license real and current” for an employer, immediately. But board-to-board verification for ENDORSEMENT into another state is a separate paper process — a Verification of Registered/Professional Nurse Licensure form, returned to the board by email — not something the public lookup produces. If another state has asked you for verification of your Texas license, a printout of the online result is unlikely to be what they meant.
Where you want to work
Delaware
Delaware DELPROS search & verify ↗Free lookup with a discipline column — where history exists it reads "Yes" and the Board Orders themselves are downloadable, not just flagged. Delaware does not issue written verifications for RNs and LPNs at all; that route is Nursys only, like Maine. APRNs go through a separate verification process instead — the second jurisdiction in this cohort, after D.C., where RN and LPN traffic rides shared national infrastructure and advanced practice is handled apart from it.
How long each has been part of this
Both Texas and Delaware 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
Texas
Tex. Occ. Code ch. 304 (§§ 304.001–304.010) ↗Chapter 304 is the compact itself; the Board’s implementing rules sit in the Texas Administrative Code.
Scope is set separately. What you may actually do here comes from Tex. Occ. Code ch. 301 (Nursing Practice Act) ↗.
Where you want to work
Delaware
Del. Code tit. 24, ch. 19A (Nurse Multistate Licensure Compact) ↗Delaware keeps the compact out of the nursing chapter entirely: ch. 19 is Nursing, ch. 19A is the Nurse Multistate Licensure Compact, and ch. 19B is an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Compact. The APRN chapter is worth reading carefully — its heading in the code is qualified “[Effective upon …]”, so Delaware has enacted APRN compact law that is contingent rather than in force. That is primary-source confirmation of the general point: a state having APRN compact language on its books does not mean an APRN multistate license exists there.
Scope is set separately. What you may actually do here comes from 24 Del. C. ch. 19 (Board of Nursing) ↗.
Things to keep in mind
- Compact privilege only applies if your license is multistate, not single-state. Check this in Nursys.
- You must meet Delaware'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.