How to transfer your Home health aide licence to Virginia (2026)

Home health aides in Virginia are listed on a state registry rather than licensed: the Virginia nurse aide or home care aide registry. In Virginia the registry is the Virginia Board of Nursing, Certified Nurse Aide registry. This page says what a home health aide licensed or working in another state has to do to work in Virginia, in the order to do it, and what goes wrong when the order is reversed.

How the transfer works

A home health aide credential is tied to the agency and the state. If you hold a CNA certificate, transfer it by reciprocity to Virginia's registry and most agencies accept it. If you hold only an HHA certificate, Virginia's rules decide whether the training transfers; many states ask you to complete a short state-approved course or competency test with the new agency.

Training or experience the licence expects: 75 federal minimum training hours for Medicare-certified agencies, more in several states.

How long: two to six weeks for a CNA reciprocity; an HHA-only course can be two weeks. Fee: nothing to about $50 for a registry application; the current figure is on the licensing body's own site.

What to have ready before you move

• Your CNA certificate if you have one
• The training certificate and hours from your current agency
• Proof of paid care work in the last two years

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 Virginia already.

What people get wrong

• Assuming an agency certificate is a state credential; it usually is not
• Skipping the CNA route when you qualify; a CNA transfers, an HHA certificate often does not

Who hires home health aides in Virginia

Home health aides in Virginia are hired by home health agencies, hospice, private-duty care and state Medicaid programs. The metros with the most of that work are Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Norfolk, Richmond and Arlington. Employers who could not hire locally and have filed with the Department of Labor are on the Virginia openings page.

For the money side: the median home health aide in Virginia earned $29,190 a year ($14 an hour) in May 2024 across 61,680 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Virginia has a progressive state income tax with a top rate of 5.75%. What that leaves you after tax is its own page.

Everything about Virginia, on one page

The Virginia 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 Virginia employers hiring from out of state.