CNA Requirements in Alabama — Training, Exam & Registry

How to become a CNA in Alabama: a 75-hour state training minimum — verified from Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH).

Source-verified

Requirements below are drawn from Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) — Bureau of Health Provider Standards, Division of Health Care Facilities (Alabama Certified Nurse Aide Registry) (official site) and last verified August 16, 2026. Boards change fees and rules often — confirm before acting.

Requirements at a glance

What the credential is: A LISTING ON A STATE-RUN REGISTRY, not a licence and not a certificate. The Alabama Department of Public Health maintains the register itself — its Bureau of Health Provider Standards links the 'Alabama Certified Nurse Aide Registry' from its own division page, and the registry's contact page gives ADPH's Division of Health Care Facilities, The RSA Tower, Suite 700, 201 Monroe Street, Montgomery, AL 36104, telephone (334) 206-5169, with a named Nurse Aide Registry Coordinator. The state's own rule creates the register and says what goes in it: 'Nurse Aide Training. The names and addresses of all nurse aides who attended an approved training program and who have successfully passed the approved competency evaluation will be included on the registry' (Ala. Admin. Code r. 420-5-10-.01(uu)(ii)), which sits inside a definition headed 'Training and Abuse Registry' — one register carrying both the training entries and the abuse findings. WHAT THE STATE DOES NOT ISSUE: ADPH publishes no certificate ('Program certificates are obtained from the program that the CNA completed'), operates no renewal ('there is no renewal process for the Alabama Nurse Aide registry'), and the candidate handbook of Credentia — one of the two test providers ADPH's own training guide names — states it directly: 'Alabama does NOT issue certificates or licenses to nurse aides.' WHO RUNS THE TESTING: not ADPH, and not a single contractor. ADPH's Nurse Aide Training Program handbook says the choice belongs to the training program: 'Nurse Aide Training Programs may choose one of the following test providers for Certified Nurse Aide Examination' — Prometric and Credentia. Both remain live for Alabama, and their exams are not identical (see exam).
The standard route: Complete a state-approved nurse aide training program, then pass both parts of the competency evaluation, and the state adds your name to the registry. ADPH: 'An individual must successfully complete a State-approved nurse aide training and competency evaluation program and pass both the written and skills tests to be listed on the nurse aide registry.' The training program itself has to be approved by ADPH's Bureau of Health Provider Standards on a mailed paper application, and the state fixes the shape of the course before anyone can enrol in it (see training_hours). The exam application then goes to whichever of the two approved test providers the training program uses, not to ADPH.
Testing deadline and attempt limit: Three attempts, and a 24-month clock that runs from the end of training. ADPH states both in the same sentence, on its registry FAQ and again in its training handbook: 'Individuals who enter the competency evaluation/test and do not pass by their third attempt and within 24 months of the training must be retrained in a State-approved Nurse Aide Training Program before retaking the competency test.' The FAQ puts the deadline on its own: 'How long does an individual have to take their certification tests? Twenty-four (24) months from the date of completion of the nurse aide training program.' The two test providers restate it in their own materials — Prometric: 'Testing must be completed within two years of your training completion date. You are allowed three attempts to take the Written (Oral) Test and the Clinical Skills Test'; Credentia: 'You must take and pass both the Written (or English or Spanish Oral) Examination and the Skills Evaluation within two (2) years of completing the nurse aide training program to be eligible for placement on the Alabama Nurse Aide Registry.' Prometric adds a rule the state does not state: 'You must pass both the Written (Oral) Test and the Clinical Skills Test in the same eligibility period for the results to be provided to the state agency.'
No online-only training: Recorded with its source named, because it is a limit candidates hit constantly and ADPH does not state it on any page read: the Credentia candidate handbook for Alabama says 'Alabama does NOT approve any on-line CNA programs.' That is the test provider's statement of the state's rule, not the state's own words; ADPH's training handbook is consistent with it in structure — every approved program must name a classroom, a lab with an equipment list and diagram, and a named nursing home for the clinical hours — but ADPH nowhere writes the sentence. Treated here as attributed rather than as an ADPH rule.
Who screens the candidate: Alabama publishes no state criminal-history check or fingerprint step for a nurse aide, and none appears in Ala. Admin. Code ch. 420-5-10 (all eighteen sections read on 2026-08-16), the ADPH registry FAQ, the ADPH Nurse Aide Training Program handbook or either test provider's Alabama material. What the rules do impose is a bar at the employer's end: 'Before allowing an individual to serve as a nurse aide, a facility must receive registry verification that the individual has met competency evaluation requirements' (r. 420-5-10-.03(12)), and 'Before allowing an individual to serve as a nurse aide, a facility must contact the Alabama Nurse Aide Registry to seek information from every State registry the facility believes includes information on the individual' (r. 420-5-10-.03(13)). ADPH also warns that an out-of-state finding travels: 'An individual listed on another state's Nurse Aide Registry with validated findings of resident abuse, resident neglect, or misappropriation of resident property in a nursing home may not be employed as a nurse aide in Alabama nursing facilities.' What the state screens is the register, not the applicant's record at intake.
Health documentation the training program must hold: ADPH's Nurse Aide Training Program handbook makes this the program's duty, not the state's: 'Be sure to verify that all Nurse Aide Training students have up-to-date immunizations, TB skin test, and Hepatitis B series. Maintain a copy of these documents in the student's training file.' No ADPH page read states an immunisation requirement to be listed on the registry itself.
Who may teach the training program: ADPH's registry FAQ gives the short version — 'Current Alabama Nursing License, two (2) years of nursing experience (one (1) in Geriatrics), complete a state approved Train the Trainer course or a Master's Degree in Nursing' — and its Nurse Aide Training Program handbook gives the longer one: the program coordinator 'Must be an RN', the primary instructor 'can be an RN or LPN', additional instructors 'MUST meet the same qualifications as the coordinator', and every one of them needs a current Alabama nursing licence, a resume showing 'two years nursing experience and one must be in caring for geriatric patients', and adult teaching experience by ONE of four routes: 'a) Master's in nursing b) Attended an approved Alabama Train-the-Trainer course c) Completed instructor training at American Red Cross d) Experience teaching at the college level.' The clinical evaluator must be an RN 'certified through the vendor and cannot instruct the students they are evaluating.' Starting a program also needs a business licence and, per both ADPH sources, 'a Private school license obtained through the Alabama Department of Education Post-Secondary (334-293-4500).'

