The official board
Delaware nursing licensure is regulated by the Delaware 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 Delaware licensure resources
- Verify a license: Nursys QuickConfirm (national) or the board — see our Delaware verification guide.
- Apply by endorsement: through the Delaware Board of Nursing — see the Delaware endorsement guide.
- Renew a license: through the board — see the Delaware renewal guide.
- Compact status: is Delaware a compact state? See the Delaware compact status page.
The law that governs this in Delaware
Licensing a nurse in Delaware happens under Delaware’s own nurse practice act — the same act that defines what practice means here — administered by the Delaware Board of Nursing. That act is 24 Del. C. ch. 19 (Board of Nursing).
The compact itself is separate law. Delaware adopted it at Del. Code tit. 24, ch. 19A (Nurse Multistate Licensure Compact), which is what allows a multistate license issued elsewhere to reach Delaware at all — the practice act still decides what you may do once it does.
What Delaware runs itself
Beyond the national systems, Delaware Board of Nursing publishes its own primary-source lookup — Delaware DELPROS search & verify. 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 Delaware’s route actually behaves, including what an empty result means there, is on verifying a Delaware license.
Official vs independent
The Delaware Board of Nursing and Nursys are the authorities — they make decisions and hold the records. CompactStates.com explains how Delaware licensure works and gets you to those sources quickly. We never charge for or monetize official board or Nursys links.
What the Delaware Board of Nursing controls
Because Delaware is in the compact, this board does two jobs at once: it licenses Delaware residents — including issuing multistate licenses, which it has done since January 19, 2018 — and it regulates every nurse practicing in Delaware 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 24 Del. C. ch. 19 (Board of Nursing), and its compact role from Del. Code tit. 24, ch. 19A (Nurse Multistate Licensure Compact). You can read the law rather than take our word for it.
The board runs its own license lookup — Delaware DELPROS search & verify — separate from Nursys. Where the two disagree, the board’s record controls.