What decides whether you need a new license
Two things: whether South Carolina is a compact state, and whether your own license is multistate rather than single-state. Compact privilege only exists between compact states, and only a multistate license carries it. Run your exact home/assignment pairing through the compact state checker.
Practicing in South Carolina on assignment
Working under privilege still means following South Carolina's scope of practice and nurse practice act, and you remain accountable to the South Carolina Board of Nursing while you are here. If any of the assignment is telehealth, remember licensure generally follows the patient’s location — see the South Carolina telehealth guide.
The law that governs this in South Carolina
Taking an assignment in South Carolina is practice in South Carolina, so it is South Carolina’s own nurse practice act that defines what you may do and the South Carolina Board of Nursing that applies it. That act is S.C. Code tit. 40, ch. 33 (Nurses); discipline at § 40-33-110.
The compact itself is separate law. South Carolina adopted it at S.C. Code Ann. §§ 40-33-1300 to 40-33-1365 (tit. 40, ch. 33, art. 15 — Nurse Licensure Compact), which is what allows a multistate license issued elsewhere to reach South Carolina at all — the practice act still decides what you may do once it does.
Before you sign
We are an independent licensing reference — we do not list assignments, agencies, or pay rates, and nothing here is a job offer. For the wider pre-assignment checklist (contract terms, credentialing, housing), see what to check before accepting a travel assignment. Confirm licensure with the South Carolina Board of Nursing.
Since when has a compact license worked in South Carolina?
Nurses holding another state’s multistate license have been able to practice in South Carolina since January 19, 2018. It has been a member long enough that most guidance you find will be accurate on this point.
The compact statute in South Carolina: Article 15 of the Nurse Practice Act chapter, opening "The Nurse Licensure Compact is hereby enacted into law and entered into by this State". Fourteen sections, 40-33-1300 through 40-33-1365. The article carries a codifier’s note throughout that 2017 Act No. 41 rewrote these sections "to reflect changes mandated for membership in the Nurse Licensure Compact" — that is the original-to-enhanced changeover, recorded in the code itself rather than inferred. Note for anyone re-checking this: the chapter page is ~199KB and truncates when read through a summarizing fetch, which reports the compact as absent. It is not absent; it is past the cut.