Alaska CNA Registry
Check any Alaska certified nursing assistant on the Alaska Nurse Aide Registry. The search is free, needs no account, and is the same record an employer sees. This page covers looking up a license, reading the status, keeping your certification active, and getting listed after your exam.
This is the state's own system, run by Alaska BON. It is the same database an employer checks, and the only place a certification status is authoritative.
Four ways to use this page. Pick the one that matches your situation.
Alaska Nurse Aide Registry
- Governing agency
- Alaska BONAlaska Board of Nursing, Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing
- Lookup portal
- commerce.alaska.gov
- Processing time
- 7 business daysbefore you appear on the registry
- Registry phone
- 907-269-8161
- Renewal cycle
- 24 months work hours must be reported
How to Look Up an Alaska CNA License
This section is the mechanics: where the search is, what to type into it, and how to read what comes back.
Alaska keeps its nurse aide records at commerce.alaska.gov. The search is public, so you can check your own record or a candidate's record without an account and without paying.
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Open the Alaska registry search
Go to commerce.alaska.gov and use the Search Professional Licenses panel. The search takes a License Number box with a Current Only tick box beside it, a Program dropdown, where Nurse Aides keeps every other licensed profession out of the results, a License Type dropdown that opens once a program is chosen, and DBA, Owner Last or Entity Name and City boxes. The name box takes a surname only, and matches anywhere in it unless you switch it from Contains to Starts With. No login, no account, no fee.
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Enter your details as the registry recorded them
Use the name from the time of testing, and fill in what the panel asks for. If it offers a license number box, the number is unique to one person and a name is not, but some panels take the number or a name, not both.
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Match the record to the person
Check every identifying detail the result shows, not just the name, before you treat a row as a match. A common surname can return more than one person, and the wrong record can look right at a glance.
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Read what the record says, not just that a name came back
Appearing on the registry is not the same as being current, so read what the record says about standing, whether that is a status, an expiry date, or both, then check it against the status table below. If a result links through to a fuller record, open it, because some registries keep the status there. The results table shows Program, License Number, DBA, Owners, Status and License Expiration, 20 rows to a page. The Status column can read Abuse Registry, which marks a finding, and each License Number opens a record page with the license type, issue and expiration dates, a public note and any license actions on file.
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Save a dated copy of the result
Print to PDF or screenshot the page showing the name, license number, what the record says about standing, and the date you checked. Employers and agencies usually want that record on file.
How to find your license number
Where a search takes the number, it narrows the result to one person in a way a name may not. If you have lost it, it is on any of these.
- Your certificate or wallet card, if your state issued one after the skills test
- The result page of the registry search itself, once you have found your record
- Your employer's personnel file, because facilities record it when they verify you at hire
- The registry, on 907-269-8161, if none of the above works
What Each Alaska CNA Registry Status Means
The status field is the part that decides whether someone can work. Wording varies by state, so read the exact term on the record rather than assuming what it means.
| Status | What it means | Can they work? |
|---|---|---|
| Active | Current. The person can work as a certified nurse aide until the expiration date on the record. | Yes |
| Expired | Not current, so the person cannot work as a certified nurse aide. Check the expiration date: a certification that has been lapsed five years or more cannot be reinstated, and the way back is a new approved training program and a new application. | No |
| Lapsed | Not renewed by its March 31 expiration date, so the person cannot work as a certified nurse aide until it is brought back. It can still be renewed within 12 months of lapsing, and reinstated after that until it has been lapsed five years. | No |
| Surrender | The certification was surrendered to the Board, and the person is not authorized to work as a certified nurse aide. The Board returns a surrendered certification only if it decides the person is competent to resume practice. | No |
| Abuse Registry | The Board has entered a finding of abuse, neglect or misappropriation of property against this person on the nurse aide abuse registry, and they cannot work as a certified nurse aide. | No |
Why Your Alaska CNA License Is Not Showing on the Registry
| Problem | What is happening | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Your name returns no results | The registry stores the legal name you used at the time of testing. The name box takes a surname only, so typing a first and last name together returns No Results. Leave Current Only unticked, because ticked it hides every lapsed, expired and abuse registry record. Choose Nurse Aides under Program too: without it the search covers every licensed profession and stops at 2,000 results. Old records stay listed, including certifications that expired in the early 1990s. | Search your maiden or pre-marriage name, and give the search less to match on rather than more. |
| You passed but you are not listed | Your application and your results from the testing entity both have to reach the registry before you show as certified. | Allow at least 7 business days, then call 907-269-8161 with your test date and testing entity. |
| The record shows as expired but you have been working | Qualifying hours have to be reported before the record updates, and yours may not have been filed. | File the report yourself, through the state's system, MY LICENSE, signed in with a myAlaska account, while the state still accepts it, then re-check the record. If it no longer does, the reinstatement routes below apply. |
| You do not know how to file the report | The registry expects the report to come from you, so it will not arrive on its own. | File it yourself: MY LICENSE, signed in with a myAlaska account. If you cannot, contact the registry on 907-269-8161 or BoardofNursing@Alaska.Gov and ask what it accepts. |
| Details on your record are wrong | Name, address and registry data come from what was submitted to the registry, when your record was created or since. | Contact the registry on 907-269-8161 or BoardofNursing@Alaska.Gov with documentation of the correct details. |
How to Verify a CNA License in Alaska
This section is what the result proves: what a record is evidence of, what to save as your copy of it, and what it means for you specifically. The search itself is the same for everyone.
