Hawaii

The pathways, as the board describes them

Endorsement, and what the originating state must confirm. The board asks the previous board to verify five specific things, not merely that a license exists: "Nurse license number, effective and expiration dates;", completion of an accredited or equivalent nursing programme, "Exam score and exam series", "Whether or not the nurse license has ever been disciplined and if there are any encumbrances on the license; and" "Verification of nurse license held in any other state or U.S. jurisdiction, whether the license is current or expired." That last clause reaches every license ever held, current or lapsed. Endorsement application.

The examinations the board accepts, including two historical ones: "The NCLEX (National Council Licensure Examination) in another state or U.S. jurisdiction;", "The SBTPE (State Board Test Pool Exam) in another state or Canadian province (prior to 1970); or" "A state board constructed exam prior to the inception of the SBTPE in that jurisdiction." Endorsement application.

Education, and the route for a programme taught abroad. A graduate of a United States programme qualifies directly; otherwise, "If your nursing program is not U.S. accredited or approved by another state board, you must have your credentials evaluated by a professional education credentials evaluator recognized by the Board that indicates successful completion of a nursing program that is comparable to an accredited nursing program in the United States." Endorsement application.

A national data-bank report, which few states in this collection require. "If you are applying for a Hawaii LPN or RN license and are licensed as an LPN or RN under the laws of another state, territory, or foreign country, you will be required to submit a self-query report from the National Practitioner Data Bank ("NPDB")." The board states what form it will accept and what it will not: either the original posted hard copy or the original emailed PDF, and "Copies or "pictures" of the NPDB self-query report is not acceptable and we do not open secured files or links." Endorsement application.

Reasons an application is refused or delayed, which the board lists before anything else: "An older version of the application is submitted;", incomplete applications or unanswered questions, "Filing incorrect application; or" "Failure to submit required documents as applicable, i.e. copy of government photo I.D., social security card." On the first of those it is emphatic: "We will only accept the most current revised applications that are posted online. No "old" applications will be accepted. Submitting an outdated application will delay processing." Endorsement application.

The published process

Practice while the application is pending. Hawaii publishes a temporary permit, and it carries a condition almost no other state in this collection imposes: the nurse must already have the job. The board lists six eligibility conditions, all of which must hold — at least eighteen years old; a United States citizen, national or alien authorised to work; seeking a permit as an LPN or RN, because "Hawaii does not offer temporary permits to practice as an APRN"; "You have a valid and unencumbered LPN or RN license in another state, territory, or country;"; "No disciplinary action is pending/has been taken by a nursing authority against any of your nursing licenses; AND"; and "You have been appointed or accepted employment with a single health care entity in the State, as defined by Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 321-11(10)." The employer is then part of the paperwork: the applicant submits "A completed application form, including certification from your Hawaii employer;" and the board refuses to take that certification second-hand — "We will NOT accept employer certifications provided by the applicant;" Verification requirements differ by what the applicant already holds: a multistate license calls for a Nursys report, and otherwise either a Nursys report or "A license verification showing a valid and unencumbered license in another state, territory, or country". The permit costs fifty dollars and the board states plainly that the money does not come back: "This fee is not refundable, even if you are not granted a temporary permit or fail to meet the requirements for a temporary permit." Hawaii also publishes a combined application requesting the permit and the endorsement license together, so the two need not be filed separately. Temporary permit instructions; combined application.

Verification of the existing license. For the license itself the board relies on the originating state's verification, covering the five points quoted in section 01 and reaching every license ever held. For the temporary permit it accepts a Nursys report or a direct verification, as quoted above. Endorsement application; temporary permit instructions.

Fingerprints and the background check. Required of everyone since a stated date: "Effective July 1, 2017, all new applicants for a Hawaii nurse license" "are required" "to submit a full set of electronic fingerprints for the purpose of obtaining federal and state criminal history record checks." The board names its vendor and a code that is not optional: the "Fieldprint code" is "FPHIBrdNursing (not case sensitive);" and "If you do not use this code, FPHIBrdNursing (not case sensitive), we will not be able to retrieve your report and you will have to go back to get fingerprinted and pay another fee." Prints taken for anyone else do not count: "If you were previously fingerprinted by another board of nursing or employer, you still have to submit to the electronic fingerprinting for a Hawaii nurse license." The window between the two acts is the trap: "You must file your license application within thirty (30) days of the fingerprinting to ensure that the results can be obtained." — fingerprinting too far ahead of filing means doing it again. One discrepancy inside the board's own sources: the vendor's telephone number is published as "call (877) 614-4364" on the background-check page and as "call (877) 614-4361" in the endorsement application. Both are reproduced and neither is corrected. Applicants abroad are told to wait: those "not in the U.S. or in a location that Fieldprint is unable to service will have to wait until you enter the U.S. and be fingerprinted." and "a license to practice will not be issued until the fingerprint requirement(s) are met." Criminal History Record Check Requirement; endorsement application.

