Nursing license verification by state
Verifying a nursing license means checking Nursys and the issuing state board. Pick your state below for the specifics, or use the general guide.
How do I verify a nursing license by state?
Use Nursys QuickConfirm for the national record — license type, status, expiration — and the state’s board of nursing for anything official. Pick your state below for its board link and whether its licenses can be multistate. CompactStates.com is an independent guide, not a verification service.
Choose your state
AlabamaFull compact stateAlaskaNon-compact stateAmerican SamoaNon-compact stateArizonaFull compact stateArkansasFull compact stateCaliforniaNon-compact stateColoradoFull compact stateConnecticutFull compact stateDelawareFull compact stateDistrict of ColumbiaNon-compact stateFloridaFull compact stateGeorgiaFull compact stateGuamPartial implementationHawaiiNon-compact stateIdahoFull compact stateIllinoisNon-compact stateIndianaFull compact stateIowaFull compact stateKansasFull compact stateKentuckyFull compact stateLouisianaFull compact stateMaineFull compact stateMarylandFull compact stateMassachusettsEnacted — awaiting implementationMichiganNon-compact stateMinnesotaNon-compact stateMississippiFull compact stateMissouriFull compact stateMontanaFull compact stateNebraskaFull compact stateNevadaNon-compact stateNew HampshireFull compact stateNew JerseyFull compact stateNew MexicoFull compact stateNew YorkNon-compact stateNorth CarolinaFull compact stateNorth DakotaFull compact stateNorthern Mariana IslandsNon-compact stateOhioFull compact stateOklahomaFull compact stateOregonNon-compact statePennsylvaniaFull compact statePuerto RicoNon-compact stateRhode IslandFull compact stateSouth CarolinaFull compact stateSouth DakotaFull compact stateTennesseeFull compact stateTexasFull compact stateU.S. Virgin IslandsEnacted — awaiting implementationUtahFull compact stateVermontFull compact stateVirginiaFull compact stateWashingtonFull compact stateWest VirginiaFull compact stateWisconsinFull compact stateWyomingFull compact state
More states use the same process — start with the general verification guide or your state page.
Every jurisdiction’s actual verification route
“Check Nursys, then the board” is offered everywhere as one instruction. It is not. Boards differ in which system holds the record, by credential, and in what an empty result means. Each row below was read off that board’s own published material rather than inferred from a national list — reviewed 2026-07-31.
| Jurisdiction | Board-run lookup | What trips people up there |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama (AL) | Alabama Board of Nursing license lookup | Free, and the board treats it as primary source verification — but only "as of the date the verification is printed". That caveat is stated plainly… |
| Alaska (AK) | Alaska online license verification | Alaska is the mirror image of Nevada: it has abolished the request-and-fee route entirely, and its online search tool IS the primary source… |
| American Samoa (AS) | None published — via the board directly | American Samoa has no board of nursing. A single Health Services Regulatory Board licenses every health profession in the territory — the exact… |
| Arizona (AZ) | Arizona BON primary source verification | Arizona splits by credential: RN, LPN and APRN records are uploaded to Nursys daily, while CNA and other certifications stay on the board’s own… |
| Arkansas (AR) | Arkansas State Board of Nursing license lookup | Both routes are primary source here — the board’s own 24-hour lookup, and Nursys, which holds data supplied directly by the board. Same… |
| California (CA) | California BRN license verification | California is not a compact state, so its own lookup — not a multistate designation — is what matters here. |
| Colorado (CO) | Colorado Board of Nursing verification (via Nursys) | Unusually, Colorado does not run a separate state lookup — its board directs verification to Nursys, so for Colorado licenses Nursys IS the primary… |
| Connecticut (CT) | Connecticut eLicense verification | Connecticut is the second state, with Florida, where the state’s own licensing portal is not the nursing route. eLicense covers Connecticut’s… |
| Delaware (DE) | Delaware DELPROS search & verify | Free lookup with a discipline column — where history exists it reads "Yes" and the Board Orders themselves are downloadable, not just flagged.… |
| District of Columbia (DC) | DC Health license lookup | Free lookup drawn from the Health Regulation and Licensing Administration database, refreshed daily. Outbound verification splits by CREDENTIAL… |