Verifying your own license after finishing training
Look yourself up at commerce.alaska.gov once your application has been processed and your results have reached the registry. Allow at least 7 business days before you treat a missing record as a problem. Save a dated copy of the record, because most employers ask for proof at offer stage rather than checking themselves.
Verifying your license after transferring from another state
A certification held in another state does not appear in Alaska until reciprocity is processed. Until an Alaska record exists, employers here cannot verify you, and your out-of-state record is the only proof you have. See transferring a license to Alaska for the application route, then verify the new record the same way.
Verifying someone else's license (for employers)
Federal rules require a facility to check the registry before it lets someone work as a nurse aide. The record carries two things: the certification status, and any substantiated finding of abuse, neglect or misappropriation of property the state has recorded against that person. Read both, because someone can be listed and still carry a finding that bars employment. The record only covers Alaska, so if a candidate has worked elsewhere, search that state's registry too.
How to Renew Your Alaska CNA License
Renewal in Alaska is yours to file. You report your own qualifying work to the registry, and the record does not update until you do, however long you have been working.
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Work at least 160 hours in a qualifying role
The hours must be paid nursing or nursing-related duties inside the 24 months before your record lapses. Unpaid placements and volunteer shifts do not count. Which paid work counts? Paid work performing CNA duties. The Board's forms describe it as employment as a CNA or in a similar position, and the renewal rule names no particular setting. Does work in another state count? Yes. Paid CNA work in any US state or territory, or in a Canadian province or territory, counts toward the 160 hours.
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File the report yourself
You submit it, not your employer, through the state's system, MY LICENSE, signed in with a myAlaska account. The record does not update until you do, so file before it lapses. You attest to the 160 hours and the continuing education on the renewal application yourself, without sending proof. If your renewal is picked for a random audit, you have to send copies of your records, and the Board tells you to keep them for at least four years.
Do it while you still work there. Whatever the registry asks for, it is harder to get from a former employer. -
Check the record, and read the expiry date if it has one
Look yourself up at commerce.alaska.gov once the report has been filed. Where the record carries an expiry date, a status of active on its own is not enough, because the previous period may still be running, and the expiry date is what tells you the new period has actually started.
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Fix a missing report before it lapses
If the hours were worked but never reported, that is correctable, and it is far easier to correct while the record is still active. Contact the registry on 907-269-8161 or BoardofNursing@Alaska.Gov and ask what they will accept as evidence of the work.
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Keep your own dated copy
Save a copy of the record showing your current status, and the new expiry date where the record has one. If a report is ever missed, that copy is what you give a new employer while the registry corrects it.
| Item | Alaska |
|---|---|
| Active period | 24 months |
| Work required | At least 160 hours of paid nursing or nursing-related duties |
| Which paid work counts | Paid work performing CNA duties. The Board's forms describe it as employment as a CNA or in a similar position, and the renewal rule names no particular setting. |
| What does not count | Volunteer shifts and unpaid clinical placements |
| Work in another state | Yes. Paid CNA work in any US state or territory, or in a Canadian province or territory, counts toward the 160 hours. |
| Who reports it | You. The registry expects the worker to file |
| Where the report is filed | MY LICENSE, signed in with a myAlaska account |
| Evidence of the hours | You attest to the 160 hours and the continuing education on the renewal application yourself, without sending proof. If your renewal is picked for a random audit, you have to send copies of your records, and the Board tells you to keep them for at least four years. |
| Renewal fee | $100 |
| Filing deadline | Every Alaska certification expires on March 31 of an even-numbered year, whatever date it was issued. A renewal notice goes out at least 60 days before, and not receiving it does not move the deadline. A first certification issued less than 12 months before that date needs no work hours or continuing education to renew. After lapsing, a certification can still be renewed within 12 months, then needs a reinstatement application, and after five years it cannot be reinstated. |
| Continuing education required | 24 contact hours in each two-year period. At a first renewal it is 12 hours if you have held the certification for at least a year, and none if for less than a year. |
How to Reinstate a Lapsed Alaska CNA License
If your active period runs out without the qualifying work reported, the record stops being active. What it takes to come back depends on which of these you are.