Legal basis

Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) — Bureau of Health Provider Standards, Division of Health Care Facilities (Alabama Certified Nurse Aide Registry) administers certified nursing assistant licensing in Alabama. Every figure below is verified against the board’s own official pages and dated. Who must personally hold a credential — the contractor, the business, or the individual worker — is set out under Requirements.

What it’s called

Alabama’s own documents use several names for one thing. ADPH calls the register the ‘Alabama Certified Nurse Aide Registry’ and the person a ’nurse aide’; its administrative rules use ’nurse aide’ and, in the older grandfather clause, ’nurses’ aides’; its training handbook is for the ‘Nurse Aide Training Program’ and describes preparing students ‘for the Alabama certification examination to become a Certified Nurse Aide (CNA)’; Prometric’s Alabama candidate information bulletin heads its pages ‘ALABAMA CERTIFIED NURSING ASSISTANT’; Credentia’s Alabama handbook tells a passing candidate that ‘your name will be submitted to the Alabama Department of Health for placement on the Alabama Nursing Assistant Registry’. ‘Certified nursing assistant’ and ‘certified nurse aide’ therefore both describe the same Alabama status, and ‘CNA’ is what employers advertise. WHAT ALABAMA DOES NOT ISSUE IS A LICENCE OR A CERTIFICATE — ‘Alabama CNA license’ and ‘Alabama CNA certificate’ are folk terms; the state’s answer to where a certificate comes from is ‘Program certificates are obtained from the program that the CNA completed’, and the only official document a candidate receives is the score report. THE CERTIFICATION NUMBER IS THE SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER: ADPH answers ‘What is my certification number? Your Social Security number is your certification number’ — which is also why the public lookup searches on nothing else. ‘STNA’ is Ohio’s term and ‘LNA’ is used in some New England states; neither appears in any Alabama source. A PATIENT CARE TECHNICIAN IS NOT A ROUTE IN: ‘Can a Patient Care Technician (PCT/PCA) take the certification test and be placed on the Nurse Aide registry? In order to be on the Nurse Aide Registry, you must complete a state approved nurse aide training program.’ A FEEDING ASSISTANT is a separate, 9-hour facility credential and is not a nurse aide. No ADPH nurse aide source read on 2026-08-16 mentions a medication aide or medication assistant credential in connection with this registry, so this record makes no claim about one.

