How to transfer your CNA licence to South Dakota (2026)

CNAs in South Dakota are listed on a state registry rather than licensed: the South Dakota nurse aide registry. In South Dakota the registry is the South Dakota Board of Nursing, Nurse Aide Registry. This page says what a CNA licensed or working in another state has to do to work in South Dakota, in the order to do it, and what goes wrong when the order is reversed.

How the transfer works

A CNA certificate is a listing on a state registry, not a licence you carry, so moving means getting listed on the South Dakota registry by reciprocity. The registry checks that your current certificate is active, that your record carries no findings, and that you are who you say you are; many states also ask for proof of paid nurse aide work in the last 24 months. There is no retest when the record is clean.

Exam: the state competency exam (NNAAP or the state's own), already passed once.

Training or experience the licence expects: 75 federal minimum training hours, more in many states.

How long: two to six weeks from application to listing, longer where the state fingerprints you itself. Fee: nothing to about $50 in most states; the current figure is on the licensing body's own site.

What to have ready before you move

• Your current certificate number and the registry it is on
• A government ID
• An employer letter or pay stubs showing paid nurse aide work in the last two years
• Fingerprints if the state asks; book the appointment the day you apply

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 South Dakota already.

What people get wrong

• Moving before applying; nothing in the process needs you to be there
• Letting the old certificate lapse because you are leaving anyway; it is the thing being transferred
• Paying a third-party site to transfer a certificate; only the registry can
• Starting work before the listing exists; employers check the registry, not your card

Who hires CNAs in South Dakota

CNAs in South Dakota are hired by nursing homes, assisted living, hospitals, home health agencies and hospice. The metros with the most of that work are Sioux Falls, Rapid City and Aberdeen. Employers who could not hire locally and have filed with the Department of Labor are on the South Dakota openings page.

For the money side: the median CNA in South Dakota earned $38,070 a year ($18 an hour) in May 2024 across 6,520 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and South Dakota has no state income tax on wages. What that leaves you after tax is its own page.

Everything about South Dakota, on one page

The South Dakota 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 South Dakota employers hiring from out of state.