Is Hawaii a Compact State for Nursing? Permits and Endorsement

Hawaii is not a nurse compact state. It has never joined the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC), so a multistate license issued by Texas, Arizona, or any other compact state does not authorize you to practice in Hawaii. If you want to work with patients physically or virtually located in the state, you need a Hawaii-issued nursing license from the Hawaii Board of Nursing, which sits inside the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA) and operates under Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 457.

What That Means If You Hold a Multistate License

The NLC lets nurses with a multistate license practice across all other participating states without obtaining another license. More than 40 states have joined, which leaves Hawaii in a shrinking group of holdouts.¹ Inside Hawaii, your multistate privileges carry no weight. You cannot touch a patient, chart under your out-of-state number, or take a shift at a Hawaii facility until the Board issues you something — either a permanent Hawaii license or a temporary permit.

Two situations catch nurses off guard. The first is a move or travel assignment: you arrive in Honolulu or Hilo ready to start, but your license application is still pending, and without a temporary permit there is no shortcut around that gap. The second is telehealth. If you sit in a compact state and treat a patient located in Hawaii, Hawaii considers that practice within its borders. The Board has not created a telehealth carve-out for out-of-state compact license holders.

One narrow exception exists for traveling with a patient. If you accompany a patient from another state into Hawaii for fewer than two weeks and you are not employed by a Hawaii healthcare entity, you do not need a Hawaii permit at all.²

Will Hawaii Join the Compact Soon?

The legislature has tried. House Bill 2158, introduced in 2024, was one of several attempts to adopt the NLC, and none have become law. The NCSBN’s compact map currently lists Hawaii under “Currently No Action,” meaning nothing was actively moving at the time of publication.¹ Plan around the state you are in today, not the one a future bill might create.

Temporary Permits: The Bridge for Already-Licensed Nurses

Hawaii issues temporary practice permits to RNs and LPNs who already hold an active, unrestricted license somewhere else. The permit is good for six months from the issue date, which usually covers the wait for a permanent license to come through.²

To qualify you must be at least 18, be a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or an alien authorized to work in the United States, have no pending or prior disciplinary action against any of your licenses from any nursing authority, and have been appointed or accepted employment with a single Hawaii healthcare entity as defined by HRS §321-11(10).

Advanced practice registered nurses do not get temporary permits. If you are an APRN, you have to wait for the permanent license before practicing.²

There is a useful filing shortcut. Hawaii lets you combine your temporary permit request and your license-by-endorsement application into one package with a single fee, provided your employer signs an Employment Certification Form that goes in the envelope. The trade-off is that the combined application has to arrive by mail or hand delivery. It cannot be filed through the MyPVL online portal.³

Getting the Permanent License by Endorsement

Endorsement is the pathway for any nurse already licensed in another state. Under HRS §457-7, the Board may issue a license by endorsement if your current license is unencumbered and, in the Board’s judgment, you met Hawaii’s qualifications at the time you graduated from your nursing program.⁴

Gather these before you file:

Verification of your current, unrestricted license from the issuing state, including its expiration date.
Official transcripts sent directly from your nursing school to the Hawaii Board of Nursing, showing your degree and graduation date.
Completed electronic fingerprinting through Fieldprint Inc.
A government-issued photo ID and a signed Social Security card.

You can submit the endorsement application through MyPVL or by mail. Watch the one-year rule: if you fail to complete the licensing process within one year of filing, the Board treats the application as abandoned and destroys it. Starting over means a new application, new fees, and whatever requirements are in effect at that later date.³

Processing commonly runs 45 to 60 business days once the Board has every required document. That timeline is the whole reason the temporary permit exists.

Fingerprinting: The Step That Gets Redone Most Often

Every nursing applicant in Hawaii must complete electronic fingerprinting for both an FBI national criminal history check and a Hawaii state check. This applies to examination applicants, endorsement applicants, and anyone renewing, restoring, or reactivating a license.⁵

Hawaii uses Fieldprint Inc. When you schedule at fieldprinthawaii.com or at a Fieldprint location on the mainland, enter the code FPHIBrdNursing. That code routes your results to the Hawaii Board of Nursing. The wrong code, or no code, means the Board cannot retrieve your results and you will pay to be printed again.

Two more pitfalls. File your license application within 30 days of being fingerprinted; wait longer and the results may no longer be retrievable. And fingerprints taken for another state board or a hospital employer do not transfer. Hawaii requires its own prints under its own code every time.⁵

Renewal Cycle and Fees

Once you hold a Hawaii license, it expires on June 30 of every odd-numbered year regardless of when you first received it. The next renewal deadline is June 30, 2027. On-time renewal fees are:⁶

RN active: $196
LPN active: $196
APRN active: $36
Any license inactive: $12

Those amounts include a $60 Hawaii State Center for Nursing fee that attaches to all initial, renewal, and restoration applications.³ Hawaii also requires continuing competency activities as a renewal condition, and the Board has enforced the rule since 2017 with random audits for verification. Approved activities and the specifics have been updated since the requirement first took effect, so check the Board’s current list before you plan your hours.⁶

1
NCSBN. NLC Map
2
Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. Instructions for Temporary Nursing Permits
3
Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. Application Forms and Publications
4
Hawaii DCCA. Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 457 – Nursing
5
Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. Criminal History Record Check Requirement
6
Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. Board of Nursing