How to Get Your North Dakota Nursing License

How North Dakota Issues Nursing Licenses

The North Dakota Board of Nursing (NDBON) regulates RNs and LPNs through a single board in Bismarck. Applications are submitted through the North Dakota Nurse Portal. The NDBON application fee is $130 for licensure by examination (NCLEX-RN or NCLEX-PN) and $170 for licensure by endorsement from another US jurisdiction. NCLEX itself costs an additional $200 paid directly to Pearson VUE. Every initial applicant — examination or endorsement, RN or LPN — must complete a fingerprint-based Criminal History Record Check (CHRC) through the North Dakota Attorney General's Bureau of Criminal Investigations and, for endorsement applicants, document at least 400 hours of licensed practice in the past four years.

North Dakota and the NLC

North Dakota was an early adopter of the Nurse Licensure Compact. The compact took effect in North Dakota on January 1, 2004, four years after the original four states (Maryland, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin) launched the NLC. North Dakota transitioned to the enhanced NLC (eNLC) on January 19, 2018 and remains a fully participating compact state today. RNs and LPNs whose primary state of residence (PSOR) is North Dakota are automatically issued a multistate license at no extra fee, provided they meet the 11 NLC Uniform Licensure Requirements (ULRs). PSOR is established by North Dakota driver's license, voter registration, federal tax return, or military Form 2058. If you move to North Dakota from another compact state, you must apply for a North Dakota multistate license and the prior state's multistate license is deactivated — holding two compact licenses simultaneously is not permitted.

Where Most North Dakota Applications Get Stuck

Four North Dakota-specific issues drive most delays:

• The 400-hour practice rule. NDBON requires at least 400 hours of licensed nursing practice in the past four years for both endorsement and renewal — or completion of a Board-approved refresher course, or graduation from a nursing program within that four-year window. Endorsement applicants who took a multi-year career break and cannot meet the practice-hour rule must complete a refresher course before licensure, which typically adds 3-6 months.
• BCI fingerprint processing. The Criminal History Record Check is run by the North Dakota Attorney General's Bureau of Criminal Investigations, not by NDBON directly. Processing runs 10-14 business days, and the CHRC report must be on file before any license — full or temporary — can issue.
• Nursys verification routing. Endorsement applicants must order Nursys verification from both the original state of licensure and any state of current employment. Applicants who upload a copy of their license rather than routing through Nursys are commonly delayed.
• SSN requirement. NDBON requires a US Social Security Number for licensure. Recent immigrants and J-1/H-1B applicants who have not yet been issued an SSN cannot be licensed until SSN issuance is coordinated.

What You'll Pay

North Dakota application fees are modest by national standards. Examination applicants pay $130 to NDBON plus $200 to Pearson VUE for NCLEX, for a $330 application-side total. Endorsement applicants pay $170 to NDBON. Add $40 for the BCI fingerprint check. Biennial renewal is $140 for RNs and $130 for LPNs, paid online through the Nurse Portal. Late renewal carries a penalty equal to the full renewal fee, and reactivation after extended delinquency may require additional steps including refresher coursework if the 400-hour practice rule cannot be met.

Realistic Timeline

NDBON publishes a 7-10 business day target to issue a full license once all required materials are received. Temporary permits typically issue in 3-5 business days for endorsement applicants. In practice, end-to-end timing for endorsement applicants runs 2-4 weeks because the BCI fingerprint check (10-14 business days) and Nursys verification routing both sit ahead of the final issuance window. Examination applicants receive the Authorization to Test (ATT) only after NDBON has the application, fee, transcript, and CHRC on file — typically 3-5 weeks from application to NCLEX seat. Plan to submit at least 6-8 weeks before you need to practice; longer if you have any criminal history, internationally educated nurse credentialing, or a 400-hour shortfall in play.

Renewal and CE

North Dakota runs on a biennial renewal cycle — licenses expire December 31 every two years for both RNs and LPNs. The CE requirement is 12 contact hours of continuing nursing education in the 2-year renewal period, the same for RNs and LPNs. NDBON also enforces a competency rule at renewal: nurses must document 400 hours of licensed practice in the preceding 4 years, or completion of a Board-approved refresher course or graduation from a nursing program within the past 4 years. Documentation is not submitted with the renewal but must be retained for audit. There is no separate state-mandated opioid CE requirement, and APRNs with prescriptive authority must complete an additional 15 contact hours of pharmacology per renewal cycle that may also count toward the general CE requirement.

Single State Versus NLC

If North Dakota is your primary state of residence, your North Dakota RN or LPN license is automatically issued as a multistate license at no extra fee, authorizing practice in every other NLC state, provided you meet the 11 NLC Uniform Licensure Requirements. If your PSOR is a non-compact state (California, New York, Oregon, etc.), the North Dakota license must be issued as a single-state license — same fee, same CHRC, but it only authorizes practice in North Dakota. PSOR rules are strict: you cannot hold two multistate licenses simultaneously, and a move from one compact state to another deactivates the prior state's multistate privilege.

How White Glove Helps

We manage North Dakota RN and LPN applications end-to-end with particular focus on getting all four prerequisites — BCI fingerprint clearance, Nursys verification, the 400-hour practice documentation, and (for IENs) the CGFNS evaluation — running in parallel rather than in series, which is the usual cause of stalled files. We route fingerprinting to BCI early, push Nursys verification ahead of the application, pre-screen for the 400-hour practice rule so any refresher requirement is identified before the application is filed, and coordinate the CGFNS report for internationally educated nurses. For nurses establishing North Dakota as their primary state of residence, we coordinate the PSOR documentation and the deactivation of any prior compact-state multistate license so the North Dakota multistate is clean from issuance.