What is the PSOR declaration and review?

When you apply for a multistate license you declare your primary state of residence. That is a formal statement to the board rather than a preference, and you may be asked to produce evidence supporting it. If a board reviews the declaration and finds your legal home is elsewhere, the outcome follows your real residence rather than the state you named.

Does this tool tell me what my primary state of residence is?

No, and it deliberately cannot. Primary state of residence is your legal home, and determining it is your board’s decision. This only compares what you told us your own documents say, and reports whether they agree. That is a useful thing to know before you declare — it is not a determination.

My documents name different states. Is that a problem?

It is common and fixable, but it is the single most likely thing to hold up a declaration. Boards look for consistency: if your driver’s license says one state and your tax return says another, expect to be asked about it. Resolve it before you apply rather than after, and resolve it by reference to where your legal home actually is — not by whichever document is easiest to change.

Is anything I enter here stored or sent anywhere?

No. The comparison runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is transmitted, logged or saved, and closing the page discards it.

CompactStates.com — https://www.compactstates.com · Always confirm license status with the issuing board of nursing.

Do your residency documents agree with each other?

A board looks for consistency before it accepts a primary-state-of-residence declaration. This shows you what it would see.

What is a board actually checking when it reviews a PSOR declaration?

Whether your evidence points at one state. You do not get to choose a primary state of residence — it is your legal home, and the documents below are evidence of it. That is why boards look for them to agree. A driver’s license naming one state and a tax return naming another is the single most common reason a declaration gets questioned, and it is far cheaper to find that out now than after you apply.

For each document you have, say which state it names. Leave anything out that you do not have. Nothing you enter here is sent anywhere or stored — it is worked out in your browser.

Driver’s license or state-issued ID

Usually the first thing a board looks at, because it is the hardest to hold in two states at once.

Voter registration

You can only be registered in one state, so it points at a single answer by design.

Federal income tax return address

The address on your most recent federal return, not the state you paid income tax to.

W-2 home address

The employee address on the form, which is often the one that quietly goes stale after a move.

Military form (active duty, and certain spouses)

Only if it applies to you — military residency rules are their own thing and a board will say so.

Tell us what each document says

Answer at least one row above. Boards look for your documents to agree with each other, so this is most useful once you have entered two or more.

This compares what you told us about your own documents. It is not legal advice and it is not a determination of residence. Your board of nursing is the only authority on which documents it will accept.

Why these documents and not others

Plenty of paperwork proves where you live — a lease, a utility bill, a bank statement. Those are not on this list, and their absence is deliberate: the compact points to a specific set, and turning up at a board with evidence it did not ask for is its own kind of delay. The documents that count are:

Driver’s license or state-issued ID. Usually the first thing a board looks at, because it is the hardest to hold in two states at once.
Voter registration. You can only be registered in one state, so it points at a single answer by design.
Federal income tax return address. The address on your most recent federal return, not the state you paid income tax to.
W-2 home address. The employee address on the form, which is often the one that quietly goes stale after a move.
Military form (active duty, and certain spouses). Only if it applies to you — military residency rules are their own thing and a board will say so.

Each board decides what satisfies it, and they do not all ask for the same things. Your board of nursing is the only authority on that — this list is where to start, not a guarantee of what will be accepted. Proof of primary state of residence goes through what boards look for in each document and the reasons they get rejected, which is the part this tool does not try to judge.

What a conflict usually turns out to be

Most conflicts are not a hard question about domicile. They are an address that quietly went stale: a W-2 carrying the address you had when you were hired, a voter registration never moved, a driver’s license renewed by post without updating anything. Those are administrative and worth fixing on their own terms.

The genuinely hard cases are different — splitting the year between two homes, a travel assignment that has quietly become permanent, a move mid-tax-year. What primary state of residence means works through those, including the situations where the honest answer is that you need to ask your board rather than reason it out.

One thing worth being blunt about: naming a compact state you do not actually live in does not create eligibility. If the review finds your legal home is elsewhere, the outcome follows your real residence. That is also why moving between compact states is a change of home state rather than a formality.

Frequently asked questions

The compact points to a driver’s license or state ID, voter registration, a federal income tax return showing your home address, a W-2, and — for active-duty members and certain spouses — a military form. Boards do not all ask for the same ones and each decides what it will accept, so check with yours before relying on any list.

Compact status by state

Once you know which state your evidence points to, its own page says whether it issues multistate licenses to residents.