License types & fees

Type	Notes	Who Its For
Listing in good standing on the Alabama Certified Nurse Aide Registry — Alabama's ONLY nurse aide credential	There is no state certificate and no state licence — the registry entry IS the credential. ADPH's own registry FAQ answers the certificate question by pointing away from the state: 'Where can I get my program CNA certificate? Program certificates are obtained from the program that the CNA completed.' The candidate handbook published by Credentia, one of the two test providers ADPH names, puts it flatly: 'Alabama does NOT issue certificates or licenses to nurse aides. The only official document you will receive is the Score Report given to you at the test center.' There is also no renewal: 'Does the Alabama Nurse Aide Registry have a renewal process for Certified Nursing Assistants? No, there is no renewal process for the Alabama Nurse Aide registry.' Status is kept alive by paid work — see renewal_cycle and lapse_rule.	A person who wants to work as a nurse aide in an Alabama nursing home. ADPH: 'Any individual successfully completing the state approved nurse aide competency and evaluation and training program desiring to work as a nurse aide in an Alabama nursing home must first be listed in good standing on the Alabama nurse aide registry. This would include RN's and LPN's previously having worked as a Nurse Aide.'
Nurse aide working the four-month pre-listing window	Not a credential — the one lawful way to do the work before the registry entry exists, and it runs on a clock. Ala. Admin. Code r. 420-5-10-.03(9): 'A facility must not use any individual working in the facility as a nurse aide for more than four months, on a full-time basis, unless: (a) That individual is competent to provide nursing related services; and (b) That individual has completed a training and competency evaluation program; or (c) That individual has been deemed or determined competent by the Alabama Nurse Aide Registry.' Inside those four months the facility must still meet r. 420-5-10-.03(11): the individual must be 'a full-time employee in a State-approved training and competency evaluation program', or have demonstrated competence through satisfactory participation in one, or have been deemed competent by the registry. The same rule bars the shortcut for agency staff: 'A facility must not use on a temporary, per diem, leased, any basis other than a permanent employee any individual who does not meet the requirements in paragraphs B & C above as a nurse aide' (r. 420-5-10-.03(10)).	A person already working in an Alabama nursing facility who has not yet completed training and the competency evaluation.
Nursing student or nursing graduate route to the registry	The training requirement can be met by nursing education, but the examination cannot be skipped. ADPH: 'Must nursing students complete the competency evaluation test to be listed on the Nurse Aide Registry? Yes. Nursing students who are currently enrolled in an Alabama nursing program and have taken and passed Fundamentals of Nursing and their clinical skills within the past 24 months and want to be listed on the Nurse Aide Registry should obtain proof of training with a letter from their instructor, and contact NACES at 1-877-889-0939 to get an application and handbook to apply to take the test.' (ADPH's own Nurse Aide Training Program handbook names only Prometric and Credentia as test providers; the two ADPH documents do not agree, and this record states both rather than resolving them.) The Credentia candidate handbook lists the same route as an eligibility route — 'NURSING STUDENT/GRADUATE: You have successfully completed a Fundamentals of Nursing course' — and states the training-side test as 'you must have completed a nurse aide training program approved by the Alabama Department of Health or you must have completed the equivalent training through higher education, such as an LPN or RN program approved by the Alabama Board of Nursing.'	A person enrolled in or graduated from an Alabama nursing program who wants a registry listing rather than a nurse aide training certificate.

