Minnesota CNA Registry

How to Look Up a Minnesota CNA License

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

Minnesota keeps its nurse aide records at nar.web.health.state.mn.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 Minnesota registry search

   Go to nar.web.health.state.mn.us and use the Search Minnesota Nurse Aide Registry panel. The search takes Last Name, First Name, Date of Birth (MM/DD/YYYY), Certificate Number, Profession and Certificate Type, and a last name, a first name or the eight-digit certificate number alone is enough to run it. Profession and Certificate Type can stay unset, because every record is a Certified Nurse Aide. 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 certificate 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 one card per person, headed Record 1 of the total, carrying Full Name, Certificate Number and Status, a Complaints line, which carries MDH's statement on substantiated findings of abuse, neglect or misappropriation of property and is blank on many newer records, then Date Registered, Expiration Date (Inactive Date once the certificate has expired), Initial Date Registered, the most recent skill and knowledge test dates, Last Training Date and Test-out Candidate Only, ten cards to a page.

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 651-201-4200, if none of the above works

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

How to Verify a CNA License in Minnesota

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 nar.web.health.state.mn.us once your testing entity has filed your results. 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 Minnesota until reciprocity is processed. Until a Minnesota record exists, employers here cannot verify you, and your out-of-state record is the only proof you have. See transferring a license to Minnesota 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 Minnesota, so if a candidate has worked elsewhere, search that state's registry too.

How to Renew Your Minnesota CNA License

Active standing in Minnesota continues on reported qualifying work, and either you or your employer can file that report. If the facility has not done it, you can file it yourself.

1. Work at least 8 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 nursing or nursing-related work as a nurse aide, including help with activities of daily living, at a nursing home, certified boarding care home, assisted living facility, Medicare-certified home health agency or hospice, or at another employer with a job description showing that care. Clinic, urgent care, outpatient or ambulatory surgery, dental clinic, phlebotomy and EMT work does not count, nor does independent contractor work, work paid through a fiscal intermediary, orientation or training hours, or most private duty work. If the work was in another state, ask the registry whether it counts before you rely on it, because states differ.

2. Check your employer filed it, then file it yourself if not

   Your employer files the report through the state's reporting system, the Nurse Aide Registry system, where you file a renewal application and only nursing homes and certified boarding care homes can report for their staff. You can file it yourself as well, and that is what the state expects if the facility has not.

   Do not assume it was done. Check the record first, and file it yourself if nothing has changed.

3. Check the record, and read the expiry date if it has one

   Look yourself up at nar.web.health.state.mn.us 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.

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 651-201-4200 or health.fpc-nar@state.mn.us 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 Minnesota 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 Minnesota CNA Registry

In Minnesota you do not file a registry application yourself. You train, you test, and your testing entity sends the application and results to the registry.

1. Meet the basic requirements

   Minnesota 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 75-hour course

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

3. Pass the written and skills tests

   A 70-question multiple-choice knowledge test, taken on a computer in English, Spanish, Somali or Hmong, and a hands-on skills test. Both must be passed, the knowledge test at 74 percent. An audio version reads the knowledge test aloud if you switch on audio testing in your TMU account before you schedule. 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.

   The state charges no application fee. Check what the exams cost and who collects the fee before you book.

4. Let your testing entity file the results

   The testing entity sends your application and results straight to the registry. There is nothing for you to submit.

5. Check that you appear on the registry

   Give the registry time to process the result, then look yourself up at nar.web.health.state.mn.us before you contact the registry.

Minnesota CNA Registry Contact Information

Minnesota CNA Requirements at a Glance

Transferring a CNA License To or From Minnesota (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.

Minnesota CNA Training Programs

The steps above are the whole route onto the registry. The one thing that usually comes before them is an approved 75-hour program. 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.

Minnesota 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.