Is Pennsylvania a nursing compact state?

What Pennsylvania’s compact status means

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

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

What nurses coming to Pennsylvania should know

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

When Pennsylvania joined the Nurse Licensure Compact

Pennsylvania signed the Nurse Licensure Compact into law on July 1, 2021 — signed by Gov. Tom Wolf as Act 68 of 2021 (Senate Bill 115); sponsored by Sen. Lisa Boscola. Pennsylvania was the 37th jurisdiction to enact the NLC.

The compact became usable in Pennsylvania on July 7, 2025, 4 years after the law was signed. From that date, nurses holding an active multistate license issued by another compact state could practise in Pennsylvania under compact privilege.

The longest enactment-to-implementation gap on record: four years and six days between the governor’s signature and the day multistate licences became available.

Sourced from ncsbn.org, pa.gov, legis.state.pa.us. 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 Pennsylvania’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 Pennsylvania, so you can check our answer against the law rather than taking our word for it.

Compact statute

Act 68 of 2021 (Senate Bill 115) ↗

Signed 1 July 2021 and effective immediately, but the compact did not become usable in Pennsylvania until implementation completed on 7 July 2025 — four years later.

Nurse practice act

Professional Nursing Law, 63 P.S. § 211 et seq. ↗

Pennsylvania’s own license lookup

Pennsylvania Licensing System (PALS) verification ↗

PALS answers the employer’s question — current status and expiry — from the public search, no account needed. The part that catches people is who has to act for the OTHER kind of verification: a Verification of License with History going to another state’s board must be requested by the licensee, logged into their own PALS dashboard. An employer or a receiving board cannot start it, and Pennsylvania asks that paper requests not be sent to the board office at all. If you are the nurse, this is on you and nobody will do it for you. Endorsement verification routed through Nursys is charged per licence type and per destination board, so two licences into two states is four charges, not one.

Board of nursing

Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania

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 Pennsylvania. See the APRN and the compact guide, and confirm specifics with the Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania.

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

Verifying a Pennsylvania nursing license

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

Travel assignments and telehealth in Pennsylvania

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

Renewal and continuing education

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