CompactStates.com — https://www.compactstates.com · Always confirm license status with the issuing board of nursing.
Nursing license mobility planner
The checker tells you whether two states connect. This goes further: tell it your license type and what you are actually planning — moving, a travel assignment, telehealth — and it builds your next-step plan.
Your primary state of residence
Where the work or patients are
The compact covers RN and LPN/LVN only
Nursys shows this — guess if unsure
Leave blank if it is your home state — most people can
Different situations have different rules
Choose your home state and the state you want to practice in to build your plan.
Why we point you to Nursys
CompactStates explains the state rules.Nursys confirms your individual license. Nursys QuickConfirm is the official, free service where nurses can look up whether their own license is single-state or multistate. We’re an independent guide; Nursys and your board are where personal license status is verified.
It turns your situation — home state, license type, whether your license is multistate, and what you are planning — into a plain-English explanation of how the Nurse Licensure Compact applies, what you must verify, and an ordered next-step checklist with the official board links. It is generated from published compact status data using fixed rules, not AI.
No. It explains how compact status applies to your situation and what to verify, but it never makes a personal licensure determination. Only your board of nursing can do that, and Nursys is the system of record for your license type.
Because it changes the answer. The compact covers RN and LPN/LVN licenses only — APRN authority (NP, CRNA, CNS, CNM) is granted state by state and is never carried by a multistate RN license. Many remote and relocating APRNs are caught out by this.
Because compact privilege is tied to your primary state of residence, not to whoever issued the license in your wallet. If you moved and kept your old license, that multistate license generally stopped working as a multistate license the moment your old state stopped being your home — even though it still shows as active on Nursys. This is the most common way nurses end up practicing on a license that does not cover them, so the planner checks for it and flags it above everything else.
It depends on whether privilege reaches the destination and whether you are relocating. If both states are compact states and you are keeping your current home, an active multistate license generally covers you and an endorsement application would be an unnecessary fee — nurses pay for licenses they did not need surprisingly often. If the destination does not recognize privilege, or you are moving there permanently, endorsement is the route. The planner sets out both options side by side for your specific pair of states.
No account, and nothing is stored. The plan is generated in your browser from the choices you make on this page. We do not ask for your name, license number, or any personal identifiers.