New hiring laws in North Dakota for 2027: cosmetology and military spouse licenses, the PA compact, kratom retailer checks, state new-hire leave and federal I-9 dates

As of November 2026, North Dakota made very few changes to hiring law for 2026 and 2027. Its Legislature holds a regular session only in odd-numbered years, and most laws from the 2025 session took effect August 1, 2025. The items with later dates are narrow: HB 1126 created an advanced esthetician license and provisional cosmetology licenses for military members, spouses and veterans on January 1, 2026; HB 1170 gives new permanent state employees 40 hours of new hire leave from May 1, 2026; a January 2026 special session joined the PA Licensure Compact and let the occupational therapy board run criminal history checks; and a September 2026 special session put kratom processors and retailers under licenses with background checks from September 4, 2026.

North Dakota passed no pay transparency, salary history, private-employer ban-the-box, AI hiring or E-Verify law in this period. The federal changes of 2026 and 2027 apply in full. Each item below links to the bill version on the Legislative Branch's site, with effective dates from the Legislative Council's Effective Dates of 2025-26 Legislation. The standing checklist (Workforce Safety and Insurance, Job Service North Dakota, withholding, new-hire reporting) is in our North Dakota hiring hub; this page is the dated list of what is new.

Which North Dakota hiring laws changed in 2026, and what changes in 2027?

North Dakota acts with 2026 or later dates and the federal rules that apply to North Dakota employers, sorted by date.

Why did North Dakota change so little for 2026 and 2027?

Timing. The Legislative Council's effective dates list explains that the 69th Legislative Assembly met in regular session from January 7 to May 3, 2025, and that "a law enacted during a regular session of the Legislative Assembly takes effect on August 1 after its filing with the Secretary of State," unless it is an appropriation or tax rate measure (July 1), an emergency measure, or names a later date. It also met in two short special sessions, January 21 to 23, 2026 and September 2 to 4, 2026, whose laws "take effect on the date specified in the Act." The next regular session is tentatively set to begin January 5, 2027 under the Council's 2027 legislative deadlines, so a 2027 hiring law would take effect August 1, 2027 unless it set another date.

What changed for cosmetology and child care hiring?

HB 1126, effective January 1, 2026, rewrites the cosmetology chapter, N.D.C.C. 43-11. It adds an advanced esthetician license; "advanced esthetics" includes advanced chemical peels, microneedling, nonablative procedures and extractions using lancets, so med spas and salons offering those services should require that license in job ads. It also opens two provisional routes for people licensed in another state for the two years before applying:

• Active-duty members and their spouses are exempt from the examination while on active duty; a member files current orders or a military ID, and a spouse files proof of marriage and orders assigning the member to a North Dakota duty station or to active duty abroad while the spouse relocates here. The provisional license is free, valid for three years and renewable while the orders remain active in the state.
• Veterans and their spouses may get a free, nonrenewable three-year provisional license without the examination for six months after an honorable discharge.

The board "shall prioritize and expedite" these applications. For child care, SB 2107, also effective January 1, 2026, says department-approved training hours an applicant or staff member completes after submitting the licensing fees and application "must be counted toward the licensing annual requirements for the following year," which helps centers onboarding staff late in a licensing year.

What did the 2026 special sessions change for employers?

• Physician assistants. HB 1622, effective on filing, January 23, 2026, enacts the PA Licensure Compact as N.D.C.C. chapter 43-17.5 and amends the physician assistant chapter for PAs who practice under a compact privilege. Compact privileges begin only when the compact's commission issues them, so confirm before setting a start date.
• Occupational therapy. SB 2401 lets the Board of Occupational Therapy Practice obtain criminal history record checks "for applicants, licensees, or investigations" under its licensing and compact chapters, effective January 23, 2026. North Dakota joined the Occupational Therapy Licensure Compact in 2025 (SB 2146).
• Kratom retail. HB 1628, effective on filing, September 4, 2026, bars a processor or retailer from preparing, distributing or selling kratom without an Attorney General license, requires statewide and nationwide criminal history checks of applicants and their owners or agents, and makes selling kratom to anyone under 21 an infraction. Under-21 employees may possess kratom "when required in the performance of the individual's duties as an employee," so retailers may still have younger staff handle it at work.

What changed for state agency hiring?

HB 1170, effective May 1, 2026, amends N.D.C.C. 54-06-14. A state agency that employs someone covered by the section "shall, upon hire, grant the individual forty hours of new hire leave to use within the first year of employment"; unused hours are eliminated after the first year, and new hire leave "is not earned paid time off and is not paid out upon separation." Agencies may also grant annual leave at hire above the tenure scale for positions identified as hard to fill. Private employers are not covered, but state jobs now come with leave from day one, which matters when you compete with them for the same candidates.

Which federal hiring changes apply in North Dakota?

• Form I-9. The USCIS Form I-9 page lists the 01/20/25 edition as current and the 08/01/23 edition as valid until its 05/31/2027 expiration; electronic systems had to update by 07/31/2026.
• Work permits. The DHS final rule effective October 14, 2026 ends automatic EAD extensions in the affected categories; see I-9 and the EAD automatic extension.
• E-Verify. North Dakota does not require it. For employers that use it, since August 11, 2026 the Status Change Report lists invalidated EADs in five categories, to be reverified on Supplement B without a new case, and records last updated on or before December 31, 2016 are disposed of on January 11, 2027.
• Federal contractors and criminal history. The OFCCP's Executive Order 11246 rules ended October 26, 2026, and the EEOC rescinded its 2012 criminal records guidance on October 28, 2026. Title VII still applies, and a job-related review using the Green factors from the 1975 Eighth Circuit case (the nature and gravity of the offense, the time since it and the nature of the job) remains a sound way to decide.

What did not change in North Dakota?

• No pay range or salary history law; see North Dakota pay transparency and North Dakota salary history.
• Criminal history. Ban-the-box still covers public employers only, and courts close dismissed and acquitted cases decided on or after August 1, 2025; see North Dakota ban-the-box and North Dakota background check laws.
• E-Verify is still not required; see E-Verify requirements in North Dakota.
• Non-competes are still void for employees under N.D.C.C. 9-08-06; see North Dakota non-compete law.
• Drug tests an employer requires are still paid by the employer; see North Dakota drug testing laws.
• Recording interviews still needs one party's consent; see North Dakota recording consent for interviews.

What should North Dakota employers do before January 1, 2027?

1. Update salon and med spa job ads for the advanced esthetician license, and tell military spouse and veteran applicants about the provisional route.
2. License kratom sales through the Attorney General before selling, and plan for the owner background checks.
3. Check Form I-9 editions and work permit dates, and download any E-Verify cases from 2016 or earlier by January 8, 2027.
4. Update criminal history procedures so they no longer cite the 2012 EEOC guidance and record a job-related reason for each decision.
5. Watch the 2027 session, which begins in January, for bills that would take effect August 1, 2027.

What does this mean for staffing agencies in North Dakota?

North Dakota licenses only agencies with a physical location in the state that charge job seekers, as our North Dakota staffing agency guide explains; nothing in 2026 changed that. Health care agencies can use the PA and occupational therapy compacts to place out-of-state clinicians once privileges are issued, and the federal EAD and E-Verify changes apply to every temporary worker an agency employs, including the duty of an E-Verify employer agent to tell clients about cases with invalidated EADs. Agencies still cannot rely on non-competes to keep placed workers. Employer of record rules are in employer of record in North Dakota, and other states' 2027 changes are in new hiring laws for 2027.