Is Tennessee a nursing compact state?

What Tennessee’s compact status means

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

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

What nurses coming to Tennessee should know

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

When Tennessee joined the Nurse Licensure Compact

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original compact since 2000; we have not separately verified when Tennessee first joined that earlier compact, so we do not publish a date for it.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

Compact statute

In force — citation not yet confirmed.

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

Nurse practice act

T.C.A. tit. 63, ch. 7 (Nursing); RNs at §§ 63-7-103, -104, LPNs at §§ 63-7-108, -109 ↗

Tennessee’s own license lookup

Tennessee Department of Health licensure verification ↗

Tennessee has designated Nursys a primary-source equivalent, so either is acceptable for licence status — but the state system additionally returns disciplinary profile and abuse-registry data that a Nursys lookup does not, which matters if you are credentialing rather than just confirming a licence.

Board of nursing

Tennessee 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 Tennessee

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

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

Verifying a Tennessee nursing license

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

Travel assignments and telehealth in Tennessee

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

Renewal and continuing education

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