Licensure and career

Nurse Licensure Compact Nlc

Written and reviewed by Dana Whitfield, RN, MSN · 4 min read · Updated September 2026

Short answer

The Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) is an interstate agreement letting a registered or practical nurse hold one multistate license, issued by their home state, valid for practice in around 40 member states. Membership and timelines vary by state, and a handful of major states, including California and New York, are not part of it.

The short version

The NLC is a legal agreement between participating states that lets one RN or LPN/VN license serve as authorization to practise across all of them. It replaced the older, more limited Nurse Licensure Compact of 1999 in 2018, adding the federal background check requirement that made a few previously reluctant states, including holdouts like New Jersey, willing to join.

It solves a specific problem: before the NLC, a nurse working across state lines, whether physically relocating, doing travel contracts, or seeing patients by telehealth, needed a separate license per state. The compact removes that duplication for member states only, not universally.

How it works in practice

Your multistate license comes from your state of primary residence, the state where you legally live, not where you happen to be working. When you renew or first apply in a compact state, the board checks your residency and issues the license as multistate by default, provided you meet the eligibility requirements. You then practise under that one license in any other NLC state, subject to that state's practice laws and scope of practice, which still differ state to state even under the compact.

The compact does not standardise practice rules, only licensure recognition. A nurse working under compact privileges in another state is bound by that state's nurse practice act, delegation rules, and scope-of-practice regulations, which can diverge meaningfully from home-state rules, particularly around IV therapy delegation or medication administration by LPNs.

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Requirements and timelines

To qualify, you need an active unencumbered RN or LPN/VN license, must pass a fingerprint-based federal and state criminal background check, and must not be currently enrolled in an alternative-to-discipline programme in a way that restricts practice. Requirements are set at the compact level, so they don't vary state to state in substance, but processing speed does.

New graduates in a compact state typically get multistate status automatically with their initial license, on the same timeline as any first-time licensure, generally two to six weeks after passing the NCLEX. Nurses transferring residency into a compact state face a longer wait, often four to ten weeks, because the new state must independently verify the out-of-state license and complete its own background check before issuing anything.

What it costs and what it pays

The multistate designation carries no separate fee; you pay the standard licensure or renewal fee your home board already charges. Fingerprinting adds $50 to $75 in most states, and if you're establishing residency in a new compact state, expect the full endorsement fee for that state, commonly $100 to $250, on top of fingerprinting.

Financially, compact status functions as market access rather than a pay rate itself. Interstate telehealth nursing roles and the majority of travel contracts require it as a baseline condition of employment, and those roles are frequently among the higher-paying segments of the RN job market. Nurses restricted to a single state, particularly a non-compact one, are excluded from that entire segment.

Next steps

Check the current NLC member list against your home state and any state you're considering relocating to; membership has changed periodically as legislatures pass compact legislation, so verify rather than relying on memory. Your Nursys profile will show whether your existing license already carries multistate status.

If you plan to work across state lines, particularly for travel or telehealth roles, start the residency and endorsement process well before you need to start work, given the four-to-ten-week range for new-state applications. If your target state isn't in the compact, budget for a full separate license application instead and check that state's board directly for its typical processing time.

The next step on this is the same as on everything else here: answer questions and read the rationales. Our fundamentals practice questions are the closest set to what this page covers.

Common questions

What's the difference between the NLC and the original nurse licensure compact?

The original 1999 compact lacked a uniform criminal background check requirement, which kept some states from joining. The current NLC, called the enhanced compact, added mandatory fingerprint-based background checks in 2018, which brought in additional member states.

Is the NLC the same as the APRN Compact?

No. The NLC covers registered nurses and licensed practical/vocational nurses. Advanced practice registered nurses are covered by a separate APRN Compact with its own, shorter, list of member states.

Can I practise telehealth across state lines with a multistate license?

Yes, within NLC member states, since the patient's location determines the applicable nurse practice act and your multistate license satisfies licensure there. For a patient in a non-compact state you need a separate license for that state.

Does a disciplinary action affect my multistate privilege?

Yes. An encumbrance, such as a probation condition or practice restriction, on your home license typically converts it to single-state status until the encumbrance is resolved, even if you were multistate before.