Is Arkansas a nursing compact state?

What Arkansas’s compact status means

Because Arkansas is a full compact state, a single multistate license issued by Arkansas lets you practice in Arkansas and in other compact states without applying for a separate license in each one.

If you live in another compact state and hold an active multistate license there, you can generally practice in Arkansas under compact privilege — but you still have to follow Arkansas's laws and scope-of-practice rules while you work here.

Compact privilege only works if your license is the multistate type, not single-state. Check this before you rely on it.

What Arkansas residents should know

If Arkansas is your primary state of residence and you hold an active Arkansas multistate license, you can practice in Arkansas and in other compact states. If your Arkansas license is single-state, ask the Arkansas State Board of Nursing about converting it to multistate.

What nurses coming to Arkansas should know

Coming from another compact state with an active multistate license? You can generally practice in Arkansas under compact privilege — just follow Arkansas’s practice rules. Coming from a non-compact state? You’ll apply for an Arkansas license by endorsement.

When Arkansas joined the Nurse Licensure Compact

Arkansas was one of the 29 jurisdictions where the enhanced Nurse Licensure Compact took effect on January 19, 2018, the day the current compact went live nationwide. Many of these jurisdictions had participated in the original compact since 2000; we have not separately verified when Arkansas first joined that earlier compact, so we do not publish a date for it.

Sourced from yearinreview2018.ncsbn.org, ncsbn.org. See the full NLC adoption timeline for every jurisdiction’s dates and methodology, or the Nursing Compact States Report 2026 for how far the compact reaches overall.

The law behind Arkansas’s status

Compact status is not an opinion or a listing — it is a statute. These are the primary sources that actually govern licensure in Arkansas, so you can check our answer against the law rather than taking our word for it.

Compact statute

In force — citation not yet confirmed.

Arkansas has adopted the compact, but neither its board nor its code publishes a clean compact-specific citation we have been able to confirm. We would rather say so than print a section number that looks authoritative and is wrong. The Arkansas State Board of Nursing is the authority in the meantime, and if you have the citation we will add it.

Nurse practice act

Arkansas nursing licensure law (Arkansas State Board of Nursing) ↗

Arkansas’s own license lookup

Arkansas State Board of Nursing licence 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 dual-authority arrangement as Missouri. Arkansas also licenses a credential most states do not have: the psychiatric technician nurse, alongside RN, APRN, registered nurse practitioner and LPN. As with New Hampshire’s medication nursing assistants, that means Arkansas holds records for titles that simply do not exist elsewhere, so an unfamiliar title on a CV is not automatically a red flag.

Board of nursing

Arkansas State Board of Nursing ↗

Statutory citations reviewed 2026-07-31. Citations change far more slowly than fees or processing times — which is why we publish these and not those. Enactment is not the same as implementation: check the dates above before relying on the compact here.

RN, LPN/LVN, and APRN coverage in Arkansas

The Nurse Licensure Compact covers RN and LPN/LVN licenses. It does not, on its own, cover APRN roles — nurse practitioners, CRNAs, CNSs, and CNMs generally need separate APRN authorization in each state, including Arkansas. See the APRN and the compact guide, and confirm specifics with the Arkansas State Board of Nursing.

Coverage is the same for both credentials, so the state lists are the same: every RN compact state and every LPN/LVN compact state both include Arkansas.

By credential: Arkansas RN & the compact, Arkansas LPN, and Arkansas APRN.

Primary state of residence, moving, and endorsement

Your primary state of residence (PSOR) drives multistate eligibility — you can hold it in only one state at a time. Because Arkansas is a compact state, if you make it your PSOR you may qualify for a multistate license issued by Arkansas — often more useful than a plain single-state license. Coming from another state, you generally apply to the Arkansas State Board of Nursing by endorsement. If you are relocating, the 60-day rule governs the timing.

Verifying a Arkansas nursing license

Look any Arkansas license up on Nursys QuickConfirm — it shows whether the license is single-state or multistate, its status, and its expiration. For anything Nursys does not show, use the Arkansas State Board of Nursing. See the full Arkansas verification guide. CompactStates is an independent reference, not a verification service, and holds no license records.

Travel assignments and telehealth in Arkansas

Because Arkansas recognizes compact privilege, an active multistate license from your compact home state generally covers a Arkansas travel assignment, and telehealth to patients located in Arkansas, without a separate Arkansas license. Telehealth licensure generally follows the patient’s location. See the Arkansas travel and telehealth guides.

Renewal and continuing education

Renewal cycles, fees, and continuing-education requirements are set by the Arkansas State Board of Nursing and change over time, so we link you to the official source rather than list figures that could go stale. Nursys shows your expiration date and license type. See the Arkansas renewal guide. If your Arkansas license is multistate, keeping it renewed is what keeps your compact privilege active in every other compact state.