Is Georgia a nursing compact state?

What Georgia’s compact status means

Because Georgia is a full compact state, a single multistate license issued by Georgia lets you practice in Georgia 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 Georgia under compact privilege — but you still have to follow Georgia'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 Georgia residents should know

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

What nurses coming to Georgia should know

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

When Georgia joined the Nurse Licensure Compact

Georgia 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the original compact since 2000; we have not separately verified when Georgia first joined that earlier compact, so we do not publish a date for it.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 Georgia’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 Georgia, so you can check our answer against the law rather than taking our word for it.

Compact statute

O.C.G.A. tit. 43, ch. 26, art. 4 (multistate licensure / Nurse Licensure Compact) ↗

Located at ARTICLE level from Georgia’s own signed legislation: SB 168 (2019) refers throughout to nurses "holding a multistate license pursuant to Article 4 of Chapter 26 of Title 43". The section range inside that article is deliberately NOT claimed — the Secretary of State’s Nurse Practice Act PDF and its compact page both refuse automated access, and the General Assembly’s site did not resolve, so a section-level citation here would be inference rather than research. Note also that SB 168’s own caption states it repeals "a provision relating to the Nurse Licensure Compact"; which provision is not confirmed, so treat an older Georgia compact citation as suspect rather than authoritative — the same trap Arizona, Colorado and Utah set.

Nurse practice act

O.C.G.A. tit. 43, ch. 26 (Nurse Practice Act) ↗

Georgia’s own license lookup

Georgia Secretary of State license lookup ↗

Georgia licenses nurses through the Secretary of State’s Licensing Division rather than a standalone board agency.

Board of nursing

Georgia 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 Georgia

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 Georgia. See the APRN and the compact guide, and confirm specifics with the Georgia 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 Georgia.

By credential: Georgia RN & the compact, Georgia LPN, and Georgia 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 Georgia is a compact state, if you make it your PSOR you may qualify for a multistate license issued by Georgia — often more useful than a plain single-state license. Coming from another state, you generally apply to the Georgia Board of Nursing by endorsement. If you are relocating, the 60-day rule governs the timing.

Verifying a Georgia nursing license

Look any Georgia 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 Georgia Board of Nursing. See the full Georgia verification guide. CompactStates is an independent reference, not a verification service, and holds no license records.

Travel assignments and telehealth in Georgia

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

Renewal and continuing education

Renewal cycles, fees, and continuing-education requirements are set by the Georgia 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 Georgia renewal guide. If your Georgia license is multistate, keeping it renewed is what keeps your compact privilege active in every other compact state.