Published
My advice to you would be to apply for your IL nursing license no later than TWO MONTHS prior to your move to IL because it takes about that long to get your nursing license when applying as a nonresident, or by RN licensure by endorsement. At least it took me that long when I applied for my license by endorsement there. You can also sit for your state boards in IL since you're moving there to make things a little easier for yourself.:)
I just took my boreds 2 years ago and to my knowledge then and I don't think it has changed. It doesn't matter where you take the exam, and then you can have it tranfered to any other state in the union. Example being....I lived right on the NY/PA border. The nearest testing site to us was 20 minutes into PA. The nearest NY site was almost 2 hours away. I think everyone went to the PA site. If the paperwork hasn't changed since I know it's now a federal test. There is a box you check when you send in for your testing sites as to which state you want the license issued in. That's how most the GN's at our hospital did it.
Good luck on the test!!
I graduated from nursing school in California...took the NCLEX and was originally licensed in Wisconsin. WI was so easy to get licensed in...no fingerprints or anything. I then transferred my license to Illinois. I agree with one of the previous posters, the process took about 2 months. I did obtain a temporary permit though so I could work at least. I was just a lot of paperwork and b.s.
good luck!
FutureIsBlue, LPN, LVN
104 Posts
Hello!
I live in Wisconsin. After I graduate from nursing school, I was planning to move to Illinois (Chicago). Is there a process that I have to go through in order to work in another state?
Thank you!