Skip to content

For registered nurses moving to Pennsylvania

How to Transfer Your Nursing License to Pennsylvania

Is Pennsylvania a nurse compact state? Yes. Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania without another license, and a nurse who lives in Pennsylvania applies for the multistate license there. A nurse from a state outside the compact needs a Pennsylvania license from the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing, by endorsement for a nurse licensed in another state. (NCSBN, read 9 Nov 2026.)

Yes
Compact state
3,548
RN jobs in Pennsylvania
$42.61
Median posted RN pay

What the Pennsylvania State 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
$120 licensure by endorsement fee under 49 Pa. Code 21.5(a), payable through PALS; a separate $145 applies to endorsement with examination, and the FBI fingerprint check is arranged through IdentoGO.
Temporary permit
The fee rule lists a temporary practice permit at $70 (extension $85), but the endorsement guide does not say whether endorsement applicants can obtain one, and the permit it describes is for Pennsylvania graduates.
Fingerprints
A fingerprint-based criminal background check is required.
License verification
The Board must receive verification of licensure from each state where the applicant holds a license; if that state participates in Nursys, the applicant pays the Nursys fee at nursys.com.
Requirements
Graduation from an approved professional nursing program in the United States or Canada (or an equivalent program) with an official transcript sent by the school, licensure in another jurisdiction by passing the NCLEX-RN or an equivalent exam, a fingerprint-based FBI background check, and the three-hour child abuse recognition CE; applicants who have not passed the NCLEX must take and pass it for Pennsylvania.
Renewal
The license is renewed biennially (every two years) for a $122 fee under 49 Pa. Code 21.5(b).
Good to know
A nurse holding a multistate license from another NLC state who lives in Pennsylvania must apply for a multistate license instead of a single-state endorsement.
“To obtain a single state RN license by endorsement, an applicant CAN NOT have a multistate license in another NLC state.”

From the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing's own page, read 9 Nov 2026: pa.gov (source: Pennsylvania State 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 Pennsylvania law requires

  • Limits on mandatory overtime (in effect from 2008)

    Health care facilities may not require direct-care employees to work beyond the scheduled shift, except in unforeseeable emergencies, on-call time and procedures in progress (covers hourly or nonsupervisory employees in direct patient care or clinical care at health care facilities, including nurses).

    “A health care facility may not require an employee to work in excess of an agreed to, predetermined and regularly scheduled daily work shift.” Act 102 of 2008, Prohibition of Excessive Overtime in Health Care Act, § 3 (source: Act 102 of 2008, Prohibition of Excessive Overtime in Health Care Act, § 3)

From Pennsylvania's own code or health department, read 9 Nov 2026. What Pennsylvania'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 Pennsylvania: new openings every week

A weekly email with the newest Nurses openings in Pennsylvania, taken from the employers' own careers sites. Free, stop anytime.

Only job openings in your inbox. Leave anytime with one click.

Nursing jobs in Pennsylvania today

3,548 registered nurse and 950 LPN jobs are open in Pennsylvania on this board, read every night from each employer's own job board.

Transferring a nursing license to Pennsylvania: common questions

Is Pennsylvania a nurse compact state?

Yes. Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania without another license, and a nurse who lives in Pennsylvania applies for the multistate license there. A nurse from a state outside the compact needs a Pennsylvania license from the Pennsylvania State 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 Pennsylvania?

If your home state is another compact state and you keep living there, your multistate license already lets you work in Pennsylvania. If you move to Pennsylvania, apply to the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing for its multistate license. If your license is from a state outside the compact, apply to the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing for a license by endorsement ($120 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 Pennsylvania?

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

Can I work in Pennsylvania while my license is processed?

By the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing's own page: The fee rule lists a temporary practice permit at $70 (extension $85), but the endorsement guide does not say whether endorsement applicants can obtain one, and the permit it describes is for Pennsylvania graduates.

How much do registered nurses make in Pennsylvania?

Open registered nurse jobs in Pennsylvania that post an hourly rate pay $40.77–$46.11 an hour in the middle half, median $42.61 (922 jobs from 137 employers on this board today).

Can a hospital in Pennsylvania make nurses work mandatory overtime?

Pennsylvania law limits it: Health care facilities may not require direct-care employees to work beyond the scheduled shift, except in unforeseeable emergencies, on-call time and procedures in progress (covers hourly or nonsupervisory employees in direct patient care or clinical care at health care facilities, including nurses). (Act 102 of 2008, Prohibition of Excessive Overtime in Health Care Act, § 3) The law's own words are on this page.

Do employers in Pennsylvania offer relocation assistance?

215 open healthcare jobs in Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania?

By open jobs on this board today: UPMC (537), Allegheny Health Network (419), Jefferson Health (208), Penn State Health (146), ARMStaffing (142), Geisinger (126). Every RN job in Pennsylvania.

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 Pennsylvania.

  1. NCSBN Nurse Licensure Compact map (nursecompact.com), read 9 Nov 2026, published 9 Nov 2026
  2. Pennsylvania State 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 Pennsylvania. Data as of 9 Nov 2026. https://carejobs.now/transfer-nursing-license/pennsylvania

How the board counts