Who does NOT need this license — exemptions

Alabama’s carve-outs are narrow, and they are written as limits on what a FACILITY may do rather than as exemptions a worker can claim. (1) THE FOUR-MONTH WINDOW: ‘A facility must not use any individual working in the facility as a nurse aide for more than four months, on a full-time basis’ unless that individual is competent and has completed a training and competency evaluation program or has been deemed competent by the registry (Ala. Admin. Code r. 420-5-10-.03(9)); inside the window the individual must still be a full-time employee in a state-approved program, or have demonstrated competence in one, or have been deemed competent (r. 420-5-10-.03(11)). It expires by its own terms and it does not extend to agency, per diem or leased staff (r. 420-5-10-.03(10)). (2) THE PEOPLE THE DEFINITION EXCLUDES: ‘Nurse Aide - Any individual providing nursing related services to residents in a facility who is not a licensed health professional, a registered dietitian, or someone who volunteers to provide such services without pay’ (r. 420-5-10-.01(z), repeated at r. 420-5-10-.03(8)); the rule then defines ’licensed health professional’ as a physician, physician assistant, nurse practitioner, physical/speech/occupational therapist, physical or occupational therapy assistant, registered professional nurse, licensed practical nurse, licensed or certified social worker, or dietitian. An unpaid volunteer and a licensed professional are outside the definition rather than exempt from it. Note the reach of that carve-out and its limit: ADPH says registry listing is required of anyone wanting to work as a nurse aide in an Alabama nursing home, ‘including RN’s and LPN’s previously having worked as a Nurse Aide’ — being licensed does not let a person work AS a nurse aide off-registry. (3) A GRANDFATHER CLAUSE THAT CLOSED IN 1990: the training requirement’s ‘only exception… is those nurses’ aides who are hired by a nursing facility prior to July 1, 1989, and who successfully pass the approved competency evaluation prior to January 1, 1990’ (r. 420-5-10-.01(uu)(ii)). Both dates are long past; it is recorded because it is the state’s own text and because it explains why some long-serving aides are on the register without a training programme entry. (4) SETTING IS THE REAL BOUNDARY, AND ALABAMA’S RULE IS ASYMMETRIC. The requirement to be listed is written about NURSING HOMES: ‘desiring to work as a nurse aide in an Alabama nursing home must first be listed in good standing on the Alabama nurse aide registry’, and the retraining and facility duties all sit in the nursing facility chapter. But the work that KEEPS a listing active counts from five kinds of employer — ‘a nursing home, hospital, home health agency, hospice agency, or mental health facility.’ No ADPH source read on 2026-08-16 states whether a hospital, home health agency, hospice or mental health facility may employ an unlisted aide, so this record makes no claim either way. ADPH does state which work does not count toward keeping a listing: ‘Private sitting, assisted living facilities, and doctor’s office work does not count.’ A separate carve-out exists for FEEDING ASSISTANTS, who are not nurse aides: Ala. Admin. Code r. 420-5-10-.12 allows other facility staff to be ‘used as feeding assistants upon successful completion of an approved training program’ of ‘9 hours of classroom instruction and hands on training’, and lets ‘Volunteers and family members… assist residents with feeding and drinking, without completing an approved training program.’ A feeding assistant is not on the nurse aide registry and may only assist residents to eat or drink who have no complicated feeding problems.

Fees

ALABAMA CHARGES NO STATE FEE FOR A REGISTRY LISTING, AND PUBLISHES NONE. No application fee, listing fee, certificate fee or renewal fee appears on the Alabama Certified Nurse Aide Registry site (search page, FAQ, contacts and training-guide pages), in the ADPH Nurse Aide Training Program handbook, on ADPH’s Bureau of Health Provider Standards pages, or anywhere in Ala. Admin. Code ch. 420-5-10 — all read on 2026-08-16. The state also runs no renewal, so there is no recurring state charge to publish. WHAT A CANDIDATE ACTUALLY PAYS goes to the test provider the training program uses. PROMETRIC publishes its Alabama schedule as ‘Clinical Skills Test $45; Knowledge (written or oral) Test $40; Test Site Administration Fee $40’, payable to the test site by credit card, money order or cashier’s cheque — ‘Personal checks and cash are not accepted’ — with ‘Test fees are nonrefundable and nontransferable’, no refund of unused fees at the end of an eligibility period, forfeiture of the fee for a missed or late appointment, and a new fee for each retest. Prometric’s optional practice tests are priced separately at $7 to $10 each with ‘super pack versions available for $25’. CREDENTIA’S ALABAMA FEE TABLE IS NOT REPORTED HERE, and the reason is a defect in the document rather than a gap in the search: its Alabama candidate handbook introduces the table with the sentence ‘The fees listed below have been established for the NNAAP Examination in South Carolina’, carries two different effective dates for the same table (’effective as of July 1, 2020’ in the text, ‘Effective 9/1/20’ in the table header), and sets out rows whose labels do not line up with a nurse aide fee schedule. A figure taken from that table would be a figure taken from another state’s schedule, so none is taken. A candidate testing with Credentia should get the current fee from Credentia’s Alabama test-taker page, https://credentia.com/test-takers/al . Note that ADPH’s Nurse Aide Training Program handbook prints this provider’s address as ‘www.getcredentia.com ’, and that hostname did not resolve on 2026-08-16. FEDERAL RULE THAT OVERRIDES ALL OF THIS FOR EMPLOYED AIDES: 42 C.F.R. 483.152(c)(1) — ‘No nurse aide who is employed by, or who has received an offer of employment from, a facility on the date on which the aide begins a nurse aide training and competency evaluation program may be charged for any portion of the program (including any fees for textbooks or other required course materials)’, and 483.152(c)(2) requires the State to provide for pro-rata reimbursement of program costs where the individual is hired within 12 months of finishing. TRAINING COST is set by the approved program and is not published by ADPH.

