Open a jurisdiction to review its dated requirements and official sources. Use the compact tables to compare which states participate.
Nursing licensure · NLC status table · EMS licensure
Does this state recognize my multistate license?
Yes — a qualifying multistate license permits RN/LPN practice here
Licensure route for a nurse with active home-state MSL and no Iowa restriction; employer credentialing and specific contract eligibility are outside this claim.
Licensure route for a nurse with active home-state MSL and no Iowa restriction; employer credentialing and specific contract eligibility are outside this claim.
State Board of Nursing · dial.iowa.gov · verified 9 Oct 2026
Each answer links to the state rule it comes from. Open “Source quotation” for the exact wording.
Board contacts, official applications and governing rules.
Iowa Board of Nursing (Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing)
Board name and administering department separately quoted. Email is not inferred from protected text.
Complete an Iowa Board of Nursing application online and pay the fee of $169.
dial.iowa.gov · State Board of Nursing
Captured nursing.iowa.gov redirect final URL supplies this exact DIAL nursing section URL; historical host not guessed.
amanda-portal.idph.state.ia.us
Portal label observed as Board of Nursing Portal with this href on DIAL footers.
If you would like to see the status of your application, visit our online portal and log into your account.
dial.iowa.gov · State Board of Nursing
Email text is Cloudflare-protected in stored HTML; email is held rather than substituted into the quotation.
Nursing & Midwifery Location DIAL 6200 Park Avenue Suite 100 Des Moines , IA 50321 Email Address [email protected] Website(s) Online Services Portal Phone(s) Primary 515.380.7308 Fax 515.725.1107
dial.iowa.gov · State Board of Nursing
Iowa Code chapter152E, section152E.1: Nurse Licensure Compacts
Historical2020 Code compact authority only;
NURSE LICENSURE COMPACTS, §152E.1 152E.1 Form of compact.
legis.iowa.gov · State statute
License types, exams, expiration dates and multistate eligibility.
RN
LPN
Statutory RN/LPN definitions and recognition; APRN not included.
A multistate license to practice registered or licensed practical or vocational nursing issued by a home state to a resident in that state will be recognized by each party state as authorizing a nurse to practice as a registered nurse or as a licensed practical or vocational nurse, under a multistate licensure privilege, in each party state.
legis.iowa.gov · State statute
Yes
Iowa is a member of the Nurse Licensure Compact.
dial.iowa.gov · State Board of Nursing
Initial24–36months; recurring3years; expiration15th of birth month. Renewal first-cycle alignment is distinct from recurring term.
The board issues licenses by endorsement and examination for a 24- to 36-month period. License renewals are on a three-year renewal cycle. Expiration is the 15th day of the licensee’s birth month.
dial.iowa.gov · State Board of Nursing
Yes
Current Board instructions identify examination licensure as the route for new nursing graduates never previously licensed and require NCLEX registration. This supports the ordinary current new-graduate application route only; it does not establish universal RN/LPN rule, examination passage wording or legacy State Board Test Pool Examination treatment. Foreign-educated route is distinct. Board application ($143, including background-check fee) and NCLEX ($200) fees are separate.
Complete the NCLEX registration and pay the fee of $200 by one of the following methods:
dial.iowa.gov · State Board of Nursing
Compact membership, license privileges and application requirements.
July21,2017 is the effective date, not an independently established enactment/signing day. Historical statute supports enacted status and session-law citation.
21 Jul 2017
Historical2020 codification states local rewrite effectiveness and26th-state notice; not an operational issuance date. Current amendments not swept.
Strike and rewrite of section and enactment of new compact take effect July 21, 2017; Code editor received notice from the board of nursing of enactment of this compact by the twenty-sixth state on that date; in accordance with subsection 10, paragraph a, of this section, the state of Iowa shall be deemed to have withdrawn from the nurse licensure compact previously codified at this section within six months of July 21, 2017; 2017 Acts, ch 91, §1, 3.
legis.iowa.gov · State statute
Current operation confirmed; the initial implementation date is unverified.
Iowa is a member of the Nurse Licensure Compact.
dial.iowa.gov · State Board of Nursing
Visiting privilege recognition is distinct from home-state issuance/PSOR criteria; this is a core-condition summary, not an exhaustive individualized eligibility review.
A multistate license to practice registered or licensed practical or vocational nursing issued by a home state to a resident in that state will be recognized by each party state as authorizing a nurse to practice as a registered nurse or as a licensed practical or vocational nurse, under a multistate licensure privilege, in each party state.
legis.iowa.gov · State statute
Nurses relocating to another compact state have 60 days from the time they move to apply for a new license by endorsement in a new primary state of residence.
dial.iowa.gov · State Board of Nursing
Yes — a qualifying multistate license permits RN/LPN practice here
Licensure route for a nurse with active home-state MSL and no Iowa restriction; employer credentialing and specific contract eligibility are outside this claim.
