The official board
Arkansas nursing licensure is regulated by the Arkansas State Board of Nursing. That is where applications, renewals, endorsement, and official forms live. Requirements and fees are board-set and change, so we point you to the official site rather than list figures that could go stale.
Official Arkansas licensure resources
- Verify a license: Nursys QuickConfirm (national) or the board — see our Arkansas verification guide.
- Apply by endorsement: through the Arkansas State Board of Nursing — see the Arkansas endorsement guide.
- Renew a license: through the board — see the Arkansas renewal guide.
- Compact status: is Arkansas a compact state? See the Arkansas compact status page.
The law that governs this in Arkansas
Licensing a nurse in Arkansas happens under Arkansas’s own nurse practice act — the same act that defines what practice means here — administered by the Arkansas State Board of Nursing. That act is Arkansas nursing licensure law (Arkansas State Board of Nursing).
The compact itself is separate law. Arkansas adopted it at Ark. Code Ann. §§ 17-87-601 to 17-87-604 (Nurse Practice Act, subch. 6 — Nurse Licensure Compact), which is what allows a multistate license issued elsewhere to reach Arkansas at all — the practice act still decides what you may do once it does.
What Arkansas runs itself
Beyond the national systems, Arkansas State Board of Nursing publishes its own primary-source lookup — Arkansas State Board of Nursing license lookup. Where a board runs its own, that is the record the board itself works from, which can matter when a national system and a board disagree or lag. How Arkansas’s route actually behaves, including what an empty result means there, is on verifying a Arkansas license.
Official vs independent
The Arkansas State Board of Nursing and Nursys are the authorities — they make decisions and hold the records. CompactStates.com explains how Arkansas licensure works and gets you to those sources quickly. We never charge for or monetize official board or Nursys links.
What the Arkansas State Board of Nursing controls
Because Arkansas is in the compact, this board does two jobs at once: it licenses Arkansas residents — including issuing multistate licenses, which it has done since January 19, 2018 — and it regulates every nurse practicing in Arkansas on another state’s multistate license. A visiting compact nurse answers to this board while working here, even though it never issued them anything.
Its authority comes from Arkansas nursing licensure law (Arkansas State Board of Nursing), and its compact role from Ark. Code Ann. §§ 17-87-601 to 17-87-604 (Nurse Practice Act, subch. 6 — Nurse Licensure Compact). You can read the law rather than take our word for it.
The board runs its own license lookup — Arkansas State Board of Nursing license lookup — separate from Nursys. Where the two disagree, the board’s record controls.