Exam

Two parts — a written (or oral) knowledge test and a hands-on skills test — and you must pass both. ADPH states the requirement without describing the test: ‘An individual must successfully complete a State-approved nurse aide training and competency evaluation program and pass both the written and skills tests to be listed on the nurse aide registry.’ The shape of the test then depends on which of the two approved providers your training program uses, and the two differ in ways candidates notice. PROMETRIC: ‘The Written Test consists of 55 multiple-choice questions. You will have 90 minutes to take the test.’ The skills test is five skills — ‘The time allowed for the Clinical Skills test ranges from 31 minutes to 40 minutes based on the skills you are asked to perform’ and ‘To pass the Clinical Skills Test, you must pass all five skills. To pass a skill, you are not required to perform the skill perfectly, but you are required to demonstrate competency of the skill.’ The two tests may be taken in either order: ‘You are not required to pass one test before taking the other.’ Candidates test at approved regional test centres or in facilities, must bring proof of completion of a state-approved training program, and ‘You should arrive at least 30 minutes before your scheduled test appointment.’ CREDENTIA (NNAAP): ‘The Written Examination consists of seventy (70) multiple-choice questions written in English… An Oral Examination may be taken in place of the Written Examination if you have difficulty reading English. The Oral Examination consists of sixty (60) multiple-choice questions and ten (10) reading comprehension questions. If you want to take the Oral Examination, you must request it when you submit your application.’ Skills: ‘you will be asked to perform five (5) randomly selected nurse aide skills. You will be given thirty (30) minutes to complete the five (5) skills… You must perform all five (5) skills correctly to pass the Skills Evaluation.’ Credentia offers the oral examination in English or Spanish, runs its applications and scheduling through an online account system, and offers online proctored written and oral exams as well as test-centre and in-facility testing. RETESTING: Prometric — ‘You have three opportunities to take and pass both parts of the competency exam. Each attempt requires the payment of a new test fee. You are only required to retake the test you failed’; and if you fail and remain eligible, ‘you may retake the test(s) on the same day at the discretion of the test site based on availability’, an option Prometric says ‘is not encouraged since candidates are not likely to have adequate opportunity to prepare.’ Both providers’ Alabama materials are published on their own Alabama pages; ADPH’s Nurse Aide Training Program handbook is what points candidates to them.

