What Nursys shows
Nursys QuickConfirm reports the license type (single-state or multistate), current status, and expiration for participating boards. It is the fastest way to confirm whether a license carries compact privilege.
Checking with the Colorado State Board of Nursing
For anything Nursys does not show — or to confirm official requirements — go to the Colorado State Board of Nursing. The board is the authority on Colorado licensure; we do not make licensure determinations.
Could a Colorado license be multistate?
Only if it was issued or upgraded on or after January 19, 2018 — the date the Colorado State Board of Nursing began issuing multistate licenses to Colorado residents. A license issued before then was single-state when granted, so a nurse holding an older Colorado license who has never upgraded will still verify as single-state no matter how long they have been licensed here.
Beyond Nursys, Colorado publishes its own primary-source lookup: Colorado Board of Nursing verification (via Nursys). Where the two disagree, the issuing board controls.
What trips people up in Colorado: Unusually, Colorado does not run a separate state lookup — its board directs verification to Nursys, so for Colorado licenses Nursys IS the primary source rather than a national convenience layer.
Colorado's nurse practice act: Colorado adopted the enhanced compact via SB18-027, which repealed the original compact.
The compact statute in Colorado: Cited to the enacting act rather than a code section, deliberately. Colorado’s code browser and its mirrors both refuse automated access, so the section-level citation within art. 255 is NOT confirmed here — and Colorado is a state where guessing already produced a wrong answer once. What the bill does establish is the important part: SB 18-027 repealed the earlier Nurse Licensure Compact and adopted the ENHANCED compact in its place. So any older Colorado compact citation, including one that still resolves, is pointing at repealed law — the same trap Arizona and Utah set.
RN, LPN/LVN, and APRN
Verification works the same for RN and LPN/VN licenses. APRN authority is separate and verified per state — see APRN and the compact.