Compact Status Confusion

If you are a resident of IL, it won't mean anything to you because your MO license won't be a "compact" license, it will just be a regular, traditional license only good in MO. The NLC (Nurse Licensure Compact) only matters if you are a resident of a compact state. In that case, you can use your license from your "home" state to work in any other compact state -- as long as you maintain your permanent residence in that state. If you move to another state, you have to apply for another license.

The easiest way to think about the NLC is that it works the same as our drivers' licenses. Everyone understands perfectly well that you get a driver's license in your home state, and you can use that license to drive all over the rest of the country for as far as you want and as long as you want -- as long as you still live in your home state. If you move to another state, you have thirty days (or whatever the law says) to apply for a new driver's license in your new state. The only reason we're able to do that, and don't have to stop and apply for a new driver's license at each state line, is because all the states got together early in the Automobile Age and signed a compact (an actual document, like a treaty) agreeing to temporarily recognize each other's licenses.

The NLC works exactly the same way, except that not all 50 states have chosen to sign (join) the compact. It really doesn't mean much to most nurses, unless you do travel nursing, or happen to live near (close enough to commute for work :)) the border of two compact states.