Why still apply for ID licensing if in the compact?

[DisneyNurse18]

I may be moving to Idaho in the fall and found out that Id participates in the multi-state compact. I went to their board of nursing site and found out nurses still have to apply for licensure via endorsement even if they were originally licensed in a compact state. I don't quite understand the point of a compact if I need to apply for another RN license in Id. It looks as if I'd have to go through fingerprinting, nursys, photo id, applications all over again. Am I missing something here? I appreciate any advice....

Thanks in advance!

:redpinkhe

[elkpark]

The NLC (Nurse Licensure Compact) is not as big a change for nurses as many people think, and there's a lot of confusion about how it works.

The easiest way to think about the NLC is that it works the same as your driver's license. You understand, I'm sure, that you're able to use your current driver's license (whatever state you're in) to drive around Idaho as far as you want, for as long as you want, as long as you still live in your home state, but when you move to Idaho you'll have to apply for an Idaho driver's license -- you can't just drive around forever on your "old" state license. The only reason we're able to do that, and not have to stop at each state line and apply for a new license when we're driving cross-country, is because all the US states got together long ago (early in the Automobile Age) and signed a compact (an actual physical document, like a treaty) agreeing to recognize each other's licenses temporarily for travel purposes.

The NLC works exactly the same way (except that not all states have chosen to sign (join)). If you currently live and have a nursing license in a compact state, that license has "compact privileges" and you are able to use that license to work in any other compact state -- as long as you maintain your permanent home in your current state. If you move to another state, even another compact state, you have to apply for a new license. If you were to move to a non-compact state, you would still have your old (current) license but it would lose its "compact privileges" and turn into just a regular, traditional license that's good only in your old state (and if you apply for licensure in a compact state but don't live in that state, you get a license, but it's just a regular, traditional license that doesn't have compact privileges). If you move to another compact state, your "old" license will become invalid in 30 days and you have that long to apply for licensure in your new state. You can only hold one compact license at a time.

There's a lot of talk now about the NLC, but the nurses who benefit from it are mostly just those who either 1) do travel nursing or 2) live near (close enough to commute to work) the border of two or more compact states -- for instance, I live on the western border of my state, and work full-time in the nearest city in the "next-door" state (another compact state) on my "home" state license. But, for the vast majority of US nurses, the compact doesn't have any impact at all.

[DisneyNurse18]

Thank you for the clear up! It makes perfect sense when you put it that way! :)