Michigan licenses registered nurses through the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), Bureau of Professional Licensing, with the Michigan Board of Nursing. Everything below comes from LARA's Nursing Licensing Guide and FAQs, checked October 18, 2026. Fees change, so confirm on the guide before you pay.
Study aid, not legal advice. Your state board of nursing has the final word on your license, and its rules and fees change. Built by an RN. Headed In LLC is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), Pearson VUE or any board of nursing; their names appear here only to point you to the real thing. NCLEX and NCLEX-RN are registered trademarks of NCSBN.
Michigan LARA, Bureau of Professional Licensing (Michigan Board of Nursing)
Education: a Michigan Board of Nursing-approved RN program, a program in another state accredited by ACEN, CNEA or CCNE, or a CASN-accredited Canadian program. Graduates of unaccredited out-of-state programs add a letter from the program attesting to its curriculum. Your school sends final transcripts (or the Michigan Nursing School Certification Form) directly to LARA.
Application: online in MiPLUS, with $212.90 for the application and a two-year license, by credit or debit card. Answer the good moral character questions; a yes needs documentation and an explanation.
Background check: after you submit, LARA emails an Application Confirmation letter with instructions for the criminal background check.
Required training: a one-time course in identifying victims of human trafficking (Rule 338.10105), and 2 hours of implicit bias training within the 5 years before your license is issued.
NCLEX-RN: register with Pearson VUE; LARA decides your eligibility and gets your scores straight from NCSBN. LARA's guide does not give a time to the Authorization to Test; check with LARA. You must pass within 3 years of graduation. After that, you need a written certification of skills competency from an approved program (then you have one year to pass) or a board-approved extension of up to six months.
Renewal: every two years, online in MiPLUS, $131. You attest to 25 hours of board-approved CE, at least 2 in pain and symptom management, plus 1 hour of implicit bias training for each year of the cycle, and confirm the one-time human trafficking training.
Michigan is not in the Nurse Licensure Compact. NCSBN lists pending compact legislation (HB 4246), but until a law passes and takes effect your license is single-state, and a multistate license from another state does not let you practice in Michigan: you need a Michigan license, by exam or by endorsement.
An associate degree, bachelor's degree, diploma or entry-level master's program approved by a board of nursing, with an NCLEX program code. Your school confirms you graduated.
Apply to the board
The license comes from the state board, not the exam. Apply, pay the board fee and do the background check the board asks for.
Register with Pearson VUE
The NCLEX-RN registration fee is $200 to Pearson VUE ($350 for registrations completed on or after February 1, 2027), non-refundable. Your registration stays open 365 days while the board decides your eligibility.
Get your Authorization to Test and sit the exam
When the board makes you eligible, Pearson emails your Authorization to Test (ATT). Test within its dates: they cannot be extended. The NCLEX-RN runs 85 to 150 questions in up to five hours, and it stops when the computer is 95% sure you are above or below the passing standard.