Renewal & continuing education

THERE IS NO RENEWAL. ADPH answers it in one line: ‘Does the Alabama Nurse Aide Registry have a renewal process for Certified Nursing Assistants? No, there is no renewal process for the Alabama Nurse Aide registry. Certifications are kept active if the individual is currently working or within the past 24 months worked in a nursing home, hospital, home health agency, hospice agency, or mental health facility.’ What replaces renewal is a work test the aide must keep satisfying: ‘You must work at least 8 hours every 24 months in a nursing home, hospital, home health agency, hospice agency, or mental health facility for paid compensation. Volunteer work does not count. Private sitting, assisted living facilities, and doctor’s office work does not count.’ ADPH sets out the conditions as a list — ‘Work is for monetary compensation. Work as a nurse aide, performing direct patient care. Work is under the supervision of a registered nurse. Total time worked equals eight (8) hours or more every 24 months in a nursing home, hospital, home health agency, hospice agency, or mental health facility.’ THE DATES: ‘Initially, the expiration date is 24 months from the date the individual successfully completed the competency evaluation/test’, and thereafter ‘The Active status extends 24 months beyond the last date worked’ at one of those five kinds of employer. Because the aide files nothing, the aide is also not the one who reports the work: ADPH says ‘Information regarding your status on the registry can be obtained from your former or current employer’, and ’the State of Alabama does not maintain employment or work history records for Nurse Aides.’ No ADPH source read on 2026-08-16 states a form, a deadline or an address by which an aide can report qualifying work directly, which is the single most consequential gap in Alabama’s published process. CONTINUING EDUCATION DOES NOT KEEP A REGISTRY LISTING ALIVE IN ALABAMA — work does. ADPH is explicit: ‘Do CEU’s keep a certification active? No. Skilled nursing facilities are required to provide 12 hours of mandatory continuing education to CNA’s (12 per year according to the date of hire for the CNA).’ The 12 hours are a duty the state puts on the FACILITY, and the rule behind them is Ala. Admin. Code r. 420-5-10-.03(15): ‘The facility must complete a performance review of every nurse aide at least once every 12 months, and must provide regular in-service education based on the outcome of these reviews. The in-service training must: (a) Be sufficient to ensure that continuing competence of nurse aides, but must be no less than 12 hours per year; (b) Address areas of weakness as determined in nurse aides’ performance reviews and may address the special needs of residents as determined by the facility staff; and (c) For nurse aides providing services to individuals with cognitive impairments, also address the care of the cognitively impaired.’ The companion duty is r. 420-5-10-.03(16): ‘The facility must ensure that nurse aides are able to demonstrate competency in skills and techniques necessary to care for residents’ needs, as identified through resident assessments, and described in the plan of care.’ So an Alabama nurse aide who does 12 hours of in-service every year but stops working still loses registry status at 24 months, and an aide who works eight paid hours in 24 months keeps it whether or not any in-service was delivered.

How to apply

Applications are handled by Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) — Bureau of Health Provider Standards, Division of Health Care Facilities (Alabama Certified Nurse Aide Registry). Start at the official application page .

Verify a license in Alabama

Alabama Department of Public Health — Alabama Certified Nurse Aide Registry publishes a public license search , searchable by Social Security Number (the only search field the lookup offers). It covers Alabama nurse aide registry status. The state treats this as the verification of record: ‘You can verify Nurse Aide listings 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by accessing the Registry website… The system uses the Social Security Number to access Registry records and with each look-up will provide information on whether or not an individual is listed on the Nurse Aide Registry. Printed verifications are available when using the website. Staff-assisted verifications are available during registry hours by calling (334) 206-5169.’ ADPH adds a limit worth knowing before relying on the result: ‘Please note that the State of Alabama does not maintain employment or work history records for Nurse Aides’, and older entries can be incomplete — ‘The Nurse Aide Registry changed to a new computer system in October 2006. Records added prior to this date may not include all information.’ THREE PRACTICAL LIMITS. First, the only search key is the Social Security Number, so there is no name search and no way for a member of the public to look someone up without that number. Second, the search runs inside an interactive application that posts the form back to itself, so a result cannot be bookmarked, linked to or shared — the page has to be opened in a normal web browser and the search re-run. Third, the site also publishes a separate document listing individuals with substantiated abuse findings. The registry lives on a different web address from the rest of ADPH’s site, and that address does not answer requests from every part of the world; a reader who cannot reach it can call the registry on (334) 206-5169 during business hours.

Records come from Alabama Department of Public Health — Alabama Certified Nurse Aide Registry’s own system. LicensingAtlas does not hold license records and cannot confirm any individual’s status — the date on this page refers to the requirements described above, not to anyone’s credential.

Frequently asked questions

Does Alabama issue a CNA license or certificate?

