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For registered nurses moving to New Jersey

How to Transfer Your Nursing License to New Jersey

Is New Jersey a nurse compact state? Yes. New Jersey is in the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC): a nurse whose home state is a compact state and who holds its multistate license can work in New Jersey without another license, and a nurse who lives in New Jersey applies for the multistate license there. A nurse from a state outside the compact needs a New Jersey license from the New Jersey Board of Nursing, by endorsement for a nurse licensed in another state. (NCSBN, read 9 Nov 2026.)

Yes
Compact state
2,725
RN jobs in New Jersey
$54.10
Median posted RN pay

What the New Jersey Board of Nursing asks

Licensure by endorsement for a registered nurse licensed in another state, as the board's own page states it (read 9 Nov 2026).

Fee
The instruction sheet's total is $200.00: $120.00 license fee, $75.00 nonrefundable application fee and $5.00 mandatory nonrefundable Alternative to Discipline fee (paper check or online by credit card); fingerprinting is separate ($58.69 to Morpho Trust for those outside the metropolitan New Jersey area).
Fingerprints
A fingerprint-based criminal background check is required.
License verification
Written verification of licensure in good standing from the state where you were originally licensed or are currently licensed and from every state where you have ever been licensed, sent directly to the board (or via the Nursys License Verification Form for Nursys states).
Requirements
Application with a passport-style photo, proof of citizenship or immigration status, a criminal history background check authorization with fingerprints, and license verification from every state ever licensed.
“Submit a personal check or money order in the amount of $200.00 made payable to the New Jersey Board of Nursing.”

From the New Jersey Board of Nursing's own page, read 9 Nov 2026: njconsumeraffairs.gov (source: New Jersey Board of Nursing). Fees change: the board's page on the day you apply is the one that counts.

The steps

What every move takes; the board's page above says what it asks in each.

  1. Check whether your home state and the new state are both in the Nurse Licensure Compact: if both are and you keep living in your home state, your multistate license already lets you work there.
  2. If you are moving your home to the new state and it is a compact state, apply for its multistate license; if it is outside the compact, apply to its board of nursing for a license by endorsement.
  3. Have your current license verified to the new board, through Nursys where your state takes part in it.
  4. Complete the background check the board asks for (most ask for fingerprints) and any state exam or course it names.
  5. Pay the board's fee and, where the board offers one, ask for a temporary permit so you can start work while the application is processed.

What New Jersey law requires

  • Public reporting of staffing

    New Jersey general hospitals must post direct care staffing daily and report monthly data that the state publishes each quarter.

    “Hospitals and nursing homes licensed in accordance with New Jersey law are required to publicly disclose direct care staffing levels within the facilities and to report staffing level information to the New Jersey Department of Health.” nj.gov (source: nj.gov)

  • Limits on mandatory overtime

    Health care facilities may not require direct-care hourly employees to work beyond the scheduled daily shift or 40 hours a week, except in unforeseeable emergencies and procedures in progress (covers hourly employees in direct patient care or clinical services (excluding physicians), which includes nurses).

    “no health care facility shall require an employee to accept work in excess of an agreed to, predetermined and regularly scheduled daily work shift, not to exceed 40 hours per week.” N.J.S.A. 34:11-56a34 (source: N.J.S.A. 34:11-56a34)

From New Jersey's own code or health department, read 9 Nov 2026. What New Jersey's hospitals state for their units is on its nurse-to-patient ratio page, and every state's law is on the ratio hub.

Nurses alerts

Nurses in New Jersey: new openings every week

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Nursing jobs in New Jersey today

2,725 registered nurse and 450 LPN jobs are open in New Jersey on this board, read every night from each employer's own job board.

Transferring a nursing license to New Jersey: common questions

Is New Jersey a nurse compact state?

Yes. New Jersey is in the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC): a nurse whose home state is a compact state and who holds its multistate license can work in New Jersey without another license, and a nurse who lives in New Jersey applies for the multistate license there. A nurse from a state outside the compact needs a New Jersey license from the New Jersey Board of Nursing, by endorsement for a nurse licensed in another state. (NCSBN, read 9 Nov 2026.)

How do I transfer my nursing license to New Jersey?

If your home state is another compact state and you keep living there, your multistate license already lets you work in New Jersey. If you move to New Jersey, apply to the New Jersey Board of Nursing for its multistate license. If your license is from a state outside the compact, apply to the New Jersey Board of Nursing for a license by endorsement ($200 by its own page): have your license verified through Nursys, complete the background check, and pay the fee.

How do I transfer an LPN or LVN license to New Jersey?

The same way: the compact covers LPN/VNs too, so a multistate LPN license from a compact home state works in New Jersey; otherwise apply for a license by endorsement to the New Jersey Board of Nursing. Its own page states the LPN fee, which differs from the RN fee above. LPN jobs in New Jersey.

How much do registered nurses make in New Jersey?

Open registered nurse jobs in New Jersey that post an hourly rate pay $46.90–$57.68 an hour in the middle half, median $54.10 (1,980 jobs from 133 employers on this board today).

Does New Jersey have a nurse-to-patient ratio law?

Not fixed ratios: New Jersey general hospitals must post direct care staffing daily and report monthly data that the state publishes each quarter. The law's own words are on this page.

Can a hospital in New Jersey make nurses work mandatory overtime?

New Jersey law limits it: Health care facilities may not require direct-care hourly employees to work beyond the scheduled daily shift or 40 hours a week, except in unforeseeable emergencies and procedures in progress (covers hourly employees in direct patient care or clinical services (excluding physicians), which includes nurses). (N.J.S.A. 34:11-56a34) The law's own words are on this page.

Do employers in New Jersey offer relocation assistance?

55 open healthcare jobs in New Jersey offer relocation help in their own posting today, each quoting the offer (a set amount, reimbursement or a package); ask for the terms in writing before you accept.

Who is hiring registered nurses in New Jersey?

By open jobs on this board today: RWJBarnabas Health (360), Hackensack Meridian Health (321), Atlantic Health (243), Virtua Health (169), Capital Health (108), AtlantiCare (105). Every RN job in New Jersey.

Sources and method

The compact status is NCSBN's map on the day read. The board's rules are its own page's words, shown only where the page states them; a sentence of it is checked against the page every week, and a change is read again. The jobs and pay are the registered nurse jobs open on this board in New Jersey.

  1. NCSBN Nurse Licensure Compact map (nursecompact.com), read 9 Nov 2026, published 9 Nov 2026
  2. New Jersey Board of Nursing: licensure by endorsement, read 9 Nov 2026; checked again every week for the sentence quoted, published 9 Nov 2026
  3. CareJobs.Now job board: open jobs read every night from each employer's own careers site

Cite this page

CareJobs.Now. (2026). How to Transfer Your Nursing License to New Jersey. Data as of 9 Nov 2026. https://carejobs.now/transfer-nursing-license/new-jersey

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