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 Maine State Board of Nursing
For anything Nursys does not show — or to confirm official requirements — go to the Maine State Board of Nursing. The board is the authority on Maine licensure; we do not make licensure determinations.
Could a Maine license be multistate?
Only if it was issued or upgraded on or after January 19, 2018 — the date the Maine State Board of Nursing began issuing multistate licenses to Maine residents. A license issued before then was single-state when granted, so a nurse holding an older Maine license who has never upgraded will still verify as single-state no matter how long they have been licensed here.
Beyond Nursys, Maine publishes its own primary-source lookup: Maine Board of Nursing license verification. Where the two disagree, the issuing board controls.
What trips people up in Maine: Checking a Maine license is free. But Maine stopped processing verification forms to other jurisdictions in October 2002 — the board will not do it at all, and the only route is registering with Nursys and paying its fee. Any guidance telling a nurse to send a form to the Maine board is more than two decades out of date, and there is no fallback if Nursys does not cover the receiving jurisdiction.
The compact statute in Maine: Maine inserts the compact as its own subchapter — 2-A — wedged between the board subchapter and the registered-nurse one, which is why it does not appear in a straight run of section numbers. Worth noting for anyone reading the chapter through: Maine also legislates telehealth nursing in the same chapter at subchapter 7, so the two questions a cross-border nurse usually has to ask separately are answered in one place here.
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.