Compact License Confusion

[NICURN87]

Hello,

My fiance and I are looking to move to either NC or TN soon but do not know where yet as he still looking for jobs as well. I am currently a resident of Florida and have recently received my North Carolina license. I know that NC is a compact state but if my permanent residence is Florida and I have my license in North Carolina can I work in TN without residence there? Or do I need to apply for my license there now as well?

I am just worried that my fiancé will get a job in TN and I will have to move there and wont have an RN license and wont be able to work.

Help!!

[CalicoKitty, BSN, MSN, RN]

Your license is only a compact license if you live in the state you are licensed. Otherwise, it is only valid in the state that issued it. You'll need a separate license to work in TN.

You can apply for a TN license, though, without being a resident, if you intend to work there. And if you move/live there, it should be a compact license when you change your address.

[elkpark]

If you move to NC, your NC license will have "compact privileges" (once you are living there) and you can use it to work in NC, TN, or any other compact state for as long as you like as long as you maintain your permanent residence in NC. If your fiance' gets a job in TN and the two of you move to TN, you will have to apply for TN licensure (and your NC license will become invalid). The NLC rules require that you can only be licensed in one "compact state" at a time, and it must be your state of residence.

The easiest way to understand compact licenses is that they work exactly like drivers' licenses. You are licensed to drive in your home state. When you travel cross country, you don't have to stop at each new state line and apply for a new driver's license; you can drive anywhere in the country you want, for as long as you want, on your current state license. But, if you move to another state, you have 30, or 90, or whatever the state law says, days to get a driver's license in your new state and, when you do, they take your old license (from the former state) or mark it as invalid. The only reason you don't have to stop and get a new license in each state when you drive cross-country is because, back in the dawn of the Automobile Age, the states realized that would be impractical and they all got together and signed a compact agreeing to temporarily recognize each other's driver's licenses for travel purposes. The NLC works exactly the same way, except that not all the states have chosen to sign the compact. You get licensed in your home compact state. That license will then be recognized for work purposes by any other compact state, indefinitely (you can work your whole career in a different compact state, if you want), as long as you still live in your home state. If you move to a new compact state, you have 30 days to get a license in your new home state and your old license becomes invalid.