New York

The published process

Practice while the application is pending

For a nurse already licensed elsewhere, New York publishes no way to work while the application is processed. The department's limited permit is the only pending-practice route it publishes, and it opens by excluding this reader in bold: "If you have ever taken the NCLEX-RN, you are not eligible for a limited permit." The permit is built for a different person — it goes to "nursing school graduates" who "have met all requirements for licensure as an RN in New York State except for taking the National Council License Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN)" — and Pathway #3 repeats the condition when it reaches the option: "LIMITED PERMIT OPTION. If you have not taken the NCLEX-RN," you may apply for one. Since passing the NCLEX-RN or the SBTPE is what qualifies an out-of-state RN in the first place, the permit is closed to substantially every applicant on this pathway. Its terms, for completeness: "A limited permit is valid for up to 1 year or until 10 days after the GN is notified that they failed the NCLEX-RN, whichever happens first."; the holder "can temporarily practice nursing under RN supervision at the health care facility noted on the limited permit"; and "A GN who changes employers will have to obtain a new limited permit from NYSED to practice nursing for the new employer." Searched for this row: the License Requirements page including its Limited Permits and General Requirements sections, RN Pathway #3, the frequently asked questions, and the contact page. No provisional, temporary, or courtesy authorization for a nurse licensed in another state appears in any of them.

Verification of the existing license

The department publishes two methods and makes the choice for the applicant rather than leaving it open: "If the state(s) where you are licensed as a nurse participates in Nursys, you must request verification of your licensure from Nursys, not the state(s). If your state(s) of licensure does (do) not appear on the Nursys list, you must use the Verification of Other Professional Licensure/Certification form (Form 3) to verify your licensure to New York State." Pathway #3 states the same two methods and adds the paper route's mechanics: complete Section I of Form 3 "and send it to the licensing authority that granted you your nursing license and ask that they complete Section II." The requirement reaches practical licenses too: "If you have been licensed as an RN, LPN or LVN in another state or a U.S. Territory, you must arrange to have information verifying your license(s) provided to the NYSED." And it reaches other professions: "if you hold any other professional licenses in states other than New York, you must also use Form 3 to verify that licensure to New York State."

Fingerprints and the background check

No fingerprint requirement and no criminal background check appears anywhere in the sources reviewed — not in the License Requirements page, not in RN Pathway #3, not in the frequently asked questions, not on the contact page. What New York publishes instead is a self-disclosure standard: "You must demonstrate that" you are currently of good moral character "in order to be licensed or registered as an RN", tested by four questions on the application, among them "Have you been found guilty after trial, or pleaded guilty, no contest or nolo contendere to a crime (felony or misdemeanor) in any court?" and "Are criminal charges pending against you in any court?" The obligation is broad — "You must report all criminal convictions and disciplinary actions against you, regardless of whether it occurred in New York State or elsewhere" — with one stated exception, for youthful offender offenses: "You do not have to disclose" them "if your records have been sealed." A disclosure is not itself disqualifying: "A “yes” answer to one or more of these questions" will not "necessarily disqualify you from a license or a registration in New York State." And the department states how it learns of convictions anyway: "Courts often notify NYSED when nurses are convicted of a crime."

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

Fees, as stated in the sources

All quoted; none totaled. From the department's License Requirements page and its frequently asked questions, retrieved Aug 26, 2026.

The license itself. "The fee for licensure and first registration is $143." The FAQ states the same amount for both nursing licenses: "If you are applying for an RN license - you must pay a $143 fee to NYSED. This fee covers your license and your initial RN registration." and "If you are applying for an LPN license - you must pay a $143 fee to NYSED."

The limited permit. "The fee for a limited permit is $35." — an amount most applicants on this pathway cannot spend, for the reason given in section 02.

Registration renewal, once licensed. "If you are renewing your RN registration - you must pay a $73 fee to NYSED." The same figure applies to LPNs.

Certificates beyond the license. "If you are applying for an RN license and an NP certificate - you must pay a $228 fee to NYSED." and "If you are applying for an RN license and a CNS certificate - you must pay a $223 fee to NYSED."

Amounts payable elsewhere. The examination fee is not the department's: "You must pay to Pearson VUE an examination registration fee of $200." A retake costs the same — "You must register again with Pearson VUE and pay a $200 fee to retake the NCLEX" — and the department states that no second application fee follows it. Nursys charges its own: after you "sign up and pay the fee, Nursys® will provide verification of your nursing license directly to the NYSED."

