Texas licenses registered nurses through the Texas Board of Nursing (BON). Everything below comes from the board's licensure-by-examination page, fee schedule, continuing competency and renewal pages, and its fingerprint instructions, checked October 18, 2026. Fees and processing times change, so confirm on the linked pages 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.
The board posted a temporary notice that application and document processing is taking up to 20 business days.
Application: in your Texas Nurse Portal, choose "NCLEX-RN Application - U.S. Graduates" (international graduates have their own application). The examination fee is $75, which includes the Nursing Jurisprudence Exam fee.
Fingerprints: a criminal background check through the Texas Department of Public Safety and the FBI, sent straight to the board; results you send yourself, or results done for another agency, school or employer, do not count. Texas residents schedule with IdentoGO under service code 119TF2 and pay IdentoGO's fee; the board has separate instructions for out-of-state applicants and applicants without a Social Security number. If you already did a check for the board as a student, you usually do not repeat it.
Pearson VUE: register for the NCLEX ($200). The board recommends doing it at least 30 days before graduation; no ATT can be issued until it is done.
Nursing Jurisprudence Exam (NJE): every NCLEX applicant completes it before getting an ATT. It runs 2 hours and covers the Texas Nursing Practice Act and the board's rules; you register on the board's website.
Affidavit of Graduation: after you graduate, your dean or director sends it. Texas programs file it electronically, which needs the correct NCSBN program code on your application; out-of-state programs email a sealed paper form.
Authorization to Test: once the application and fee, background check, Pearson registration, NJE and affidavit are all in, staff review your file within 15 business days, mark you "Eligible", and the ATT email follows within 5 business days. A Graduate Nurse permit, if you qualify, posts within 5 business days of the ATT. The ATT and GN permit are good for 75 days and cannot be extended.
Results and license: the board gets your result from Pearson in 24 to 48 hours, and the permanent license is issued within 15 business days of a pass. Retakes must be within four years of graduation; after that you would have to complete a new nursing program.
Renewal: every two years, set by your birth month; the RN fee is $68. Each period needs 20 contact hours of CE in your area of practice or a board-approved national certification, plus targeted CE: 2 hours of nursing jurisprudence and ethics every third period, an HHSC-approved human trafficking course every period if you give direct patient care, 2 hours on older adults if you care for them, and a one-time forensic evidence course if you work in an ER. CE, including the targeted topics, is waived for your first renewal if you renew on time or within 90 days.
Texas is a Nurse Licensure Compact state. If Texas is your primary state of residence and you meet the compact's uniform licensure requirements (they include a fingerprint-based state and federal background check), the board issues a multistate license that also lets you practice in every other compact state. If you live in another state, or do not meet those requirements, you get a single-state license good in Texas only. Move your primary residence to another compact state and you must apply there for a new multistate license within 60 days.
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.