Montana Board of Nursing

Board of Nursing

Welcome to the Montana Board of Nursing

The Montana Board of Nursing is pleased to share with you the licensing and regulatory information for nursing licensees. Within this website you will find information on what is needed to become licensed, verify who is already licensed, and learn the statutory and regulatory requirements if you are licensed. You can also learn of board meetings and agenda topics and view frequently asked questions.

We are available to assist customers through our public portal for Professional and Occupational Licenses. For all renewals, please renew online. We can be reached at (406) 444-6880.

*Potential Board of Nursing Scam Alert*

Recently, the Department of Labor and Industry was notified of a licensee being contacted by someone projecting to be calling from the Board of Nursing, demanding to speak to the licensee urgently regarding a Board investigation of their license. Please be aware the Board will never let a licensee know of an investigation in this manner.  If you want to verify contact by someone reaching out from the Board or the Department of Labor and Industry, please call 406-444-6880. If you are contacted by someone stating they are from the Board of Nursing or the Department of Labor and Industry but you have not received written communication indicating this, please report the contact to your local law enforcement officials.

  • The 21-Day Temporary Registration is now available in our licensing portal. To begin, click the “Apply for a License” button above and follow the application steps. If you have any questions, please contact our customer service team at (406) 444-6880. 

    The 21-Day Temporary Registration is available to individuals who hold an active license in good standing in another state and are practicing in Montana for one of the following reasons: 

    1. Provide education
    2. Continuity of treatment
    3. Treatment to underserved populations
    4. Highly specialized treatment care to clients or patients.

  • The Montana Medical Assistance Program Advisory Council was formed on September 2, 2025 to review and provide options to reform the existing Medical Recovery Program.

    The Council’s goals are to:

    • review the general structure of the medical recovery program in the state, including data on the prevalence of mental health and substance use conditions among licensed health care professionals;
    • examine the effectiveness of the medical recovery program, including but not limited to, overall trends in enrollment, completion rates, non-completion rates, program design, eligibility criteria, application requirements, wait times for admissions, program duration, conditions of participation, penalties for noncompliance, privacy and confidentiality protections, and return-to-work restrictions;
    • identify best practices in voluntary versus mandatory programming or alternative-to-discipline rehabilitation programs that have been adopted in other states and any opportunities to modernize standards in the current program; and
    • make recommendations to the department, to include contracting for services of the program, transition needs, audit findings, eligibility criteria for admission into the program, size, scope and design of the program, the level of staffing and other resources necessary to adequately operate the program, appropriate professions to include, and any other attributes necessary for operation of the program.
  • English proficiency exam is now required for ALL internationally educated applicants who were not educated in English
    The Montana Board of Nursing adopted a new rule requiring all Internationally educated applicants who were not educated in English or for whom English is not the applicant's native language to successfully pass a board-specified English proficiency examination - see ARM 24.159.422(4). The board has not yet determined which English proficiency examinations will be accepted; they will do so at their November 18, 2026, full board meeting. Applicants who meet the criteria and submit an application on or after September 26, 2026, will receive direction after November 18, 2026, via electronic mail clarifying which exam(s) are acceptable and what the standards are for each acceptable exam.
  • The renewal period for LPNs, RNs and APRNs whose licenses expire 12/31 of even years opens on 11/2 of the even year (for odd years, this opens 11/2 of the odd year).  Please watch your email from reminders.  If you received a reminder before 11/2, that was generated by Nursys e-Notify. You can update your renewal reminder notice setting from Nursys e-Notify by following the instructions here.

  • Montana has been a member of the NLC since 2015 and has been issuing multistate compact licenses to nurses who meet the Uniform Licensure Requirements for a multistate license since that time.

    If you hold a Montana RN or LPN license and want to know if your license is a multistate license, you can look your license up at Montana’s Licensee Lookup and Nursys using the QuickConfirm option.

    Announcement: New NLC Rule

    Starting Jan 2, 2024, a new NLC rule will be in effect.  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.

    The new rule (effective beginning January 2, 2024) reads:

    402(2) A multistate licensee who changes primary state of residence to another party state shall apply for a multistate license in the new party state within 60 days.

    Helpful FAQs and a brief video about the new rule are available online.

    Nurses can enroll at no cost in Nursys eNotify to receive notifications related to license renewals at www.nursys.com.

    For more information, visit www.nlc.gov or email nursecompact@ncsbn.org.

    Compact license information, including where you can practice with a multistate license and what to do when changing residence, can be found at https://www.nursecompact.com/how-it-works/nurses-and-the-nlc.page.

    For more information about the NLC, including FAQs and other resources, please visit www.nursecompact.com.

  • Are you a nurse employer looking for a way to easily track your employed nurses' license expiration dates? The Board hosted a webinar on Thursday, February 11, 2021 to provide an overview of a free solution available through Nursys. You can view the recording here:

    Recording

    Contact information is provided at the end, or reach out to nurse@mt.gov for more information.

  • During the 2025 Legislative Session, the Montana Legislature passed HB 276, impacting how the Department of Labor & Industry serves legal notices.

    What’s Changing: All licensees and applicants are required to provide the department with their current mailing address and any change of address within 30 days. Individuals may consent to electronic service of legal notices by providing a current email address and updating within 30 days of any change.

    All applications and renewals with the department will include the following:

    1. Three additional attestations covering the individual’s responsibility to provide a current mailing address and participate in the complaint and contested case processes.
    2. One question asking the individual if they wish to consent to receive service of Notice of disciplinary matters by email. Once the individual has consented to electronic service, they will not be asked to consent again in future transactions with the department.

    If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at (406) 444-6880 or dlibsdhelp@mt.gov.

Upcoming Events

Nov 18 2026

10 am to 5 pm

Board of Nursing Full Board Meeting

Room: no room given
In person and online.
Individuals are welcome to attend online or by phone. The Department of Labor & Industry is . . .