Transferring Your Nursing License to a New State (RN)

00:01 Alrighty. So you need to get your nursing license from Michigan to North Carolina or to any other random combination of states.

00:10 I've been there. I have done this more times than I really want to talk about right now.

00:14 The good thing about transferring or adding a nursing license is you don't have to take the NCLEX again.

00:22 That's really our one shining beacon here, since it is a national exam.

00:26 So that's a plus.

00:27 We're going to hold on to the pluses.

00:28 We will need them. You do, however, need to apply with the new state through and jump through all of their hoops.

00:35 And they're going to have a lot of hoops, and they're going to want a lot of money from you. Things like getting fingerprinted, getting a background check, paying them more money, all the...

00:44 All the things they're going to want in your new state, getting letters from your previous state. And when you go to apply for your new license, make sure you pick licensure by endorsement.

00:54 Because even though there is a chunk...

00:58 You still have to do a good chunk of annoying steps, you don't have to do all of the annoying steps because, since a state already gave you a license, you're going to kind of ask them to vouch for you.

01:08 Hence, licensure by endorsement.

01:11 And really, that's all there is to it.

01:13 You'll probably have to call the Board of Nursing a few times to see where things are in terms of progress, and they will tell you what you did wrong, and you will tell them how their website is not clear, and you will make really nice small talk.

01:25 And I'm sure it won't surprise you that I highly, highly recommend starting this process way earlier than you think you will need to.

01:33 When I transferred my license to Pennsylvania, friends, it took nine months . Nine months.

01:40 Others were faster when I transferred to other states.

01:43 So find a motivated day when you are ready to tackle a lot of paperwork and chaos and go for it.