North Carolina CNA Registry

How to Look Up a North Carolina CNA License

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

North Carolina keeps its nurse aide records at ncnar.ncdhhs.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 North Carolina registry search

   Go to ncnar.ncdhhs.gov and use the Start Registry Verification panel. The search takes three boxes on one row, labelled Last 4 of social, First Name and Last Name. All three are required, and leaving any one out returns an empty results page with no error message at all. Above them is an optional email box for status-change notices, and there are four rows so an employer can check four people at once. 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 nurse aide listing 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. The results table shows one verification statement rather than a list of rows, headed Nurse Aide I Registry, Medication Aide Registry and Health Care Personnel Registry: whether the person is listed, the listing expiration date, any geriatric aide training and when it was completed, and any pending investigation or substantiated finding.

5. Save a dated copy of the result

   Print to PDF or screenshot the page showing the name, nurse aide listing 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 nurse aide listing 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
• Your employer's personnel file, because facilities record it when they verify you at hire
• The registry, on (919) 855-3969, if none of the above works

Why Your North Carolina CNA License Is Not Showing on the Registry

How to Verify a CNA License in North Carolina

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 ncnar.ncdhhs.gov once your testing entity has filed your results. Allow at least 5 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 North Carolina until reciprocity is processed. Until a North Carolina record exists, employers here cannot verify you, and your out-of-state record is the only proof you have. See transferring a license to North Carolina 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 shows the certification status. It is not the whole check, because North Carolina records findings of resident abuse or neglect, misappropriation of resident or health care facility property, diversion of drugs, or fraud on a separate list, so a current certification does not on its own mean there is nothing against someone. The record only covers North Carolina, so if a candidate has worked elsewhere, search that state's registry too.

That separate list is the Health Care Personnel Registry, and it is maintained apart from the Nurse Aide I Registry. Check both before you rely on a result.

How to Renew Your North Carolina CNA License

Renewal in North Carolina 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 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. 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 Online Renewal Form on the DHSR forms site. The record does not update until you do, so file before it lapses. A registered nurse has 7 calendar days after your renewal form to file the matching Online Employment Verification Form, and it has to be one who supervised you or who can see the employer's records. The RN confirms the dates you worked, not your competency.

   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 ncnar.ncdhhs.gov about 5 business days after the report was filed. Being listed 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 (919) 855-3969 or DHSR.Nurseaide@dhhs.nc.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 North Carolina 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 North Carolina CNA Registry

In North Carolina 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

   North Carolina 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 course

   Train with a provider approved in North Carolina. See our list of North Carolina 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. 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

   Allow at least 5 business days, then look yourself up at ncnar.ncdhhs.gov before you contact the registry.

North Carolina CNA Registry Contact Information

North Carolina CNA Requirements at a Glance

Transferring a CNA License To or From North Carolina (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.

North Carolina CNA Training Programs

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

North Carolina 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.