Nurses may work on their active multistate license while waiting for their Iowa multistate license.
dial.iowa.gov · State Board of Nursing
General RN/PN Compact verification route, published as an exact QuickConfirm link by the Louisiana LPN Board. The NLC Commission’s linked 2018 guide (https://www.nursecompact.com/files/nursysquickconfirm.pdf) describes the report’s RN/PN practice-state check. The destination returned a redirect loop during this review; current accessibility and individual results couldn't be checked. This link can't confirm a particular nurse's eligibility or state-specific restrictions.
Eligibility, application fees, background checks and temporary licenses.
Yes
Endorsement is the process a nurse from another state uses to become licensed in Iowa.
dial.iowa.gov · State Board of Nursing
Nursing License by Endorsement
Endorsement is the process a nurse from another state uses to become licensed in Iowa.
dial.iowa.gov · State Board of Nursing
amanda-portal.idph.state.ia.us
Online application plus status check through the Board of Nursing Portal.
If you would like to see the status of your application, visit our online portal and log into your account.
dial.iowa.gov · State Board of Nursing
Online application with nonrefundable fee
Official transcript sent directly by the school
Verification of original state of licensure
Nurse refresher course within 12 months of application if no active license in any jurisdiction in the previous five years
Core steps quoted separately. Foreign-educated applicants can use CGFNS report for transcript requirement; individualized international route not fully reviewed.
Iowa only requires verification from your original state of licensure. Printing an online verification through a board of nursing website is not accepted.
dial.iowa.gov · State Board of Nursing
Bundled application119+CBC50=169; nonrefundable. Nursys and applicant-specific ancillary costs unverified, not zero.
Endorsement $169.00 (Includes the $119 application fee and the $50 fee for criminal history background check.)
dial.iowa.gov · State Board of Nursing
Fingerprinting and vendor explicit.
The Iowa Board of Nursing now utilizes Fieldprint as the primary means of completing the fingerprinting requirement for applications. Fieldprint allows the applicant to schedule an appointment in any state in the U.S., to have their fingerprints collected digitally and sent electronically directly to the Board. Instructions for scheduling your appointment can be found in this document . For those applicants located outside of the U.S. or otherwise unable to use Fieldprint, a paper background check packet can be requested by emailing us at [email protected] . Please include your mailing address in this request, and allow at least 5-7 business days for arrival of your fingerprint packet.
dial.iowa.gov · State Board of Nursing
Conditional required route for participating original boards; mailed form for nonparticipants. Not blanket false. Fee unknown.
Apply online for original license verification through Nursys. If you are endorsing from a state that does not use Nursys, send the “Verification of Original License” form from your packet to your original state . If you are able to apply through Nursys, discard the form.
dial.iowa.gov · State Board of Nursing
Renewal dates, required education and reinstatement options.
3
Recurring term only; initial24–36months. Renewal fee and grace-period rules are separately evidenced in state requirements.
License renewals are on a three-year renewal cycle.
dial.iowa.gov · State Board of Nursing
RN
LPN
Regular36credit-hours requirement is not universal36newcourse-hours. Alternate credited activities and approval-required exemptions explicit; exemption cannot be self-claimed. Mandatory-reporter course details remain held.
Renewal or reactivation of all licenses requires 36 contact hours of continuing education.
dial.iowa.gov · State Board of Nursing
Core administrative rules only; mandatory-reporter training scope/hours still unverified.
Note : Iowa law requires completion of the renewal 30 days before expiration. The board has elected to not impose a monetary penalty for missing this deadline.
dial.iowa.gov · State Board of Nursing
Core fee and refresher rule; complete reactivation application/checklist and precise post-grace-status rule unreviewed.
Reactivation $225.00 (Includes $175.00 application fee and $50 fee for the criminal history background check.)
dial.iowa.gov · State Board of Nursing
Official license-verification links and the information available from each source.
amanda-portal.idph.state.ia.us
Observed portal href; ordinary license lookup. Returned discipline and privilege indicators not inspected.
For General Public: Visit our online portal Click "License Verification" from the General Public dropdown.
dial.iowa.gov · State Board of Nursing
Iowa's published rules don't answer these. Ask before you apply — dial.iowa.gov.
Worth asking about directly.
What date did Iowa begin issuing multistate licenses under the enhanced compact?