Living in Washington, working in Montana
Can a Washington nurse work in Montana?
If your primary state of residence is Washington and you hold an active multistate license from Washington, you may generally practice in Montana under compact privilege — without applying for a separate Montana license.
Washington vs Montana at a glance
| Washington (home) | Montana (work) | |
|---|---|---|
| Compact status | Compact | Compact |
| Multistate license for residents | Yes | Yes |
| Compact nurses can practice here | Yes | Yes |
| Board of nursing | Washington board ↗ | Montana 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 Washington license is multistate in Nursys, then review any Montana-specific requirements with the Montana 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 Montana’s current requirements with the Montana 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: Washington is what you will be asked to produce, Montana is what an employer there will run.
Your home state
Washington
Washington DOH Provider Credential Search ↗Washington splits by LICENSE TYPE rather than credential: a Washington single-state license is verified through the DOH Provider Credential Search, while a multistate license issued by another state is verified through Nursys. Note the board will not verify a credential that is pending, closed, or holding only a temporary practice permit — so a genuinely new hire on a temporary permit will not return a verification, which is a timing problem rather than a red flag.
Where you want to work
Montana
Montana licensee lookup ↗Free to check a Montana license, and Nursys QuickConfirm also covers it. Official verification to another board costs $20 and — unusually — Montana publishes a turnaround: five business days from receipt. It is the only state in this cohort to state one. Every other board leaves the timeline unknown, which is precisely what makes the endorsement step hard to plan around, so a published figure is worth more than the modest fee suggests.
How long each has been part of this
Montana has recognized compact privilege since January 19, 2018; Washington since July 24, 2023 — a gap of about 5 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.
One of these two ran a two-phase rollout — honouring incoming privilege before issuing multistate licenses to its own residents, which are separate switches on separate dates. The adoption timeline gives both dates for every jurisdiction.
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
Washington
Substitute Senate Bill 5499 (2023) ↗Signed 21 April 2023, making Washington the 40th jurisdiction to enact. The same legislation renamed the regulator from the Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission to the Washington State Board of Nursing.
Scope is set separately. What you may actually do here comes from RCW ch. 18.79 (Nursing Care) ↗.
Where you want to work
Montana
Mont. Code Ann. tit. 37, ch. 8, pt. 5 (Enhanced Nurse Licensure Compact) ↗Montana gives the compact a whole PART of the nursing chapter rather than a section, sitting after Part 4 on licensing — so it is neither buried in the practice act nor moved to a separate chapter. Montana is also one of the few to name the ENHANCED compact in the structure itself, which is a useful signal: the part title tells you which version of the compact you are reading before you read any of it.
Scope is set separately. What you may actually do here comes from MCA tit. 37, ch. 8 (Nursing); fingerprint background checks at § 37-8-434 ↗.
Things to keep in mind
- Compact privilege only applies if your license is multistate, not single-state. Check this in Nursys.
- You must meet Montana'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.