New Hampshire CNA Registry (LNA)

How to Look Up a New Hampshire LNA License

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

New Hampshire keeps its nursing assistant records at forms.nh.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 New Hampshire registry search

   Go to forms.nh.gov and use the Person Search panel. The search takes a Profession list, a License Type list, and First Name, Last Name and License Number boxes. Any one box is enough and both lists can stay on All, though setting Profession to Nursing Assistants and License Type to Licensed Nursing Assistant keeps other professions and record types out of the results. 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 Full Name, Profession, License Type, License Number and License Status, 40 rows to a page in name order, with each name linking to a record page that shows the issue and expiration dates, a Discipline Information section and any Board Action documents.

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 603-271-2152, if none of the above works

What Each New Hampshire 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 New Hampshire LNA License Is Not Showing on the Registry

How to Verify an LNA License in New Hampshire

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 forms.nh.gov 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 New Hampshire until reciprocity is processed. Until a New Hampshire record exists, employers here cannot verify you, and your out-of-state record is the only proof you have. See transferring a license to New Hampshire 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 nursing assistant. The record shows the certification status. It is not the whole check, because New Hampshire records findings of abuse, neglect or misappropriation of property on a separate list, so a current certification does not on its own mean there is nothing against someone. The record only covers New Hampshire, so if a candidate has worked elsewhere, search that state's registry too.

That separate list is the Bureau of Adult and Aging Services State Registry. Check both before you rely on a result.

How to Renew Your New Hampshire LNA License

Renewing a New Hampshire certification takes an application and a fee every 24 months. It expires if the renewal is not filed in time, however much you have worked.

Nursing facility work adds a separate federal rule. Anyone who goes 24 consecutive months without paid nursing or nursing-related work needs at least a new competency evaluation before a Medicare- or Medicaid-certified facility can use them as a nursing assistant again. That is separate from the work the renewal asks for, and New Hampshire does not publish who tracks it.

1. Renew before the expiration date

   File the renewal with OPLC before the expiration date on your record. The renewal asks for at least 200 hours of nursing assistant work under a licensed nurse's supervision in the two years before you renew, paid or unpaid, or a pass on the nursing assistant competency test in that time. Renewal is online, in New Hampshire Online Licensing, and OPLC emails a notice before the date with the registration code you need the first time you sign in. An expired license cannot be renewed online: for up to a year after it expires you mail a paper reinstatement application with the $66 fee, and after that you apply again as a new applicant, with a new criminal background check. Working on an expired license can bring a fine of up to $50 for each month.

2. Check the record, and read the expiry date

   Look yourself up at forms.nh.gov once the renewal has been processed. 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.

3. Keep your nursing facility eligibility current

   Paid nursing or nursing-related work inside every 24 months keeps you eligible. Unpaid placements and volunteer shifts do not count. New Hampshire does not publish who tracks that work.

   Keep your own record of where and when you worked. A new employer may need that history to show you have not gone 24 months without paid work.

4. Keep your own dated copy

   Save the record showing the new expiry date. It is what you show a new employer if anything about your record is ever in question.

How to Reinstate a Lapsed New Hampshire LNA License

A New Hampshire certification lapses when it is not renewed in time, however much you have worked. Nursing facility eligibility lapses separately, after 24 consecutive months without paid nursing or nursing-related work. What it takes to come back depends on which of these you are.

How to Get on the New Hampshire CNA Registry

In New Hampshire 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 OPLC rather than assuming it comes last.

1. Meet the basic requirements

   New Hampshire 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 100-hour course

   Train with a provider approved in New Hampshire. Our CNA program directory does not cover New Hampshire yet, so start from the state's own approved-provider list.

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. 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, there is a deadline for passing both tests. Federal rules cap it at four months from your hire date and some states allow less, so confirm yours with OPLC before you plan around it. 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 forms.nh.gov before you contact the registry.

New Hampshire CNA Registry Contact Information

New Hampshire LNA Requirements at a Glance

Transferring an LNA License To or From New Hampshire (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.

New Hampshire LNA Training Programs

The steps above are the whole route onto the registry. The one thing that usually comes before them is an approved 100-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.

New Hampshire CNA Registry FAQ

Look Up an LNA 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.