Living in Wisconsin, working in Vermont
Can a Wisconsin nurse work in Vermont?
If your primary state of residence is Wisconsin and you hold an active multistate license from Wisconsin, you may generally practice in Vermont under compact privilege — without applying for a separate Vermont license.
Wisconsin vs Vermont at a glance
| Wisconsin (home) | Vermont (work) | |
|---|---|---|
| Compact status | Compact | Compact |
| Multistate license for residents | Yes | Yes |
| Compact nurses can practice here | Yes | Yes |
| Board of nursing | Wisconsin board ↗ | Vermont 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 Wisconsin license is multistate in Nursys, then review any Vermont-specific requirements with the Vermont 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 Vermont’s current requirements with the Vermont 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: Wisconsin is what you will be asked to produce, Vermont is what an employer there will run.
Your home state
Wisconsin
Wisconsin DSPS credential search ↗The Wisconsin detail that strands people is the application-status lookup: it requires the applicant’s ten-digit PAR number, which only the applicant has. An employer or a school waiting on a pending license cannot check progress independently — ask the nurse for the PAR number at the point you start waiting, not once the wait has become a problem. Incoming verification is nurse-initiated too: the nurse completes the Nursys licensure-verification process, pays, and designates Wisconsin as the recipient, so nothing moves until they act. Wisconsin also runs a distinct single-state RN/LPN application separate from the multistate route, so “I applied in Wisconsin” does not by itself mean a multistate license was requested.
Where you want to work
Vermont
Vermont OPR — Find a Professional ↗Unusually generous: the free online lookup is itself the OFFICIAL verification, and it is primary source for education, training and examination history — detail most states charge for or omit. A mailed hard copy still costs a fee, but Vermont publishes a turnaround of 3–5 business days for it, making Vermont the second state found to commit to a figure at all (after Montana). Vermont regulates nursing through the Secretary of State’s Office of Professional Regulation rather than a standalone board.
How long each has been part of this
Wisconsin has recognized compact privilege since January 19, 2018; Vermont since February 1, 2022 — a gap of about 4 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.
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
Wisconsin
Wis. Stat. § 441.51 (Nurse Licensure Compact) ↗Wisconsin joined the enhanced compact effective December 11, 2017. Its statutory references to the "Enhanced Nurse Licensure Compact" were renamed to plain "Nurse Licensure Compact" effective April 10, 2022 — the same compact, so older documents citing the eNLC by name are not out of date in substance.
Scope is set separately. What you may actually do here comes from Wis. Stat. ch. 441 (Board of Nursing); Wis. Admin. Code ch. N 2 (Licensure) ↗.
Where you want to work
Vermont
26 V.S.A. ch. 28, subch. 5 (Nurse Licensure Compact); enacted by Act 64 of 2021 ↗Vermont is one of the most recent joiners and the dates are unusually clean because of it: Act 64 signed 7 June 2021, membership effective 1 February 2022 — an eight-month gap between enactment and usability, which is the same enacted-is-not-implemented distinction that catches people in much older adopters. The board’s executive director serves as state administrator.
Scope is set separately. What you may actually do here comes from Vermont nursing statutes & rules (OPR, Secretary of State) ↗.
Things to keep in mind
- Compact privilege only applies if your license is multistate, not single-state. Check this in Nursys.
- You must meet Vermont'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.