The official board
Puerto Rico nursing licensure is regulated by the Puerto Rico Board of Nurse Examiners. That is where applications, renewals, endorsement, and official forms live. Requirements and fees are board-set and change, so we point you to the official site rather than list figures that could go stale.
Official Puerto Rico licensure resources
- Verify a license: Nursys QuickConfirm (national) or the board — see our Puerto Rico verification guide.
- Apply by endorsement: through the Puerto Rico Board of Nurse Examiners — see the Puerto Rico endorsement guide.
- Renew a license: through the board — see the Puerto Rico renewal guide.
- Compact status: is Puerto Rico a compact state? See the Puerto Rico compact status page.
The law that governs this in Puerto Rico
Licensing a nurse in Puerto Rico happens under Puerto Rico’s own nurse practice act — the same act that defines what practice means here — administered by the Puerto Rico Board of Nurse Examiners. That act is Ley para Regular la Práctica de la Enfermería en Puerto Rico, 20 L.P.R.A. ch. 9A (board powers at § 204f).
There is no compact statute to cite for Puerto Rico, which is the substantive point rather than a gap in our research: Puerto Rico has not adopted the compact, so the practice act above is the whole of the law that applies to you here.
What Puerto Rico runs itself
Beyond the national systems, Puerto Rico Board of Nurse Examiners publishes its own primary-source lookup — ORCPS — Registro de Profesionales de la Salud. Where a board runs its own, that is the record the board itself works from, which can matter when a national system and a board disagree or lag. How Puerto Rico’s route actually behaves, including what an empty result means there, is on verifying a Puerto Rico license.
Official vs independent
The Puerto Rico Board of Nurse Examiners and Nursys are the authorities — they make decisions and hold the records. CompactStates.com explains how Puerto Rico licensure works and gets you to those sources quickly. We never charge for or monetize official board or Nursys links.
What the Puerto Rico Board of Nurse Examiners controls
Puerto Rico is not a compact state, so this board’s authority is largely self-contained: it issues Puerto Rico licenses, and only Puerto Rico licenses authorize practice in Puerto Rico. No nurse practices here on another state’s license, and no Puerto Rico license carries privilege elsewhere.
Its authority comes from Ley para Regular la Práctica de la Enfermería en Puerto Rico, 20 L.P.R.A. ch. 9A (board powers at § 204f). You can read the law rather than take our word for it.
The board runs its own license lookup — ORCPS — Registro de Profesionales de la Salud — separate from Nursys. Where the two disagree, the board’s record controls.