CNA Reciprocity: How to Transfer Your CNA Certification to Another State (2026)

A CNA certificate is not a licence you carry; it is a line on a state registry. When you move, the question is not "is my certificate valid in Texas" but "how do I get on the Texas registry". That process is called reciprocity in most states, endorsement or transfer in a few, and it is the same shape everywhere: prove you are listed and clean at home, apply to the new registry, wait to be listed, then start work. This guide walks through it, names what changes from state to state, and links to the page for every state.

What reciprocity actually checks

Every registry asks the same three things before it lists a nurse aide from another state. First, that your current certificate is active: not expired, not lapsed, not "inactive pending renewal". Second, that your registry record carries no findings of abuse, neglect or misappropriation; a finding in any state is a finding everywhere, because registries share them. Third, that you are who you say you are: a government ID, and in most states a fingerprint background check run by the new state, because they do not accept your old one.

Roughly half the states add a fourth: proof that you have worked as a nurse aide for pay in the last 24 months. New York, California, Maryland and Florida are among the states that ask, and the employer letter or pay stubs have to show nurse aide duties, not "healthcare". If you have been out of the job for two years, your home state would have let your certificate lapse anyway, and the honest route is to retest in the new state rather than to argue.

The four steps, in order

1. Look yourself up on your home registry before you do anything else. Confirm the status says active and the expiry date is after your planned move. If it expires within three months, renew first: a certificate that lapses mid-application has to start over.
2. Download the new state's reciprocity form from the registry itself. The registry is a state agency or its testing contractor (Credentia, Prometric and Pearson VUE run several), never a private "CNA transfer service". Fill it in, attach ID and your home certificate number, and pay the fee where there is one. Most states charge nothing or under $50.
3. Do the background check the new state asks for. It is fingerprint-based in most states and takes two to four weeks on its own. Book it the day you submit the form, not after.
4. Wait for your name to appear on the new registry, then start. Employers check the registry, not your card. Starting before you are listed is working uncertified, which is the employer's problem as much as yours and the reason most will not let you.

How long it takes and what it costs

The application itself is a week or two of agency time. The background check is what stretches it: a state that fingerprints you itself (Texas, Florida, Georgia) adds two to four weeks; one that accepts a name-based check is faster. Budget four to six weeks from form to listing and you will rarely be wrong. Fees range from nothing (Texas, Ohio) through $20 to $50 (most states) to around $100 in a handful that bundle the fingerprinting. Any site quoting $200 or more to "transfer your CNA" is charging you for filling in a free form.

States that do it differently

Four states do not certify nursing assistants, they license them, and the paperwork is a licence by endorsement rather than a registry listing: New Hampshire (LNA), Vermont (LNA), Rhode Island and Washington (NA-C). The steps are the same, the words are different, and the fee is usually higher because it is a licence. California issues its own certificate rather than endorsing yours and asks for 48 hours of continuing education within the last two years. Florida runs its own level 2 background screening through a state vendor before it will certify anyone, and that alone is three weeks.

Where to find each state's registry

Each state page on this site names the registry, says whether the state is in the nursing compact (which matters if you plan to go from CNA to LPN or RN), and shows what the state takes from your pay. The registries, by state:

• Alabama: Alabama Nurse Aide Registry (Alabama Department of Public Health)
• Alaska: Alaska Board of Nursing (Certified Nurse Aide program)
• Arizona: Arizona State Board of Nursing (CNA and LNA certification)
• Arkansas: Arkansas Office of Long Term Care, Nurse Aide Registry
• California: California Department of Public Health, Aide and Technician Certification Section
• Colorado: Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, Nurse Aide Registry
• Connecticut: Connecticut Department of Public Health, Nurse Aide Registry
• Delaware: Delaware Division of Health Care Quality, Nurse Aide Registry
• Florida: Florida Board of Nursing (CNA certification by endorsement)
• Georgia: Georgia Nurse Aide Registry (Georgia Department of Community Health, administered by Credentia)
• Hawaii: Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Nurse Aide Registry (administered by Prometric)
• Idaho: Idaho Nurse Aide Registry (administered by Prometric for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare)
• Illinois: Illinois Department of Public Health, Health Care Worker Registry
• Indiana: Indiana Department of Health, Nurse Aide Registry
• Iowa: Iowa Direct Care Worker Registry (Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing)
• Kansas: Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, Nurse Aide Registry
• Kentucky: Kentucky Board of Nursing, Nurse Aide Registry
• Louisiana: Louisiana Department of Health, Nurse Aide Registry
• Maine: Maine Registry of Certified Nursing Assistants and Direct Care Workers
• Maryland: Maryland Board of Nursing, Certified Nursing Assistant program
• Massachusetts: Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Nurse Aide Registry
• Michigan: Michigan Nurse Aide Registry (administered by Prometric for the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs)
• Minnesota: Minnesota Department of Health, Nursing Assistant Registry
• Mississippi: Mississippi State Department of Health, Nurse Aide Registry
• Missouri: Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, Certified Nurse Assistant Registry
• Montana: Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, Nurse Aide Registry
• Nebraska: Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, Nurse Aide Registry
• Nevada: Nevada State Board of Nursing, Certified Nursing Assistant program
• New Hampshire: New Hampshire Board of Nursing (Licensed Nursing Assistant)
• New Jersey: New Jersey Department of Health, Nurse Aide Registry
• New Mexico: New Mexico Department of Health, Nurse Aide Registry
• New York: New York State Nurse Aide Registry (administered by Prometric for the Department of Health)
• North Carolina: North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Nurse Aide I Registry
• North Dakota: North Dakota Board of Nursing, Nurse Aide Registry
• Ohio: Ohio Department of Health, Nurse Aide Registry
• Oklahoma: Oklahoma State Department of Health, Nurse Aide Registry
• Oregon: Oregon State Board of Nursing, Certified Nursing Assistant registry
• Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Nurse Aide Registry (Pennsylvania Department of Education, administered by Credentia)
• Rhode Island: Rhode Island Department of Health, Nursing Assistant licensing
• South Carolina: South Carolina Nurse Aide Registry (Department of Health and Human Services, administered by Credentia)
• South Dakota: South Dakota Board of Nursing, Nurse Aide Registry
• Tennessee: Tennessee Department of Health, Nurse Aide Registry
• Texas: Texas Health and Human Services, Nurse Aide Registry
• Utah: Utah Nursing Assistant Registry (Utah Department of Health and Human Services)
• Vermont: Vermont Board of Nursing (Licensed Nursing Assistant)
• Virginia: Virginia Board of Nursing, Certified Nurse Aide registry
• Washington: Washington State Department of Health, Nursing Assistant Certified program
• West Virginia: West Virginia Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification, Nurse Aide Registry
• Wisconsin: Wisconsin Nurse Aide Registry (Department of Health Services)
• Wyoming: Wyoming State Board of Nursing, Certified Nursing Assistant program

Mistakes that cost people the first month

Moving before applying. Nothing in the process requires you to be in the new state, and a listing that is ready when you arrive is a paycheck three weeks earlier. Letting the old certificate lapse because "I am leaving anyway". It is the thing you are transferring. Paying a middleman. Reciprocity is a form and a fee paid to a state agency, and nobody can speed it up. Assuming an employer letter is enough. A job offer in the new state does not replace the registry listing, and a good employer will tell you so.

After the move

Once listed, renew on the new state's cycle, which is usually every two years with a work requirement of eight hours or more of paid nurse aide work. If you are moving for a better-paying state, look at the compact page too: in the 40 compact states a CNA who goes on to an LPN or RN licence holds a multistate licence from the start, which is worth more than any single reciprocity.