California CNA Registry

How to Look Up a California CNA License

This section is the mechanics: where the search is, what to type into it, and how to read what comes back.

California keeps its certified nurse assistant records at cvl.cdph.ca.gov. The search is public, so you can check your own record or a candidate's record without an account and without paying.

1. Open the California registry search

   Go to cvl.cdph.ca.gov and use the L & C Verification Search Page panel. The search takes a Certificate/License Type dropdown that starts on All, then a radio button choosing one of three search modes: Certificate/License Number, Last Name plus First Name, or Last Name Starting With. No mode is selected when the page loads, and submitting without picking one returns the message "Please check one of the checkboxes". No login, no account, no fee.

2. Enter your details as the registry recorded them

   Use the name from the time of testing, and fill in every box the panel asks for. If it offers a certificate number box, use that as well: the number is unique to one person and a name is not.

3. Match the record to the person

   Check every identifying detail the result shows, not just the name. This search matches both names exactly, so a shortened first name, a former name or a typo returns nothing rather than a close result.

4. Read the record, not just the listing

   Open the record itself. 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. The results table shows Name, Type, Number and Status, with Type naming the credential as CNA, HHA or CHT. Clicking the name opens a detail page carrying Holder, Number, Title, Effective Date, Expiration Date, a fuller Status such as ACTIVE, EMPLOYABLE, and a Finding row.

5. Save a dated copy of the result

   Print to PDF or screenshot the page showing the name, certificate 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 certificate 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 (916) 327-2445, if none of the above works

What Each California 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.

Why Your California CNA License Is Not Showing on the Registry

How to Verify a CNA License in California

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 cvl.cdph.ca.gov once your testing entity has filed your results. Allow at least 30 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 California until reciprocity is processed. Until a California record exists, employers here cannot verify you, and your out-of-state record is the only proof you have. See transferring a license to California 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 certified nurse assistant. The record carries two things: the certification status, and any substantiated finding of abuse, neglect or misappropriation of resident 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 California, so if a candidate has worked elsewhere, search that state's registry too.

How to Renew Your California CNA License

Renewal in California 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.

1. Work 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. If the work was in another state, ask the registry whether it counts before you rely on it, because states differ.

2. File the report yourself

   You submit it, not your employer, through the state's system, OASYS. The record does not update until you do, so file before it lapses. You list every employer from the certification period on the renewal application with the facility name, telephone number and the dates you worked, and sign under penalty of perjury. The in-service training hours are evidenced separately on form CDPH 283A, which carries the signature of the instructor responsible for the training.

   Do it while you still work there. Whatever the registry asks for, it is harder to get from a former employer.

3. Check the record, and read the expiry date

   Look yourself up at cvl.cdph.ca.gov about 30 days after the report was filed. A status of active on its own is not enough, because the previous period may still be running. The expiry date is what tells you the new period has actually started.

4. 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 (916) 327-2445 or cna@cdph.ca.gov and ask what they will accept as evidence of the work.

5. Keep your own dated copy

   Save the record showing the new expiry date. If a report is ever missed, that copy is what you give a new employer while the registry corrects it.

How to Reinstate a Lapsed California CNA License

If 24 months pass with no qualifying work, the record stops being active. What it takes to come back depends on which of these you are.

How to Get on the California CNA Registry

In California 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 CDPH rather than assuming it comes last.

1. Meet the basic requirements

   You must be at least 16. Training providers may set their own requirements on top of that.

2. Complete an approved 160-hour course

   Train with a provider approved in California. See our list of California CNA programs.

3. 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. The knowledge test can be taken orally instead of in writing if you ask, which is a federal right in every state and is worth knowing 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.

   The state charges no application fee. Testing costs are set by the testing entity rather than the state, so ask your provider what theirs are.

4. 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.

5. Check that you appear on the registry

   Allow at least 30 days, then look yourself up at cvl.cdph.ca.gov before you contact the registry.

California CNA Registry Contact Information

California CNA Requirements at a Glance

Transferring a CNA License To or From California (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.

California CNA Training Programs

The steps above are the whole route onto the registry. The one thing that comes before them is an approved 160-hour program, because you cannot sit the exam without completing one. The state itself charges no application fee, so training is the cost that matters.

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.

California CNA Registry FAQ

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.