What decides whether you need a new license
Two things: whether Arizona is a compact state, and whether your own license is multistate rather than single-state. Compact privilege only exists between compact states, and only a multistate license carries it. Run your exact home/assignment pairing through the compact state checker.
Practicing in Arizona on assignment
Working under privilege still means following Arizona's scope of practice and nurse practice act, and you remain accountable to the Arizona State Board of Nursing while you are here. If any of the assignment is telehealth, remember licensure generally follows the patient’s location — see the Arizona telehealth guide.
The law that governs this in Arizona
Taking an assignment in Arizona is practice in Arizona, so it is Arizona’s own nurse practice act that defines what you may do and the Arizona State Board of Nursing that applies it. That act is A.R.S. tit. 32, ch. 15 (Nursing).
The compact itself is separate law. Arizona adopted it at A.R.S. tit. 32, ch. 15, art. 2.1 (§§ 32-1660 to 32-1660.03) — Nurse Licensure Compact, which is what allows a multistate license issued elsewhere to reach Arizona at all — the practice act still decides what you may do once it does.
Before you sign
We are an independent licensing reference — we do not list assignments, agencies, or pay rates, and nothing here is a job offer. For the wider pre-assignment checklist (contract terms, credentialing, housing), see what to check before accepting a travel assignment. Confirm licensure with the Arizona State Board of Nursing.
Since when has a compact license worked in Arizona?
Nurses holding another state’s multistate license have been able to practice in Arizona since January 19, 2018. It has been a member long enough that most guidance you find will be accurate on this point.
The compact statute in Arizona: Confirmed at section level from the Arizona Legislature’s own text: § 32-1660 is headed "Nurse Licensure Compact" and opens "The nurse licensure compact is adopted and enacted into law as follows:". This replaces A.R.S. §§ 32-1668 and 32-1669, which were REPEALED when Arizona moved to the enhanced compact — those sections still surface in search results and on third-party mirrors, and citing them is the specific error this dataset exists to avoid. Which version of the compact text sits in art. 2.1 is not recorded here, because both versions carry the same heading and we have not read the uniform-requirements provisions; Arizona’s membership status is tracked separately and does not rest on that question.