North Dakota CNA Registry

How to Look Up a North Dakota CNA License

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

North Dakota keeps its nurse aide records at services.ndhhs.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 Dakota registry search

   Go to services.ndhhs.gov and use the Begin Search panel. The search takes Last Name and First Name, which appear only after you tick the reCAPTCHA check box, and both are required, with at least two letters of the last name and each name matched from its first letter. 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 registrant ID 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. A common surname can return more than one person, and the wrong record 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 row per registration, so the same person can appear on several rows, with Registry Type (such as CNA, NA, MA I or MA II), Last Name, First Name, MI, Status and a Discipline column of Yes or No, 20 rows to a page. The Discipline column is an incomplete check, because some people on the CNA Abuse List show No there. The View button on each row opens the full record once you enter that person's Registrant ID, date of birth or the last four digits of their Social Security number, and it lists Status, Abuse, Registrant ID, Disciplinary Action with its start and end dates, Initial Date, Expiration Date and Obtained By.

5. Save a dated copy of the result

   Print to PDF or screenshot the page showing the name, registrant ID, what the record says about standing, and the date you checked. Employers and agencies usually want that record on file.

How to find your registrant ID

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 701-328-2353, if none of the above works

What Each North Dakota 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 North Dakota CNA License Is Not Showing on the Registry

How to Verify a CNA License in North Dakota

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 services.ndhhs.gov once your testing entity has filed your results. Allow at least 14 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 Dakota until reciprocity is processed. Until a North Dakota 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 Dakota 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 Dakota records findings of abuse, neglect or misappropriation of resident property on a separate list, so a current certification does not on its own mean there is nothing against someone. The record only covers North Dakota, so if a candidate has worked elsewhere, search that state's registry too.

That separate list is the CNA Abuse List. Check both before you rely on a result.

How to Renew Your North Dakota CNA License

Renewal in North Dakota 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. Which paid work counts? Paid nursing or nursing-related work done under the direction of a licensed nurse. 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 Certified Nurse Aide Renewal Application on North Dakota HHS's Nurse Aide Registry Online Services. The record does not update until you do, so file before it lapses. Your employer completes the employment section of the online renewal. If you are not working now but did paid nursing work during your registration period, the employer page is completed for that past employer instead.

   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 services.ndhhs.gov 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 701-328-2353 or naregistry@nd.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 North Dakota 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 North Dakota CNA Registry

In North Dakota 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 Dakota 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 North Dakota. Our CNA program directory does not cover North Dakota 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, 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

   Allow at least 14 days, then look yourself up at services.ndhhs.gov before you contact the registry.

North Dakota CNA Registry Contact Information

North Dakota CNA Requirements at a Glance

Transferring a CNA License To or From North Dakota (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 Dakota 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.

North Dakota 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.