Registered Nurse (RN) License Renewal in West Virginia
West Virginia RNs renew every 2 years with 12 contact hours of CE. New nurses add a 3-hour drug-diversion course. West Virginia is a compact state.
| Renewal cycle | Every 2 years |
|---|---|
| CE hours required | 12 hours 12 contact hours of CE per 2-year renewal from a Board-approved provider (the 24-hour figure some guides cite is the APRN requirement, not the RN one). Compliance is verified electronically through CE Broker at renewal. |
| Renewal fee | $90.00 |
| Mandatory CE topics | Best-practice prescribing and drug diversion (3 hrs, new licensees only, within 1 year of initial licensure; waivable if you do not prescribe, administer, or dispense controlled substances) |
| Licensing board | West Virginia Board of Examiners for Registered Professional Nurses (WV RN Board) |
Sourced from West Virginia Board of Examiners for Registered Professional Nurses (WV RN Board), verified July 25, 2026. Requirements change. Confirm with your board before relying on this.
West Virginia asks for one of the lightest CE loads in the country, just 12 contact hours every two years. The number is so low that it’s the most commonly misquoted figure in this whole reference, because the 24-hour requirement people cite is the advanced-practice one, not the staff-RN one.
Twelve hours, not twenty-four
A renewing West Virginia RN completes 12 contact hours of continuing education per two-year cycle from a Board-approved provider. If you’ve seen “24 hours” quoted, that’s the APRN requirement (12 hours of pharmacotherapeutics plus 12 of clinical management), and it doesn’t apply to a standard RN license. For a staff RN, it’s 12, full stop.
West Virginia tracks compliance through CE Broker, the Board’s official system, and your hours are verified electronically when you renew, so there’s no separate upload. New nurses have one added, one-time item: 3 contact hours on best-practice prescribing and drug diversion, completed within a year of initial licensure. If you don’t prescribe, administer, or dispense controlled substances, you can file a short signed waiver for it, but you still owe the 12 general hours. Keep your certificates, the Board audits.
The cycle changed twice recently, so check your date
West Virginia’s renewal calendar moved twice in a few years, which trips up nurses working from older guidance. RNs shifted to a two-year cycle in 2022, and after 2024 the expiration date moved from October 31 to June 30. Currently active licenses expire June 30, 2026, and going forward the cycle runs July 1 of an even year to June 30 two years later, so RN licenses expire June 30 of even-numbered years. The renewal window opens May 1; miss June 30 and the license lapses. If your mental model still says “October 31,” update it.
The fee
Biennial renewal is $90, fixed in the Board’s fee rule rather than set administratively, which makes it easy to verify. A detail most states don’t have: $20 of that $90 goes straight into a fund for the Nurse Health Program, the state’s substance-use and monitoring program for nurses. If you’ve seen a different figure quoted, 2022 renewals were covered at no cost to nurses under a state workforce program, which is why older guides disagree. Let the license lapse and reinstatement is $115.
West Virginia is a compact state
West Virginia implemented the Nurse Licensure Compact on January 19, 2018. If West Virginia is your primary state of residence, your RN license can be a multistate license, letting you practice in the other compact states without applying separately in each. That reaches into compact neighbors like Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Kentucky. The privilege follows your legal residence, so it holds as long as West Virginia stays home. Use the compact checker below to see exactly which states a West Virginia license reaches.
Add your renewal deadline to your calendar
Enter your expiration date and download a calendar file. Your own calendar will remind you at 90, 60, 30, and 7 days out. We don't ask for your email, we store nothing, and the date never leaves your device.
Works with Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, and Outlook. This is a convenience, not a compliance service. Confirm your exact deadline with the West Virginia Board of Examiners for Registered Professional Nurses (WV RN Board).
How many CE hours do you have left?
West Virginia requires 12 CE hours this cycle. Enter what you've completed and see what's left. Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere.
Hours alone aren't the whole requirement. Some must be these specific topics:
- Best-practice prescribing and drug diversion (3 hrs, new licensees only, within 1 year of initial licensure; waivable if you do not prescribe, administer, or dispense controlled substances)
A convenience, not a compliance service. Confirm your exact requirement with the West Virginia Board of Examiners for Registered Professional Nurses (WV RN Board). This is not legal advice.
Continuing education hours per renewal cycle
West Virginia asks for 12 hours. That is below the median of 30 across the 37 states that set a flat hour count, which run from 8 to 40. Ranked lowest to highest, West Virginia is 4 of 37.
Renewal fee
West Virginia charges $90. The median across the 49 states that publish a figure is $100, running from $50 to $245. Ranked cheapest to dearest, West Virginia is 18 of 49.
Each mark is one state. The taller line is the median, the filled dot is West Virginia. States that set no flat hour count, or publish no fee, are left out of that comparison rather than counted as zero.
Where can you practice with your license?
The Nurse Licensure Compact lets a nurse who lives in a compact state hold one multistate license and practice in every other compact state. Pick where you live to see whether that's you, and where it reaches.
Member data from the NCSBN Nurse Licensure Compact map, verified July 2026. A multistate license requires the compact state to be your primary residence. This is a convenience, not legal advice. Confirm your status with your board or at nursecompact.com.
What will this renewal cost?
West Virginia's renewal fee is filled in from the board below. Add what you expect to spend on CE courses, plus a late fee if you're past due, for a running total. Nothing you type is stored.
The renewal fee is from the West Virginia Board of Examiners for Registered Professional Nurses (WV RN Board) and dated on this page; the CE and late-fee figures are your own estimates. A convenience, not a compliance service, and not legal advice. Confirm fees with your board.