Is Northern Mariana Islands a nursing compact state?

What Northern Mariana Islands’s compact status means

Because Northern Mariana Islands has not joined the compact, there is no Northern Mariana Islands multistate license. Northern Mariana Islands residents hold a single-state license that is valid only in Northern Mariana Islands.

To work in Northern Mariana Islands with an out-of-state license, you generally apply for licensure by endorsement directly with the Northern Mariana Islands Board of Nursing. A compact license from another state does not cover you in Northern Mariana Islands.

If you move your primary residence to a compact state later, you may then become eligible for a multistate license through that state.

What Northern Mariana Islands residents should know

If you live in Northern Mariana Islands, your license is single-state — valid in Northern Mariana Islands only. Northern Mariana Islands residents can’t get a multistate license unless Northern Mariana Islands joins the compact. To work in another state, you’d apply there.

What nurses coming to Northern Mariana Islands should know

You’ll need a Northern Mariana Islands license — usually by endorsement — even if you hold a compact license elsewhere. Compact privilege doesn’t reach Northern Mariana Islands.

Why Northern Mariana Islands has no compact adoption date

There is no date to give, because Northern Mariana Islands has never enacted the Nurse Licensure Compact. This is not a delay or a pending implementation — no Northern Mariana Islands license has ever carried compact privilege, and none does today.

For context on what it has not joined: the original compact dates from 2000, and the rewritten enhanced NLC took effect on January 19, 2018. 40 jurisdictions are now issuing and honouring multistate licenses. Northern Mariana Islands is not among them, and a nurse practicing here needs a Northern Mariana Islands license regardless of what they hold elsewhere.

See the full NLC adoption timeline for when every other jurisdiction enacted and implemented, each with its source — or the jurisdictions still outside the compact for who else is in the same position.

The law behind Northern Mariana Islands’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 Northern Mariana Islands, so you can check our answer against the law rather than taking our word for it.

Compact statute

None in force.

Northern Mariana Islands has not enacted the Nurse Licensure Compact, which is precisely why a multistate license issued elsewhere does not authorize practice here, and why Northern Mariana Islands residents cannot obtain one. Bills are introduced in some sessions; introduction is not enactment, and we only record a statute once it is law.

Nurse practice act

Northern Mariana Islands Board of Nursing — licensing authority ↗

Northern Mariana Islands’s own license lookup

NMI Board of Nursing — License Verification Portal ↗

Two naming traps, both of which send people to the wrong place. The board was formerly the CNMI Board of Nurse Examiners and is still listed under that old name in most directories — including, until we corrected it, ours. And the CNMI Board of Professional Licensing is a DIFFERENT agency that does not license nurses, despite being what a search for “CNMI licensing” actually returns. The nursing board runs its own lookup at the address above, which is a better position than American Samoa is in.

Board of nursing

Northern Mariana Islands 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.

RN, LPN/LVN, and APRN coverage in Northern Mariana Islands

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 Northern Mariana Islands. See the APRN and the compact guide, and confirm specifics with the Northern Mariana Islands 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 exclude Northern Mariana Islands, which is why neither credential carries privilege here.

By credential: Northern Mariana Islands RN & the compact, Northern Mariana Islands LPN, and Northern Mariana Islands 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 Northern Mariana Islands does not issue multistate licenses to its residents, making it your PSOR means holding a single-state Northern Mariana Islands license; a compact license from your former state does not transfer to Northern Mariana Islands. Coming from another state, you generally apply to the Northern Mariana Islands Board of Nursing by endorsement. If you are relocating, the 60-day rule governs the timing.

Verifying a Northern Mariana Islands nursing license

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

Travel assignments and telehealth in Northern Mariana Islands

Because Northern Mariana Islands does not currently grant compact privilege, a Northern Mariana Islands travel assignment — or telehealth to patients located in Northern Mariana Islands — generally needs a Northern Mariana Islands license by endorsement. Telehealth licensure generally follows the patient’s location. See the Northern Mariana Islands travel and telehealth guides.

Renewal and continuing education

Renewal cycles, fees, and continuing-education requirements are set by the Northern Mariana Islands 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 Northern Mariana Islands renewal guide.