The three rows above answer the questions an experienced adviser raises first, from the board's own published documents, or record that a question is not answered in them.

Fees, as stated in the sources

All quoted; none totaled.

The temporary permit. "$50 nonrefundable fee, as set by Hawaii Administrative Rules 16-53-27(5)." with the refusal to refund stated twice, once generally and once for the case that matters: "This fee is not refundable, even if you are not granted a temporary permit or fail to meet the requirements for a temporary permit." Temporary permit instructions.

A statutory surcharge the board announces with its citation. "Effective July 1, 2022, Act 066, SLH 2022 increased the" "Hawaii State Center for Nursing fee from $40 to $60" "for initial license, renewal and restoration nurse applications." The board states that it "will be assessed, in addition to other required fees, for all nurse (LPN and RN) initial license, renewal and restoration licensed on and after July 1, 2022." Application Forms and Publications.

Costs the board names without pricing. The fingerprint fee is paid to the vendor rather than the board: "The applicant shall bear the cost of the fingerprint processing and all fingerprinting fees shall be paid directly to Fieldprint". No amount appears in the captured sources. Criminal History Record Check Requirement.

No endorsement license fee appears in the captured sources. The board's application documents state the requirements without stating the application amount; the fee schedule is not among the sources captured here. The absence is stated rather than filled.

What any of it means for a particular application is for the board to determine.

Timelines, as stated in the sources

All quoted; none calculated.

The thirty-day fingerprint window. "You must file your license application within thirty (30) days of the fingerprinting to ensure that the results can be obtained." and the consequence: "If we are unable to obtain the results, you will be required to submit to the fingerprinting process again." Criminal History Record Check Requirement.

The temporary permit. No duration for it appears in the captured sources.

A statutory change with its own date. "Effective July 1, 2022, Act 066, SLH 2022 increased the" surcharge quoted above; and the fingerprint requirement dates from "July 1, 2017". Application Forms and Publications; Criminal History Record Check Requirement.

Processing. No period for reviewing an endorsement application appears in any captured source. What the board publishes instead is a list of things that delay one, quoted in section 01.

What any of it means for a particular application is for the board to determine.

Source map

Change log

Aug 30, 2026 · Page created. Six first-party captures taken mechanically through this jurisdiction's capture recipe; every source is served by curl with a pinned browser string, and the three PDFs extract with pdftotext. Findings: (1) the temporary permit turns on a condition almost no other state in this collection imposes — the nurse must already have been appointed or accepted employment with a single Hawaii health care entity, defined by statute, and the employer must certify it, with the board refusing to accept that certification if the applicant hands it over; (2) the board publishes a combined application requesting the temporary permit and the endorsement license together, so the bridge and the destination are one filing rather than two; (3) the permit is fifty dollars and expressly non-refundable even where it is refused, which the board states twice; (4) the originating state's verification must confirm five specific things and must reach every license ever held in any jurisdiction, current or expired; (5) a National Practitioner Data Bank self-query is required of every applicant licensed elsewhere, which few boards in this collection ask for, and the board states which formats it will and will not accept; (6) fingerprinting has a thirty-day window before filing, prints taken for any other body do not count, and using the wrong vendor code means paying to be printed again; (7) a discrepancy inside the board's own sources — the fingerprint vendor's telephone number is published as (877) 614-4364 on one page and (877) 614-4361 in the endorsement application; both are quoted and neither is corrected; (8) no statement of compact membership appears anywhere in the captured sources, and the word multistate is used only of the applicant's own license from elsewhere, so the docket records that shape rather than importing the roster; (9) no endorsement license fee appears in the captured sources, only the fifty-dollar permit and a statutory sixty-dollar surcharge the board announces with its session law; (10) an address hazard worth inheriting — this site publishes its nursing PDFs under two different prefixes, some at `/wp-content/uploads/` and some at `/pvl/wp-content/uploads/`, and requesting one under the other's prefix returns an HTML error page with HTTP 404, which pdftotext then reports as a corrupt PDF rather than a missing file, so the failure reads like a bad document instead of a bad address. Automated or AI-assisted decision-making: none located; the terms artificial intelligence, automated decision, and algorithm return nothing across the six captured sources, and that scope is recorded in `research/ai-disclosure.jsonl`. Capture pending: the board's fee schedule, any statement of compact status, the Employment Certification Form, and the statutes and rules the documents cite. Reviewer: Carrie Schluter, reviewed Aug 30, 2026. Corrections on the record in this log: hello@fieldassembly.net.