Dual State License question (CA/UT)

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · May 8, 2015

Sure, you can have more than one license. You can have as many as you want from states that will grant them to you, so long as you pay for them and meet each individual state's requirements.

You can get your first nursing license in any state (let's call it State 1) by applying to that state's Board of Nursing (BoN) and getting their approval to sit the NCLEX exam in their jurisdiction. You don't have to have gone to school in State 1 to do this. You have to meet whatever criteria they want-- your nursing school has to be accepted by them (some states approve schools that other states won't approve), if there are fingerprinting or other requirements, they'll want a transcript, and they want the money. Then when you pass NCLEX you are granted a State 1 RN license.

So now you want to move to State 2. You write to the State 2 BoN and tell them you want a State 2 license by reciprocity (or by endorsement, same thing for practical intent and purpose). They tell you what they want, which may be all of the above again, and the money, and then they send you a State 2 license. Unlike your driver's license, you don't have to turn in your State 1 license. You can be licensed in as many states as you like (or can afford). :)

26 states are part of a Nursing Licensure Compact. Compact states grant you the ability to practice within their borders if your license is from another Compact state (a state where you have your primary legal residence) without going through all that process outlined above (though you probably will have to pay something). If your legal residence isn't a Compact state, you can still get a license in State 2, though. And 3, and 4, and 5...

As an example: My primary legal residence is not a Compact state. I have a license there. I do some work in a neighboring state which is a Compact state, but since my home state isn't, I got it by reciprocity/ see above process. Now I have a Compact state license so I should be good to go to any other Compact state and get a license easily, right? Wrong, because my legal residence is in a nonCompact state.

So I have licenses in 8 states and they cost me a bloody fortune because I had to go through that whole process in every single one of them, even though most are Compact states. Order a college transcript (at $10 per) for all. NY wants me to take an online class on recognizing and reporting abuse-- time and money. Two or three states want me to pay for background checks-- a coupla hunnert bucks per. A few others want fingerprints...on their forms only, done by recognized law enforcement (as I said, the local State Police barracks got used to seeing a lot of me there for awhile). Many, but not all, participate in a national licensure verification system called Nursys, so I pay for Nursys to verify my license in all the states they work with to all the rest of them, at $30 each...but California doesn't participate in Nursys, so it's $60 to have them verify my license to everyone else. Each. And so on.

keeslove3 · May 8, 2015

Wow, thank you so much for that information. I have a follow up question. So I understand that each year you have to renew your license by doing CEs or what not. Do you have to renew each of your license individually and if so can you use the same CEs for each license renewal?

and do you have any experience and how long it takes to get a CA license endorse to UT?

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · May 8, 2015

Wow, thank you so much for that information. I have a follow up question. So I understand that each year you have to renew your license by doing CEs or what not. Do you have to renew each of your license individually and if so can you use the same CEs for each license renewal?
and do you have any experience and how long it takes to get a CA license endorse to UT?

California has had serious budget problems, and the last time I worked c the BoN they were closed every friday (!) so they were, ummm, a bit behind. I think it took 6-8 weeks. (The champ is Nebraska: "How soon do you need it?" "How soon can you get it to me?" "Is ten days OK?" (to myself, Hell yeah! I love me some Nebraska!)

As to CEs, if you have three licenses and each one requires fifteen CEUs, you don't have to take 45. :) You take the 15 and send the same proof (if they want it) to each. Mine don't want me to send them proof at renewal time, but they reserve the right to audit me prn, so I keep everything on file. (I do have to send proof for my certification renewals, so I have the file anyway.)