| Florida (FL) | Florida MQA license verification | Florida is the state where the obvious route is the wrong one. MQA and FL HealthSource are the front door for Florida health-professional licensing… |
| Georgia (GA) | Georgia Secretary of State license lookup | Georgia licenses nurses through the Secretary of State’s Licensing Division rather than a standalone board agency. |
| Guam (GU) | Guam Board of Nurse Examiners (via Nursys) | Two things to know. Guam’s material spreads across three domains: the board sits at guamhplo.org, its primary-source search at guamnursing.org, and… |
| Hawaii (HI) | Hawaii PVL license search (MyPVL) | Checking a Hawaii license is free. Sending a verification TO another state’s board carries a fee — and unusually, that fee is fixed in the nurse… |
| Idaho (ID) | Idaho DOPL board of nursing license search | Public search for LPN, RN and APRN records. Idaho’s outbound route is self-service in a way most states are not: a nurse pulls their own… |
| Illinois (IL) | IDFPR license lookup | Illinois is the state to copy if you verify at volume. It publishes a BULK lookup alongside the single one — the thing most boards leave you to solve… |
| Indiana (IN) | Indiana PLA free search & verify | Indiana tiers this: the free search is updated in real time and is enough to confirm status, while a paid official verification returns additional… |
| Iowa (IA) | Iowa nursing license verification | Iowa publishes free public rosters alongside individual lookup, and neither requires an account. If you are credentialing at volume rather than… |
| Kansas (KS) | Kansas State Board of Nursing license status verification | Kansas runs KANN — Kansas Automated Nurse Notification — which tells enrolled employers and schools when a license status changes, including at… |
| Kentucky (KY) | Kentucky Board of Nursing verification portal | The only state in this cohort whose portal lets you search by NCSBN ID as well as by name or license number. That matters for a common name: the… |
| Louisiana (LA) | Louisiana State Board of Nursing licensure verification | Louisiana states outright that some licenses are NOT available for public verification and must be requested by email. So a blank result here does… |
| Maine (ME) | Maine Board of Nursing license verification | Checking a Maine license is free. But Maine stopped processing verification forms to other jurisdictions in October 2002 — the board will not do it… |
| Maryland (MD) | Maryland CHART license lookup | Maryland runs its own lookup through CHART, separate from Nursys, and it is primary-source verification updated daily — printable for the facility… |
| Massachusetts (MA) | Massachusetts license verification (Mass.gov) | Massachusetts states plainly that its Check a License result IS primary-source verification and that an employer may use and print it — so this is a… |
| Michigan (MI) | Michigan LARA license verification | Michigan splits free from certified, and only the free half is open to you. The public MiPLUS search confirms status at no cost and needs no account.… |
| Minnesota (MN) | Minnesota Board of Nursing license verification | Two separate entry points, and picking the wrong one returns nothing rather than an error: RN and LPN verification sits behind one button, APRN… |
| Mississippi (MS) | Mississippi Board of Nursing verification | Two constraints worth knowing before you rely on this. The board’s search asks for a Social Security number alongside a license number or surname, so… |
| Missouri (MO) | Missouri Division of Professional Registration licensee search | Missouri treats BOTH routes as primary source: Nursys holds data supplied directly by the board, and the Division’s own search is itself a… |
| Montana (MT) | 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… |
| Nebraska (NE) | Nebraska DHHS license lookup | Free online lookup, but note that Nebraska draws a hard distinction between two paid documents and the intuitive word gets you the weaker one. A… |
| Nevada (NV) | Nevada State Board of Nursing web verification | Checking a Nevada license online is free. But asking Nevada to verify a license TO another board is a separate, paid process — a written request with… |
| New Hampshire (NH) | New Hampshire OPLC license lookup | New Hampshire separates a free license LOOKUP from a license VERIFICATION you apply for — the same two-product split as Nebraska, but named clearly… |
| New Jersey (NJ) | New Jersey Board of Nursing — License Verification Section | New Jersey is the outlier so far: its board directs verification to a staffed License Verification Section by telephone rather than a self-serve… |
