Is South Carolina a nursing compact state?

What South Carolina’s compact status means

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

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

What nurses coming to South Carolina should know

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

When South Carolina joined the Nurse Licensure Compact

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compact since 2000; we have not separately verified when South Carolina first joined that earlier compact, so we do not publish a date for it.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

Compact statute

In force — citation not yet confirmed.

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

Nurse practice act

S.C. Code tit. 40, ch. 33 (Nurses); discipline at § 40-33-110 ↗

South Carolina’s own license lookup

South Carolina LLR Board of Nursing ↗

For a single nurse, Nursys QuickConfirm covers South Carolina. For volume, LLR sells a Bulk License Verification service that takes a list of licence numbers and returns status and expiry for each. That is the paid mirror of Iowa, which publishes the equivalent as free public rosters — so an employer credentialing across both states pays for one and not the other, for the same task.

Board of nursing

South Carolina 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 South Carolina

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 South Carolina. See the APRN and the compact guide, and confirm specifics with the South Carolina 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 South Carolina.

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

Verifying a South Carolina nursing license

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

Travel assignments and telehealth in South Carolina

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

Renewal and continuing education

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