Download Process PDF
1. Create an account and submit an application for Licensure by Endorsement online through PALS
- If you do not have a valid United States SSN, fill out the SSN Waiver form
2. Pay the associated fees
3. Criminal history check
- Provide a recent Criminal History Records Check (CHRC) from the state police or other state agency for every state in which you have lived, worked, or completed professional training/studies for the past ten (10) years. The report(s) must be dated within 90 days of the date the application is submitted.
- In-State - If you are living, working, or completing training/studies in Pennsylvania, your CHRC request will be automatically submitted to the Pennsylvania State Police upon submission of this application.
- Out-of-State - If you are living, working, or completing training/studies outside of Pennsylvania during the past ten (10) years, in lieu of obtaining individual state background checks, you may elect to provide BOTH a state CHRC from the state in which you currently reside, AND your FBI Identity History Summary Check.
*If you are currently living, working, or completing training/studies in California, Arizona, or Ohio: Due to the laws of these states, the Board is not an eligible recipient of CHRC's or your CHRC will not be issued to you for upload to the Board. Please obtain your Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Identity History Summary Check. (Essentially, you don’t have to do the state-based background check. You only need to do the FBI one).
4. Verification of licensure from each state and jurisdiction where you hold a license or authority to practice.
- If the state participates in Nursys, you must complete the Nursys verification process, pay their fee and designate Pennsylvania as the receipt of the verification.
- If the state does not participate in Nursys, you must contact their state Board directly for further instructions. You will need to send them the Verification of Licensure form to complete and submit to the Pennsylvania Board of Nursing on your behalf.
If you can provide proof of at least one active license you will qualify for a temporary license. You will need to complete the remaining steps before the temporary license expires in order to receive a permanent license.
5. Education verification - you must have the nursing school that qualified you for the original RN license to send an official transcript directly to the Pennsylvania Board of Nursing on your behalf.
- If your RN education was not conducted in English you are required to pass a Board-approved English Language Proficiency Examination.
- If you were educated outside the United States, you need to provide a Foreign Credentials Evaluation. This is an evaluation of RN education by a Board-approved Foreign Credentials Evaluator to determine if the education completed in a country or territory outside of the United States or Canada is equivalent to the RN education required in this Commonwealth at the time the program was completed.
6. Child abuse continuing education requirement (if applicable).
- You must complete, as a condition of licensure, 3 hours of training approved by the Department of Human Services (DHS) on the topic of child abuse recognition and reporting.
- After you have completed the required course, the approved provider will electronically submit your name, date of attendance, etc. to the Bureau.
7. Provide documentation if you answered “yes” to any of the legal background questions (if applicable).
8. Provide proof of English proficiency if you graduated from a nursing program that was not conducted in English (if applicable).
