RN from NC moved to IL/IA area Endorsement Question

Jolie, BSN · Jan 13, 2011

The compact aspect of your license remains in effect only when you live in a compact state. Now that you've moved to IL (which is not a compact state), you lose the compact privileges of your NC license. If you choose to keep your NC license active, it will be good only for practice in NC.

If you wish to work in IA, you will have to apply for licensure there by endorsement, and that license will be good only for practice in IA.

Compact licenses are useful for traveling nurses on temporary assignments and those who live near the border of 2 compact states and work across the state line. They don't offer any real benefit once you move from a compact state to a non-compact one.

elkpark · Jan 13, 2011

There's a lot of confusion and misunderstanding about the NLC (Nurse Licensure Compact). Your NC only has "compact privileges" as long as you maintain your permanent residence in NC. Do you still own a home, pay property taxes, etc., in NC? Or are you now a resident of Illinois? Unless you are maintaining a home in NC, you need to apply for an Iowa license to be able to work in Iowa.

The easiest way to think about the NLC is that it works exactly the same as our drivers' licenses. The only reason we're able to drive cross-country without having to stop at each state line and apply for a new license is because long ago, at the dawn of the Automobile Age, all the US states got together and signed a compact (an actual physical document, like a treaty) agreeing to temporarily recognize each others' drivers' licenses for travel purposes. Everyone understands clearly that you can use your NC drivers' license to drive anywhere in the US you want, as far as you want, for as long as you want, as long as you still live in NC. If you move to another state, you have 30 days (or whatever the state law says) to apply for a drivers' license in your new state. The NLC is exactly the same thing, except that not all states have chosen to sign (join) the compact. You can use your NC "compact license" to work in any other "compact state" for as long as you want as long as you still live in NC. If you move to another state, one of two things happens. If you move to a non-compact state (like Illinois), you keep your NC license, but it loses its "compact privileges" and becomes just a regular, traditional license, good only in NC. If you move to another compact state, you have 30 days to apply for licensure in your new "home" state, and then your NC becomes invalid (because one of the compact "rules" is that you can only hold one "compact license" at a time.

Hope that clarifies things somewhat. Best wishes!

(ETA -- ooops! I see Jolie posted the same info while I was writing ...)

TheEmmyRN · Jan 13, 2011

Thanks for your help,

I already sent my packet in to my IL endorsement and I am getting my Iowa Endorsement in the mail. Thanks for your help!