The official board
Tennessee nursing licensure is regulated by the Tennessee Board of Nursing. 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 Tennessee licensure resources
- Verify a license: Nursys QuickConfirm (national) or the board — see our Tennessee verification guide.
- Apply by endorsement: through the Tennessee Board of Nursing — see the Tennessee endorsement guide.
- Renew a license: through the board — see the Tennessee renewal guide.
- Compact status: is Tennessee a compact state? See the Tennessee compact status page.
The law that governs this in Tennessee
Licensing a nurse in Tennessee happens under Tennessee’s own nurse practice act — the same act that defines what practice means here — administered by the Tennessee Board of Nursing. That act is T.C.A. tit. 63, ch. 7 (Nursing); RNs at §§ 63-7-103, -104, LPNs at §§ 63-7-108, -109.
Tennessee has adopted the compact, but we have not confirmed which section of its code carries it, so we do not cite one — several states replaced an earlier compact and the superseded sections still circulate. The practice act above is the citation we have read.
What Tennessee runs itself
Beyond the national systems, Tennessee Board of Nursing publishes its own primary-source lookup — Tennessee Department of Health licensure verification. 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 Tennessee’s route actually behaves, including what an empty result means there, is on verifying a Tennessee license.
Official vs independent
The Tennessee Board of Nursing and Nursys are the authorities — they make decisions and hold the records. CompactStates.com explains how Tennessee licensure works and gets you to those sources quickly. We never charge for or monetize official board or Nursys links.
What the Tennessee Board of Nursing controls
Because Tennessee is in the compact, this board does two jobs at once: it licenses Tennessee residents — including issuing multistate licenses, which it has done since January 19, 2018 — and it regulates every nurse practicing in Tennessee on another state’s multistate license. A visiting compact nurse answers to this board while working here, even though it never issued them anything.
Its authority comes from T.C.A. tit. 63, ch. 7 (Nursing); RNs at §§ 63-7-103, -104, LPNs at §§ 63-7-108, -109. You can read the law rather than take our word for it.
The board runs its own license lookup — Tennessee Department of Health licensure verification — separate from Nursys. Where the two disagree, the board’s record controls.