| New Mexico (NM) | New Mexico RLD license search | The lookup is not on the board’s own site. New Mexico runs a single search across every profession through the Regulation and Licensing Department,… |
| New York (NY) | NYSED Office of the Professions verification | The Office of the Professions treats its online search as a primary source for verification. The part that catches people applying INTO New York is… |
| North Carolina (NC) | NCBON licensure verification | North Carolina is the clearest case of one credential needing TWO systems. For a nurse practitioner, the board’s own lookup shows their approval to… |
| North Dakota (ND) | 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),… |
| Northern Mariana Islands (MP) | NMI Board of Nursing — License Verification Portal | Two naming traps, both of which send people to the wrong place. The board was formerly the CNMI Board of Nurse Examiners and is still listed under… |
| Ohio (OH) | Ohio eLicense verification | eLicense is a shared system covering two dozen Ohio agencies, so the first step is selecting the Nursing Board — search without it and a nurse can… |
| Oklahoma (OK) | Oklahoma Board of Nursing verification portal | The board treats its own web verification as primary source. Two practical details: search needs a license type selected alongside the name or… |
| Oregon (OR) | Oregon State Board of Nursing primary source verification | The most detailed verification in the cohort: alongside license type, number, issue, renewal and expiry dates, it reports whether the license has… |
| Pennsylvania (PA) | Pennsylvania Licensing System (PALS) verification | PALS answers the employer’s question — current status and expiry — from the public search, no account needed. The part that catches people is who has… |
| Puerto Rico (PR) | ORCPS — Registro de Profesionales de la Salud | Puerto Rico separates issuing from verifying, and the split is by FUNCTION rather than by credential. The Junta Examinadora de Enfermería licenses;… |
| Rhode Island (RI) | Rhode Island Department of Health licensee search | Free lookup showing disciplinary actions and orders, plus downloadable licensee lists that include contact details — more than the bulk exports Iowa… |
| South Carolina (SC) | South Carolina LLR Board of Nursing | For a single nurse, Nursys QuickConfirm covers South Carolina. For volume, LLR sells a Bulk License Verification service that takes a list of license… |
| South Dakota (SD) | South Dakota Board of Nursing license verification | Conventional public verification, with no fee gate, credential split or identifier requirement found in this review — the second such case after… |
| Tennessee (TN) | Tennessee Department of Health licensure verification | Tennessee has designated Nursys a primary-source equivalent, so either is acceptable for license status — but the state system additionally returns… |
| Texas (TX) | Texas BON license verification | Texas runs two different things under the word “verification”, and confusing them costs weeks. The online lookup answers “is this license real and… |
| U.S. Virgin Islands (VI) | VIBNL License Verification Portal (and Nursys Quick Confirm) | The most useful board page in this entire survey, for a reason that has nothing to do with the Virgin Islands. VIBNL is the only board we found that… |
| Utah (UT) | Utah DOPL license lookup & verification | Conventional: a public online lookup through the Division of Professional Licensing, with no fee gate, credential split, identifier requirement or… |
| Vermont (VT) | 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… |
| Virginia (VA) | Virginia DHP License Lookup | Two things employers should know. Virginia states outright that this lookup IS primary-source verification of the credential and meets Joint… |
| Washington (WA) | 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,… |
| West Virginia (WV) | 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:… |
| Wisconsin (WI) | 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… |
| Wyoming (WY) | Wyoming State Board of Nursing | One caution specific to Wyoming: the board has moved domains, and its own older rule documents still cite state.wy.us addresses that no longer… |
One rule holds everywhere: where a board’s own record and Nursys disagree, the board controls — it is the source, Nursys is the aggregator. The full note for each jurisdiction is on its own verification page.
Frequently asked questions
Nursys QuickConfirm (nursys.com) is the national verification system operated by NCSBN. Each state board of nursing is the official authority for its own licenses.
Yes. Nursys shows whether a license is single-state or multistate. Only a multistate license carries compact privilege to other states.