No. Alabama’s credential is a listing on the Alabama Certified Nurse Aide Registry, which the Alabama Department of Public Health maintains. ADPH does not issue a certificate — asked where to get one, it answers ‘Program certificates are obtained from the program that the CNA completed’ — and the candidate handbook of Credentia, one of the two test providers ADPH’s own training guide names, says it outright: ‘Alabama does NOT issue certificates or licenses to nurse aides. The only official document you will receive is the Score Report given to you at the test center.’ What the state requires is the listing: anyone ‘desiring to work as a nurse aide in an Alabama nursing home must first be listed in good standing on the Alabama nurse aide registry.’

How many hours of training does Alabama require to become a CNA?

At least 75 clock hours in total, and Alabama splits the practical part in two. ADPH’s Nurse Aide Training Program handbook requires an approved programme to ‘Consist of no less than 75 clock hours of training (total)’ and to ‘Include at least 16 hours of supervised practical training (clinical training) and 16 hours of lab training’, and its application checklist repeats that the total ‘Must be at least 75 hours with 16 hours being clinical hours’, performed at a named nursing home. The federal rule Alabama is building on, 42 C.F.R. 483.152(a), requires 75 clock hours and only one 16-hour block of supervised practical training that a laboratory can satisfy — the separate 16 lab hours are ADPH’s addition. At least 16 hours must come before any resident contact and must cover communication and interpersonal skills, infection control, safety and emergency procedures including the Heimlich maneuver, promoting residents’ independence and respecting residents’ rights.

Who gives the CNA exam in Alabama?

One of two providers, and the training program chooses. ADPH’s Nurse Aide Training Program handbook says ‘Nurse Aide Training Programs may choose one of the following test providers for Certified Nurse Aide Examination’ and names Prometric and Credentia. That choice changes the test you sit. Prometric’s written test is ‘55 multiple-choice questions’ in ‘90 minutes’, with a five-skill clinical test running 31 to 40 minutes. Credentia administers the National Nurse Aide Assessment Program: ‘The Written Examination consists of seventy (70) multiple-choice questions written in English’, with an oral alternative of ‘sixty (60) multiple-choice questions and ten (10) reading comprehension questions’ available in English or Spanish, and a skills evaluation of ‘five (5) randomly selected nurse aide skills’ in ’thirty (30) minutes’. Both require you to pass every skill, and both require you to pass the knowledge test and the skills test.

What does it cost to become a CNA in Alabama?

Nothing to the state, and something to the test provider. No application, listing, certificate or renewal fee is published by the Alabama Department of Public Health on any of its nurse aide pages or in its administrative rules. Prometric publishes its Alabama testing fees as $45 for the Clinical Skills Test, $40 for the Knowledge (written or oral) Test and a $40 Test Site Administration Fee, all ’nonrefundable and nontransferable’ and payable again for each retest. Training itself is priced by the approved program. One federal rule cuts across all of it: ‘No nurse aide who is employed by, or who has received an offer of employment from, a facility on the date on which the aide begins a nurse aide training and competency evaluation program may be charged for any portion of the program (including any fees for textbooks or other required course materials)’ (42 C.F.R. 483.152(c)).

How do you renew an Alabama CNA certification?

You don’t — you work. ADPH: ‘Does the Alabama Nurse Aide Registry have a renewal process for Certified Nursing Assistants? No, there is no renewal process for the Alabama Nurse Aide registry.’ Status stays active on a work test instead: ‘You must work at least 8 hours every 24 months in a nursing home, hospital, home health agency, hospice agency, or mental health facility for paid compensation. Volunteer work does not count. Private sitting, assisted living facilities, and doctor’s office work does not count.’ The work must be paid, must be nurse aide work providing direct patient care, and must be under the supervision of a registered nurse. The first expiration date is 24 months from passing the competency evaluation, and after that active status ’extends 24 months beyond the last date worked.’

Do Alabama CNAs need continuing education?

Continuing education does not keep the registry listing alive, but the employer must provide it. ADPH answers the first half plainly — ‘Do CEU’s keep a certification active? No’ — and then states the second: ‘Skilled nursing facilities are required to provide 12 hours of mandatory continuing education to CNA’s (12 per year according to the date of hire for the CNA).’ The rule behind it puts the duty on the facility: it ‘must complete a performance review of every nurse aide at least once every 12 months, and must provide regular in-service education based on the outcome of these reviews’, which ‘must be no less than 12 hours per year’ and, for aides caring for people with cognitive impairments, must also address the care of the cognitively impaired (Ala. Admin. Code r. 420-5-10-.03(15)).

