Non-compact nursing states
Which states are not nursing compact states?
13 U.S. jurisdictions are currently not compact states: a multistate license is not available to their residents, and a compact license from another state does not authorize practice there. They include several of the largest states — California, New York, and Illinois among them. A few additional jurisdictions have enacted the compact but haven’t implemented it yet, or are in partial implementation — treat those as non-compact for now too. The full list is below.
Non-compact jurisdictions
Enacted but not yet implemented
These have passed compact legislation but aren’t issuing multistate licenses yet. Plan as if they were non-compact until an implementation date is announced.
Partial implementation
- Guam — Guam has partial implementation of the Nurse Licensure Compact. Nurses who hold an active multistate license from another compact state may practice in Guam under privilege, but nurses whose primary state of residence is Guam generally cannot obtain a Guam-issued multistate license until full implementation is complete.
How to work in a non-compact state
You generally apply for a single-state license or a license by endorsement directly with that state’s board of nursing. If you’re moving there permanently, that state becomes your primary state of residence, and you’d hold a single-state license. Check any specific move with the compact state checker.
Where a multistate license stops working: the border seams
A multistate (compact) license is powerful, but it has hard geographic edges. There are 24 land borders where a fully implemented compact state sits directly against a state that has not adopted the compact. Cross one of these seams — in person or by telehealth to a patient on the other side — and your compact privilege stops at the state line; you need that state’s own license to keep working. Below, grouped by the state privilege does not reach. (For the full pair-by-pair breakdown and the states still in transition, see the Nursing Compact States Report 2026.)
The islands: non-compact states ringed by compact states
4 non-compact states are surrounded on every land border by fully compact states, which makes them easy to overlook — every neighbor honors compact privilege, but they do not. For a nurse in one of these, every border crossing changes the rules:
Crossing into Illinois
Privilege stops here. A multistate license from these 5 bordering compact states does not authorize practice:
Crossing into Minnesota
Privilege stops here. A multistate license from these 4 bordering compact states does not authorize practice:
Crossing into New York
Privilege stops here. A multistate license from these 4 bordering compact states does not authorize practice:
Crossing into Michigan
Privilege stops here. A multistate license from these 3 bordering compact states does not authorize practice:
Crossing into Nevada
Privilege stops here. A multistate license from these 3 bordering compact states does not authorize practice:
Crossing into District of Columbia
Privilege stops here. A multistate license from these 2 bordering compact states does not authorize practice:
Crossing into Oregon
Privilege stops here. A multistate license from these 2 bordering compact states does not authorize practice:
Crossing into California
Privilege stops here. A multistate license from this bordering compact state does not authorize practice:
The reverse is just as important: a nurse living in one of these non-compact states cannot get a multistate license at all, even though the states next door can. To see exactly what applies to your own home and work states, use the compact state checker.