Licensure follows the patient
The location that matters for telehealth is generally the patient’s, not yours. Sitting in one state and caring for a patient in New Jersey generally means you need authority to practice in New Jersey — via compact privilege or a New Jersey license. See telehealth: patient in another state.
The law that governs this in New Jersey
Caring for a patient located in New Jersey is practice in New Jersey, so it is New Jersey’s own nurse practice act that defines what you may do and the New Jersey Board of Nursing that applies it. That act is N.J.S.A. 45:11 (Nurses).
The compact itself is separate law. New Jersey adopted it at P.L. 2019, c. 172 (entering New Jersey into the Nurse Licensure Compact), which is what allows a multistate license issued elsewhere to reach New Jersey at all — the practice act still decides what you may do once it does.
Compact status is not the only consideration
Even where a multistate license reaches New Jersey, your employer and the New Jersey Board of Nursing may impose additional requirements, and some roles carry their own rules. Compact status answers one question — it is not a blanket authorization to practice remotely.
APRN telehealth is separate
The compact covers RN and LPN/LVN licenses only. If you work as an APRN, your advanced-practice authority is granted state by state and is not carried by a multistate RN license — a point that catches out a lot of remote NP roles.
Since when has a compact license worked in New Jersey?
Nurses holding another state’s multistate license have been able to practice in New Jersey since March 1, 2020. It has been a member long enough that most guidance you find will be accurate on this point.
Note the asymmetry: New Jersey opened to visiting nurses on that date but did not begin issuing multistate licenses to its own residents until November 15, 2021. If you are caring for patients located in New Jersey while living elsewhere, the earlier date is the one that applies to you. If you move to New Jersey, the later one does.