The official board
Georgia nursing licensure is regulated by the Georgia 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 Georgia licensure resources
- Verify a license: Nursys QuickConfirm (national) or the board — see our Georgia verification guide.
- Apply by endorsement: through the Georgia Board of Nursing — see the Georgia endorsement guide.
- Renew a license: through the board — see the Georgia renewal guide.
- Compact status: is Georgia a compact state? See the Georgia compact status page.
The law that governs this in Georgia
Licensing a nurse in Georgia happens under Georgia’s own nurse practice act — the same act that defines what practice means here — administered by the Georgia Board of Nursing. That act is O.C.G.A. tit. 43, ch. 26 (Nurse Practice Act).
The compact itself is separate law. Georgia adopted it at O.C.G.A. tit. 43, ch. 26, art. 4 (multistate licensure / Nurse Licensure Compact), which is what allows a multistate license issued elsewhere to reach Georgia at all — the practice act still decides what you may do once it does.
What Georgia runs itself
Beyond the national systems, Georgia Board of Nursing publishes its own primary-source lookup — Georgia Secretary of State 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 Georgia’s route actually behaves, including what an empty result means there, is on verifying a Georgia license.
Official vs independent
The Georgia Board of Nursing and Nursys are the authorities — they make decisions and hold the records. CompactStates.com explains how Georgia licensure works and gets you to those sources quickly. We never charge for or monetize official board or Nursys links.
What the Georgia Board of Nursing controls
Because Georgia is in the compact, this board does two jobs at once: it licenses Georgia residents — including issuing multistate licenses, which it has done since January 19, 2018 — and it regulates every nurse practicing in Georgia 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 O.C.G.A. tit. 43, ch. 26 (Nurse Practice Act), and its compact role from O.C.G.A. tit. 43, ch. 26, art. 4 (multistate licensure / Nurse Licensure Compact). You can read the law rather than take our word for it.
The board runs its own license lookup — Georgia Secretary of State license lookup — separate from Nursys. Where the two disagree, the board’s record controls.