Living in West Virginia, working in North Dakota
Can a West Virginia nurse work in North Dakota?
If your primary state of residence is West Virginia and you hold an active multistate license from West Virginia, you may generally practice in North Dakota under compact privilege — without applying for a separate North Dakota license.
West Virginia vs North Dakota at a glance
| West Virginia (home) | North Dakota (work) | |
|---|---|---|
| Compact status | Compact | Compact |
| Multistate license for residents | Yes | Yes |
| Compact nurses can practice here | Yes | Yes |
| Board of nursing | West Virginia board ↗ | North Dakota 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 West Virginia license is multistate in Nursys, then review any North Dakota-specific requirements with the North Dakota 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 North Dakota’s current requirements with the North Dakota 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: West Virginia is what you will be asked to produce, North Dakota is what an employer there will run.
Your home state
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.
Where you want to work
North Dakota
North Dakota Board of Nursing license lookup ↗The strongest free lookup found so far: real-time against the board’s own database (not a nightly extract, so no Mississippi-style next-day gap), treated as primary source, and it shows discipline history inline with links to the public records rather than a bare flag. Paid extras sit above it — $35 for an official verification, $65 for a downloadable list of active LPNs, RNs and APRNs. Note that list refreshes monthly on the second business day, so it can be up to a month stale where the free lookup is current.
How long each has been part of this
Both West Virginia and North Dakota 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
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) ↗.
Where you want to work
North Dakota
N.D. Cent. Code ch. 43-12.4 (Nurse Licensure Compact) ↗The compact sits in its own chapter, 43-12.4, next to but separate from the Nurse Practices Act at 43-12.1 — close enough in numbering to mis-cite, far enough apart in subject to matter. North Dakota joined the original compact on 1 January 2004 and moved to the enhanced one on 19 January 2018, and it legislated for the APRN compact in the same 2017 session. That makes it the fourth jurisdiction here, with Iowa, Idaho and Delaware, carrying APRN compact law on the books.
Scope is set separately. What you may actually do here comes from NDCC 43-12.1 (Nurse Practices Act) ↗.
Things to keep in mind
- Compact privilege only applies if your license is multistate, not single-state. Check this in Nursys.
- You must meet North Dakota'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.