Having to renew original license when endorsed?

[NewYorkerGirl]

Hello,

A nursing professor told us we always have to keep our original nursing license up-to-date, even if we've endorsed to another state and practice there, otherwise we have to take NCLEX again. Please tell me this isn't true. I can't find any information about this. My original license isn't in a compact state.

Thanks.

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

Not true. As long as you maintain a US license you should not need to retake the NCLEX. See if you can put your original license on inactive instead of letting it expire. In most states it's less costly to reactivate a license rather than renew an expired license should you decide to practice in your original state in the future

[NewYorkerGirl]

Thank you. That wasn't the only incorrect thing that professor said, so I had a feeling it wasn't right.

[elkpark]

Sometimes it is the case that students misunderstand what an instructor is saying.

While what you report your professor saying isn't true, it is true that you have to have a current, active, unencumbered license in order to be able to endorse to another state. If you had a license in state A in the past but allowed it to lapse, you cannot then apply for licensure in state B by endorsement, you would have to apply for licensure by examination. Maybe that's what your professor was trying to say ...

[NewYorkerGirl]

No, she was clear that if you let your "original" license lapse, it will make your others lapse as well. She was a little kooky.

[JBudd, MSN]

My "original" license expired a great many years ago; I applied for and received licenses where ever I was moving to without a problem.