What happens if an Alabama CNA stops working for two years?

The listing lapses and there is no retest-only way back. ADPH: ‘How can I get my certification reactivated if I have not worked as a CNA for over 24 months? You must complete a Nurse Aide Training program (retrained) and take the certification test (retested) to be eligible to work in a nursing home.’ The state rule says the same: where there has been ‘a continuous period of 24 consecutive months during none of which the individual provided nursing related services for monetary compensation, the individual must complete a new training and competency evaluation program’ (Ala. Admin. Code r. 420-5-10-.03(14)). Several states let a lapsed aide simply retake the exam; Alabama, on its own published process, does not.

Can a CNA certified in another state work in Alabama?

Yes, but only through an employer and only into a nursing home. Alabama has no reciprocity application: ‘Does Alabama have a Reciprocity form? No. The reciprocity process for the state of Alabama requires your employer contact the State agency to have your name placed on the Alabama Nurse Aide Registry.’ ADPH describes the route as ‘apply for a job at a nursing home. Once hired… your certification must be verified and placement made on the Alabama Nurse Aide Registry’, and requires ‘an active certification in the state you are transferring from with no validated allegations of abuse against you.’ The limit is explicit: ‘If you want to do home health work and not work in a nursing home, the CNA Registry cannot transfer you’ — in that case the only route is an approved Alabama program with clinicals and both tests. An aide originally certified in Alabama who left and is on another state’s registry in good standing is treated as active in Alabama.

How long can you work as a nurse aide in Alabama before being on the registry?

Four months, and only as a permanent full-time employee who is training. Ala. Admin. Code r. 420-5-10-.03(9): ‘A facility must not use any individual working in the facility as a nurse aide for more than four months, on a full-time basis, unless’ the individual is competent and has completed a training and competency evaluation program or has been deemed competent by the registry. During those four months the individual must be a full-time employee in a state-approved training and competency evaluation program, or have demonstrated competence in one, or have been deemed competent by the registry. The same rule closes the agency-staffing shortcut: a facility may not use temporary, per diem or leased staff who do not meet those conditions.

How do you check whether an Alabama CNA is on the registry?

Through ADPH’s own online lookup, using the Social Security Number. ADPH: ‘You can verify Nurse Aide listings 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by accessing the Registry website… The system uses the Social Security Number to access Registry records and with each look-up will provide information on whether or not an individual is listed on the Nurse Aide Registry. Printed verifications are available when using the website. Staff-assisted verifications are available during registry hours by calling (334) 206-5169.’ Two things it will not tell you: work history — ’the State of Alabama does not maintain employment or work history records for Nurse Aides’ — and, for pre-2006 entries, sometimes the full record, because the registry changed computer systems in October 2006 and older records ‘may not include all information.’ The lookup is a search form that has to be run in a normal web browser; a result cannot be saved as a link.

Does being a nurse or a patient care technician get you onto the Alabama registry?

Being a nurse or nursing student can satisfy the training, but never the test; being a PCT satisfies neither. ADPH: ‘Must nursing students complete the competency evaluation test to be listed on the Nurse Aide Registry? Yes’ — a student who has passed Fundamentals of Nursing and clinical skills within the past 24 months applies with a letter from an instructor and still sits both parts. And registry listing is required of anyone wanting to work as a nurse aide in an Alabama nursing home, ‘including RN’s and LPN’s previously having worked as a Nurse Aide.’ For patient care technicians the answer is shorter: ‘Can a Patient Care Technician (PCT/PCA) take the certification test and be placed on the Nurse Aide registry? In order to be on the Nurse Aide Registry, you must complete a state approved nurse aide training program.’

See every license and certification LicensingAtlas covers in Alabama.

Sources & verification

Last verified against these sources: August 16, 2026.

We re-fetch every cited source on a weekly schedule: see what changed at the agencies, or every correction we have ever made.

LicensingAtlas states licensing and certification requirements categorically from official sources. It is a reference, not legal or career advice, and requirements change frequently — confirm details with the issuing board before you act.