Is North Dakota a nursing compact state?

What North Dakota’s compact status means

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

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

What nurses coming to North Dakota should know

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

When North Dakota joined the Nurse Licensure Compact

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compact since 2000; we have not separately verified when North Dakota first joined that earlier compact, so we do not publish a date for it.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

Compact statute

In force — citation not yet confirmed.

North Dakota 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 North Dakota Board of Nursing is the authority in the meantime, and if you have the citation we will add it.

Nurse practice act

NDCC 43-12.1 (Nurse Practices Act) ↗

North Dakota’s own license lookup

North Dakota Board of Nursing licence lookup ↗

The strongest free lookup found so far: real-time against the board’s own database (not a nightly extract, so no Mississippi-style next-day gap), treated as primary source, and it shows discipline history inline with links to the public records rather than a bare flag. Paid extras sit above it — $35 for an official verification, $65 for a downloadable list of active LPNs, RNs and APRNs. Note that list refreshes monthly on the second business day, so it can be up to a month stale where the free lookup is current.

Board of nursing

North Dakota 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 North Dakota

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 North Dakota. See the APRN and the compact guide, and confirm specifics with the North Dakota 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 North Dakota.

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

Verifying a North Dakota nursing license

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

Travel assignments and telehealth in North Dakota

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

Renewal and continuing education

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