A standing condition. "Fees are subject to change. The fee due is the one in law when your application is received. You will be billed for the difference if fees have been increased." On withdrawal, applicants may "be entitled to a partial refund", and "The State Education Department is not responsible for any fees paid to an outside testing or credentials verification agency."

What any of this means for a particular application is for the department to determine.

Timelines, as stated in the sources

All quoted; none calculated.

On the application itself: no processing time is published. What the department publishes instead is a waiting rule before you may ask: "After you have submitted all your documentation, please allow 6 weeks before submitting a Contact Us Form to request a status update." It adds a consequence: "Contacting us earlier may extend processing times for applications. During busy times, this time frame may increase."

On the registration cycle: the certificate "will authorize you to practice as an RN for 3 years in New York State", and "You must renew your registration every 3 years to continue to practice as an RN in New York State."

On infection control, recurring: "All practicing RNs must complete NYSED approved infection control coursework every four (4) years or qualify for an exemption."

On the limited permit, where available: "The limited permit expires one year from the date of issue, or ten days after the limited permit holder is notified that she or he failed the NCLEX, whichever happens sooner."

On new graduates, not on this pathway: practice may run "during the 90 day period immediately following graduation", under stated supervision.

On a change of name or address: "You are legally required to notify the New York State Education Department (NYSED) of your name and/or address change within 30 days."

What any of this means for a particular application is for the department to determine.

Change log

Aug 26, 2026 · Page created. Captured first-party and appended mechanically: the department's License Requirements for Registered Professional Nursing page, RN Pathway #3, the Frequently Asked Questions page, and the Contact Information page, all retrieved Aug 26, 2026. Findings recorded rather than smoothed: (1) New York publishes a direct answer to the compact question that most states leave to inference — "No. New York State is not a Nursing Licensure Compact State." — and it sits on the FAQ page, whose own date is "Last Updated: August 15, 2019"; (2) the licensing authority is the State Education Department's Office of the Professions, not a board of nursing, and the State Board for Nursing within it answers practice questions rather than applications; (3) for a nurse licensed in another state there is no published way to work while the application is pending — the limited permit excludes anyone who has taken the NCLEX-RN, which is nearly every applicant on this pathway, and that closure is stated in bold on the department's own page; (4) no fingerprint requirement and no criminal background check appears anywhere in the sources reviewed, and what stands in their place is a moral-character self-disclosure standard with four stated questions, so this is recorded as an absence with the pages searched named rather than assumed from other states' practice; (5) New York separates the license from the registration, the first valid for life and the second for three years, and states that practice while the registration is expired is not legally allowed; (6) the same instructional checklist for out-of-state nurses is linked at two different addresses from two different pages, one under a 2024-06 path and one under a 2023-05 path, and both are recorded as pending rather than reconciled; (7) the department publishes no processing time, only a rule that applicants wait six weeks before asking, with the stated consequence that asking earlier "may extend processing times for applications"; (8) the department's own sentence about the baccalaureate-in-ten regulation duplicates its verb, and is quoted as published; (9) the pages return their full accordion content on the plain text transport and only collapsed headings when rendered in a browser, the reverse of the pattern seen on other state sites, and the transport used is recorded so a later reviewer does not read a thin capture as a thin source. Capture pending: the instructional checklist at both addresses, Forms 2, 3, and 5, the online application, Education Law Article 139 and 8 NYCRR Part 64, and the LPN requirements pages. Internet Archive captures: to be added. Reviewer: Carrie Schluter, reviewed Aug 26, 2026. Corrections on the record in this log: hello@fieldassembly.net.

Sep 1, 2026 · One quotation corrected. The refund-policy quotation in the standing condition carried a stray asterisk inside the quotation marks, immediately after the word may. It was ours: the department's page italicizes that single word (an <i> tag on the source's own sentence about a withdrawn application), the Aug 26 capture method rendered that italics as a markdown asterisk pair, and the quotation was drawn from that rendering without removing them — the asterisk is not the department's own punctuation. The quotation now reads applicants may "be entitled to a partial refund", moving the emphasis outside the quoted span per this project's standing convention for emphasis inside a quotation. Nothing else on the page changed. Reviewer: Carrie Schluter (review pending before publication). Corrections on the record in this log: hello@fieldassembly.net.