Nurse Licensure Compact

The Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) is an agreement that allows mutual recognition (reciprocity) of a nursing license between member U.S. states ("compact states"). Enacted into law by the participating states, the NLC allows a nurse who is a legal resident of and possesses a nursing license in a compact state (their "home state") to practice in any of the other compact states (the "remote states") without obtaining additional licensure in the remote states. It applies to both registered and practical nurses and is also referred to as a multi-state license.^[1]

Per the NLC rules, nurses who are licensed in and legal residents of a compact state may not hold licenses from other compact states – that is, they can only hold one compact state license at a time, which must be from their home state, and a nurse temporarily practicing in a remote state retains their license in their home state. However, if a nurse changes their primary state of residence from one compact state to another compact state, they must transfer their license by applying for licensure by endorsement in the new home state; upon issuance of the new home state license, the license from the former home state is inactivated.

A license obtained in a compact state that is not one's state of legal residency is not recognized by the other compact members, so nurses who are legal residents of non-compact states must obtain licenses for each compact state in which they wish to practice.^[2][3]

Participating states

Map of Nurse Licensure Compact

  NLC Member

As of June, 2025, the 41 NLC states are:

• Alabama
• Arizona
• Arkansas
• Colorado
• Connecticut (tentative implementation date: 10/01/25)
• Delaware
• Florida
• Georgia
• Idaho
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Maine
• Maryland
• Massachusetts (implementation pending)
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Montana
• Nebraska
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• New Mexico
• North Carolina
• North Dakota
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• Pennsylvania (partial implementation as of September 5, 2023-tentative full implementation date: 2025)
• Rhode Island
• South Carolina
• South Dakota
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Utah
• Vermont
• Virginia
• Washington
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin
• Wyoming
• The territory of the US Virgin Islands has passed NLC legislation and entered the compact, but is awaiting an implementation date

• Guam has a partial implementation, which allows nurses who hold active, multi-state NLC licenses to practice in Guam. Nurses who claim Guam as their primary place of residency, however, cannot apply for a multi-state license until the NLC is fully implemented.

Non-participating states

Eight other states and the District Of Columbia all have active NLC bills. They are: Alaska, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, and Oregon.

In New York, Republican Asm. Robert Castelli first proposed joining the compact in 2010.^[4][5] Other Republicans like minority leader Sen. Rob Ortt have consistently and repeatedly introduced bills, and the Democratic-led committees have consistently withheld them without a vote.^[6][7] Opposition from unions like the New York State Nurses Association and National Nurses United argue that joining the compact would lower state licensing standards, undermine union protections, and fail to address the root causes of the nurse staffing crisis such as wages, working conditions, and enforcement of staffing laws.^[8] Commissioner of Health James McDonald testified in support of joining the compact in 2023.^[9] Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul's fiscal year 2025 and 2026 budget proposals to join the compact were rejected by the Legislature.^[10][11][12]