Is Kansas a nursing compact state?

What Kansas’s compact status means

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

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

What nurses coming to Kansas should know

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

When Kansas joined the Nurse Licensure Compact

The compact became usable in Kansas on July 1, 2019. From that date, nurses holding an active multistate license issued by another compact state could practise in Kansas under compact privilege.

Sourced from yearinreview2019.ncsbn.org, yearinreview2018.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 Kansas’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 Kansas, so you can check our answer against the law rather than taking our word for it.

Compact statute

In force — citation not yet confirmed.

Kansas has adopted the compact, but neither its board nor its code publishes a clean compact-specific citation we have been able to confirm. We would rather say so than print a section number that looks authoritative and is wrong. The Kansas State Board of Nursing is the authority in the meantime, and if you have the citation we will add it.

Nurse practice act

Kansas nursing licensure law (Kansas State Board of Nursing) ↗

Kansas’s own license lookup

Kansas State Board of Nursing licence status verification ↗

Kansas runs KANN — Kansas Automated Nurse Notification — which tells enrolled employers and schools when a licence status changes, including at renewal. That is the first state-operated continuous-monitoring service in this cohort; everywhere else, ongoing monitoring means a Nursys e-Notify subscription. It directly automates the "re-verify at renewal" step that otherwise depends on somebody remembering, which is the step most likely to be skipped once a nurse is hired.

Board of nursing

Kansas State 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 Kansas

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 Kansas. See the APRN and the compact guide, and confirm specifics with the Kansas State 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 Kansas.

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

Verifying a Kansas nursing license

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

Travel assignments and telehealth in Kansas

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

Renewal and continuing education

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