Florida CNA Registry

How to Look Up a Florida CNA License

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

Florida keeps its certified nursing assistant records at mqa-internet.doh.state.fl.us. 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 Florida registry search

   Go to mqa-internet.doh.state.fl.us and use the License Verification panel. It is subtitled “Complete one or more search fields”. The search takes a Board/Council dropdown and a Profession dropdown, where Board of Nursing and then Certified Nursing Assistant keep every other profession out, License Number, Business Name, Last Name, First Name and City boxes, a County dropdown, a Zip Code box, and a License Status dropdown that starts on All statuses. 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 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.

3. 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. Common surnames return several records, and the wrong one can look right at a glance.

4. 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 License, Name, Profession, City and License Status, 20 to a page under a Search Results Total, and a search that matches one record opens it directly. The license number links to the record, which shows the License Number, Profession, License Status, License Expiration Date, License Original Issue Date, Address of Record, Discipline on File and Public Complaint, with a Discipline/Admin Action tab listing any discipline case and the action taken.

5. 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 850-245-4125, if none of the above works

What Each Florida 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 Florida CNA License Is Not Showing on the Registry

How to Verify a CNA License in Florida

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 mqa-internet.doh.state.fl.us once your application has been processed and your results have reached the registry. 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 Florida until reciprocity is processed. Until a Florida record exists, employers here cannot verify you, and your out-of-state record is the only proof you have. See transferring a license to Florida 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 nursing assistant. The record carries two things: the certification status, and any substantiated finding of abuse, neglect or exploitation 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 Florida, so if a candidate has worked elsewhere, search that state's registry too.

How to Renew Your Florida CNA License

Renewal in Florida 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. Some states also exclude certain paid jobs, such as private duty or work in a doctor’s office, or count only work supervised by a nurse, so check what the registry accepts before you rely on that kind of job. 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, the MQA Online Services Portal, where you can sign in with your last name, Social Security number and date of birth. The record does not update until you do, so file before it lapses. Check what the registry wants as evidence of the hours, because some states take your own signed statement and others want the employer to confirm them.

   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 if it has one

   Look yourself up at mqa-internet.doh.state.fl.us once the report has been filed. Where the record carries an expiry date, a status of clear/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.

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 850-245-4125 or MQA.CNA@flhealth.gov and ask what they will accept as evidence of the work.

5. 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.

How to Reinstate a Lapsed Florida 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.

How to Get on the Florida CNA Registry

In Florida 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 Florida BON rather than assuming it comes last.

1. Meet the basic requirements

   Florida does not publish a minimum age for registry eligibility. Training providers set their own, so check with the provider before you enrol.

2. Complete an approved 120-hour course

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

3. Pass the written and skills tests

   A written test of 60 multiple-choice questions in English, which you can ask to take orally or in Spanish when you apply, and a skills test of five randomly selected nursing assistant skills. If you finished a Florida-approved training program within six months before applying, you take only the written test, and otherwise 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.

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

   Give the registry time to process the result, then look yourself up at mqa-internet.doh.state.fl.us before you contact the registry.

Florida CNA Registry Contact Information

Florida CNA Requirements at a Glance

Transferring a CNA License To or From Florida (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.

Florida CNA Training Programs

The steps above are the whole route onto the registry. The one thing that usually comes before them is an approved 120-hour program.

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.

Florida 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.