Is Texas a nursing compact state?

What Texas’s compact status means

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

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

What nurses coming to Texas should know

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

When Texas joined the Nurse Licensure Compact

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the original compact since 2000; we have not separately verified when Texas first joined that earlier compact, so we do not publish a date for it.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

Compact statute

Tex. Occ. Code ch. 304 (§§ 304.001–304.010) ↗

Chapter 304 is the compact itself; the Board’s implementing rules sit in the Texas Administrative Code.

Nurse practice act

Tex. Occ. Code ch. 301 (Nursing Practice Act) ↗

Texas’s own license lookup

Texas BON licence verification ↗

Texas runs two different things under the word “verification”, and confusing them costs weeks. The online lookup answers “is this licence real and current” for an employer, immediately. But board-to-board verification for ENDORSEMENT into another state is a separate paper process — a Verification of Registered/Professional Nurse Licensure form, returned to the board by email — not something the public lookup produces. If another state has asked you for verification of your Texas licence, a printout of the online result is unlikely to be what they meant.

Board of nursing

Texas 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 Texas

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

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

Verifying a Texas nursing license

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

Travel assignments and telehealth in Texas

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

Renewal and continuing education

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