Louisiana RN licensure 2026: $115 fee, 3–5 weeks
Last reviewed: by Jayson Minagawa, BSN, RN
Louisiana licensure at a glance
| Board of nursing | Louisiana State Board of Nursing |
| Endorsement fee | $115 |
| Processing time quoted | 3–5 weeks |
| Renewal cycle | 2 years (biennial); unrenewed licenses expire January 31 |
| Continuing education | 30 contact hours per 2-year period, or 900 employer-verified practice hours |
| Fingerprinting | Required for licensure by endorsement (IdentoGO, state and FBI) |
Apply and check current fees at www.lsbn.state.la.us.
Louisiana renewal and licensing rows checked 2026-09-26 against lsbn.state.la.us (1, 2).
Louisiana RN license renewal: 2 years (biennial); unrenewed licenses expire January 31. Continuing education for Louisiana renewal: 30 contact hours per 2-year period, or 900 employer-verified practice hours.
Same in all 51: licensing · renewal · discipline · international · CEUs · defence.
Louisiana required CE topics, and free courses for them
Can Louisiana nurses finish CE for free? Louisiana names no required CE topic for RN or LPN renewal, so any accredited free course counts toward what Louisiana asks for.
Louisiana renewal CE: RN: 30 contact hours or 900 employer-verified practice hours per 2-year licensure period (or current board-recognized specialty certification); APRNs with prescriptive authority also need 6 pharmacotherapeutics hours every year. Topics the Louisiana board names, checked Sep 2026:
- APRN pharmacotherapeutics (prescriptive authority): 6 contact hours · every year · APRN. Source
Board-approved national certifying organization or Board-approved provider
No free course found for Louisiana's version of this yet. - Controlled dangerous substance prescribing (drug diversion, best-practice prescribing, addiction treatment): 3 contact hours · one-time · APRN. Source
CE meeting criteria set by the practitioner's licensing board
No free course found for Louisiana's version of this yet.
Every free course, with filters: free CEUs for Louisiana nurses.
Compact status: Compact state
Louisiana issues multistate licenses. With Louisiana as your primary state of residence, one license covers every other NLC state; it follows your residence, not your job. Compact map.
Getting licensed in Louisiana
Endorsing into Louisiana runs through the Louisiana State Board of Nursing at $115, quoted at 3–5 weeks, with no second NCLEX. Because Louisiana participates in the compact, a travel nurse holding a multistate license can start an assignment here without a separate application, which is why Louisiana contracts often list short lead times.
Advanced practice in Louisiana
Whether an NP may prescribe independently in Louisiana is set by the Louisiana State Board of Nursing and moves by legislative session. Check it before accepting an APRN role there.
Practice environment
Staffing ratios: Louisiana has no statutory nurse-to-patient ratio law. Staffing is governed by hospital policy and, where one exists, the collective bargaining agreement — so safe-staffing concerns are raised through the facility's chain of command and its staffing committee rather than through a state standard.
Hurricane-cycle surge demand drives episodic travel-nurse pay spikes.
Common questions
Does Louisiana accept a compact nursing license?
Yes — Louisiana is a Nurse Licensure Compact state, so a multistate license from another compact state covers practice here with no Louisiana application.
Endorsing a license into Louisiana: cost and wait?
$115 to the Louisiana State Board of Nursing, which quotes 3–5 weeks. Nursys verifies electronically.
Who regulates Louisiana nursing?
The Louisiana State Board of Nursing, at www.lsbn.state.la.us.
Licensure in states bordering Louisiana
Texas · Arkansas · Mississippi · Alabama.
Related Louisiana guides
Louisiana RN salary data · travel nursing in Louisiana · compact license map · national licensing guide.