Check out the 2020 updates on another post:
https://thewanderingnurseblog.com/2020-compact-state-update/
(Updated 7/21/2019)
Compact states are an EXTREMELY helpful bit of legislation for travel nurses that makes working in certain states very convenient and easy! Unfortunately for people like me [yay, Illinois], not all states are involved in this advantageous agreement. If you live in a non-compact state, you are quite frankly, shit out of luck. Fingers crossed your state will hop on board soon. As of July 2019, the list of states involved grew by 9 states, while several others that were previously pending became officially denied. As of July 2019, 33 states are now part of the Enhanced Nurse Licensure Compact legislation:
- Alabama (Starting Date: TBD)
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- Colorado
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Indiana (Starting: 1/1/2020)
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- New Hampshire
- New Mexico
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Oklahoma
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Virginia
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
States with Pending Legislation for the eNLC:
- Indiana
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- New Jersey
- Pennsylvania
Recently, Washington, Vermont, Michigan, and Illinois all had bills that were denied at the state government level to join the eNLC.
This agreement states that if you are a RESIDENT of one of these states and have a nursing license from the same state, you are eligible for a compact (AKA multi-state) license. With a compact nursing license, you can work in any one of the above listed states with only your original nursing license. For example, when I lived in Memphis, TN, I maintained my residency in Tennessee when I started travel nursing. Because I had a Tennessee nursing license AND maintained residency in the same state, I had a multi-state license and was able to practice in Iowa for a travel assignment without actually having an Iowa nursing license. Now that I am an Illinois resident [again], I still have a Tennessee nursing license, but it is no longer a multi-state license because I no longer reside in a compact state, therefore, both the requirements are not met.
If you have a nursing license in one of these states AND are a resident of the same state you hold licensure in, you can click HERE to look up your license verification. Some states require a special application to make your license a multi-state license. On the Nursys website, you can generate a license verification report on yourself to see a list of all your licenses and their standing so you know if you need to take care of this. Once you generate this report, look on the right side. It will list each license as: multi-state, single state or N/A (meaning it is a non-compact state).
No matter where you are traveling to, applying for a new license is tedious but not overly complicated. A GREAT tip for travel nursing is to make copies of all paperwork needed to apply for a new license the very first time you have to do it. Keep those papers in a file folder so the next time you need to apply to a new state, you have pretty much everything you need all ready to go (minus any state specific requirements that may be requested). You will save yourself so much time and, as you’ve likely heard before, time is money!
Easy travels <3