| Your situation | What you do | Retesting |
|---|---|---|
| You worked recently, but the hours were never reported | File the report for that work now, through the state's system, MY LICENSE, signed in with a myAlaska account, while the state still accepts it | Not while the state still accepts the renewal |
| No qualifying work for 24 months or more | With fewer than 160 paid hours in the period, you have to pass the competency evaluation again before the certification can be renewed. With no paid CNA work at all in the period, and training finished more than two years ago, you also have to complete another approved training program. | Yes, to work in a Medicare- or Medicaid-certified facility |
| You hold an active certification in another state | Apply through reciprocity. See our Alaska reciprocity guide | Usually not |
| You are not working in a Medicare- or Medicaid-certified facility | The federal requirement does not reach you, but some states require certification or registration in other settings, and many employers still ask for an active certification | Not under federal rules |
How to Get on the Alaska CNA Registry
In Alaska you file the registry application yourself, and no record exists until it arrives. States differ on when it has to go in, some wanting it when you enroll and others once you have passed, so check the timing with Alaska BON rather than assuming it comes last.
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Meet the basic requirements
Alaska does not publish a minimum age for registry eligibility. Training providers set their own, so check with the provider before you enrol.
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Complete an approved 140-hour course
Train with a provider approved in Alaska. Our CNA program directory does not cover Alaska yet, so start from the state's own approved-provider list.
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Pass the written and skills tests
A knowledge examination, which you may take written or orally, and a hands-on skills demonstration. Both must be passed. Federal rules say you can choose to take the knowledge test orally instead of in writing, but some states offer that only as an approved accommodation, so ask your testing entity how to request it if reading is difficult for you or English is not your first language.
If a facility has already hired you, both tests have to be passed within four months of your hire date. Our free CNA practice tests cover the same knowledge areas as the written test, and the free CNA skills course walks through the skills evaluation itself.
Check what the exams cost and who collects the fee before you book. -
File your registry application
Submit the application yourself, with whatever documents the registry lists. No record exists until it arrives. Your exam results may travel separately, sent straight from the testing entity, and some states also require your training provider to confirm the training, so check whether anything is waiting on someone else.
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Check that you appear on the registry
Allow at least 7 business days, then look yourself up at commerce.alaska.gov before you contact the registry.
Alaska CNA Registry Contact Information
- Phone
- 907-269-8161
- BoardofNursing@Alaska.Gov
- Mailing address
- Alaska Board of Nursing
550 W. 7th Avenue, Suite 1500
Anchorage, AK 99501-3567
- License lookup
- commerce.alaska.gov
- Registry information
- Alaska Board of Nursing Nurse Aide Registry page
Alaska CNA Requirements at a Glance
| Requirement | Alaska |
|---|---|
| Registry name | Alaska Nurse Aide Registry |
| Credential term used by the state | nurse aide |
| Governing agency | Alaska Board of Nursing, Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing |
| Total training hours | 140 |
| Classroom hours | 60 |
| Clinical hours | 80 |
| Exam | A knowledge examination, which you may take written or orally, and a hands-on skills demonstration. Both must be passed. |
| Testing deadline | Both tests within four months of hire |
| Application fee | $100 |
| Processing time | 7 business days |
| Renewal cycle | 24 months, worker-reported hours |
| Testing vendor | Credentia |
Transferring a CNA License To or From Alaska (Reciprocity)
Reciprocity is how an active certification held in one state becomes a certification in another. It usually avoids retesting, but only while your current certification is in good standing. A lapsed or flagged record cannot transfer.
The route in and out of Alaska, the documents required and the current processing time are covered in the guide. The tool checks any two states against each other.
Alaska CNA Training Programs
The steps above are the whole route onto the registry. The one thing that usually comes before them is an approved 140-hour program.
Tell us where you are and we will match you with approved programs. Takes about a minute.
Find CNA programs near you✓ Free Service • ✓ No Obligations • ✓ Compare Multiple Programs • ✓ Accredited Schools Only
Our directory does not cover Alaska yet, so the state's own approved-provider list is the place to start.
If you want to prepare before you enrol, our free CNA skills course covers the material the program and the skills test are built on.
Alaska CNA Registry FAQ
Is the Alaska CNA Registry free to search?
Why can I not find my name on the registry?
How long does Alaska certification last?
Can I report my own work hours?
What happens if my status expires?
Can an employer see abuse or neglect findings?
Do I need to be on the registry to work in Alaska?
Look Up a CNA License in Another State
Every state runs its own registry, and a certification is only verifiable in the state that issued it. Pick a state to see its portal, its status vocabulary and its renewal rules.