Is Wyoming a nursing compact state?

What Wyoming’s compact status means

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

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

What nurses coming to Wyoming should know

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

When Wyoming joined the Nurse Licensure Compact

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the original compact since 2000; we have not separately verified when Wyoming first joined that earlier compact, so we do not publish a date for it.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

Compact statute

In force — citation not yet confirmed.

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

Nurse practice act

W.S. ch. 33-21 (Wyoming Nurse Practice Act); board licensing authority at W.S. 33-21-122 ↗

Wyoming’s own license lookup

Wyoming State Board of Nursing ↗

One caution specific to Wyoming: the board has moved domains, and its own older rule documents still cite state.wy.us addresses that no longer resolve. If you reach a dead link from an official-looking Wyoming PDF, the document is out of date rather than the board being unreachable — start from nursing-online.wyo.gov instead. The board licenses registered nurses, practical nurses, advanced practice registered nurses and nursing assistants.

Board of nursing

Wyoming State 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 Wyoming

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 Wyoming. See the APRN and the compact guide, and confirm specifics with the Wyoming State 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 Wyoming.

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

Verifying a Wyoming nursing license

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

Travel assignments and telehealth in Wyoming

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

Renewal and continuing education

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