How to transfer your LPN licence to West Virginia (2026)

LPN work in West Virginia is licensed at state level, by the West Virginia Board of Nursing. West Virginia is a member of the Nurse Licensure Compact, so a multistate licence from another compact state works here from the day you arrive. This page says what a LPN licensed or working in another state has to do to work in West Virginia, in the order to do it, and what goes wrong when the order is reversed.

How the transfer works

The Nurse Licensure Compact covers LPN and LVN licences exactly as it covers RN licences: between compact states a multistate licence works on arrival, and into or out of a non-compact state you apply to the West Virginia board for licensure by endorsement with Nursys verification, fingerprints and the fee.

Exam: NCLEX-PN, passed once.

How long: day one between compact states; four to twelve weeks for endorsement. Fee: $50 to $250 plus fingerprinting; the current figure is on the licensing body's own site.

What to have ready before you move

• Nursys verification
• Fingerprints for the new state
• Proof of continuing education for the last renewal

Start the paperwork before you give notice. Every week the licence is not done is a week you are not paid, and nothing in the process needs you to be in West Virginia already.

What people get wrong

• Confusing LVN (California and Texas) with LPN; they are the same licence under two names and transfer the same way
• Assuming the compact applies in California, New York or Illinois; it does not
• Letting the old licence lapse before the new one is issued

Who hires LPNs in West Virginia

LPNs in West Virginia are hired by nursing homes, clinics, home health, correctional health and hospitals. The metros with the most of that work are Charleston, Huntington and Morgantown. Employers who could not hire locally and have filed with the Department of Labor are on the West Virginia openings page.

For the money side: the median LPN in West Virginia earned $49,850 a year ($24 an hour) in May 2024 across 6,330 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and West Virginia has a progressive state income tax with a top rate of 4.82%. What that leaves you after tax is its own page.

West Virginia also has a program that pay people to move in: Ascend West Virginia ($12,000 over two years plus outdoor perks, for remote workers who move to one of the participating communities (Morgantown, Lewisburg, Shepherdstown and others)). Each has a residence condition and a funding round.

Everything about West Virginia, on one page

The West Virginia page has the registries and boards, the income tax table, the programs that pay you to come and the openings filed this month. If you know which state you are leaving, the move pages compare the two directly. Creating a free Workmerica profile with your trade and your destination puts you in front of West Virginia employers hiring from out of state.