CNA Requirements in Arizona — Training, Exam & Registry

Arizona State Board of Nursing (AZBN) — the board maintains the Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) Registry and separately licenses Licensed Nursing Assistants (LNAs). 1740 W Adams Street, Suite 2000, Phoenix, AZ 85007. administers certified nursing assistant licensing in Arizona. 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

Arizona uses CERTIFIED NURSING ASSISTANT and the abbreviation CNA as its own statutory terms, and protects both: ‘Only a person who is registered by the board to practice as a certified nursing assistant shall use the title certified nursing assistant and the abbreviation CNA’ (A.R.S. 32-1649(B)). But read the verb — REGISTERED, not licensed. What Arizona issues a CNA is a place on the registry of nursing assistants; ‘Arizona CNA license’ is a folk term, and in Arizona it is worse than loose, because there IS a nursing assistant licence and it is a different credential with a different name. THE NAMING TRAP THAT MATTERS MOST IS CNA VERSUS LNA. A LICENSED NURSING ASSISTANT (LNA) meets the same education and examination requirements and adds an application, fingerprints and fees; it is a licence, it carries broader board jurisdiction over unprofessional conduct, and the board says the titles ‘are mutually exclusive’ — a person converted to LNA ‘should use the initials LNA’, and ‘Registry CNAs should use the initials CNA.’ Both appear on registries; the board maintains ‘a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) Registry and a Licensed Nursing Assistant (LNA) Registry’ (R4-19-810(A)), and LNAs are listed on the nurse aide registry ‘although they will be titled and listed as LNA.’ TWO MORE ARIZONA CREDENTIALS SHARE THE SAME RULES ARTICLE AND ARE NOT THIS ONE: the CERTIFIED MEDICATION ASSISTANT (CMA), ‘a certified nursing assistant who meets Board qualifications and is additionally certified by the Board to administer medications’, and the LICENSED HEALTH AIDE (LHA), a family-caregiver licence for the parent, guardian or family member of a person under 21 receiving continuous skilled nursing or skilled nursing respite care. The board’s verification portal exposes the full credential vocabulary in its own credential-type list: CMA, CNA, LHA, LHA2, LHA3, LNA, SN and UCNA.

License types & fees

Who does NOT need this license — exemptions

ARIZONA’S CARVE-OUTS ARE BUILT INTO THE DEFINITION OF THE CREDENTIAL RATHER THAN LISTED AS A SEPARATE EXEMPTION SECTION, AND THAT IS THE THING MOST OFTEN MISSED. A.R.S. 32-1601(6) defines a certified nursing assistant and then excludes people from the term: ‘Certified nursing assistant does not include a person who: (a) Is a licensed health care professional. (b) Volunteers to provide nursing assistant services without monetary compensation. (c) Is a licensed nursing assistant.’ — THREE carve-outs, and the first is Arizona’s direct answer to who does NOT need the credential: a licensed health care professional working within their licence is outside the definition entirely. The mirror-image exclusion sits in the LNA definition at 32-1601(15), which likewise excludes a licensed health care professional, a volunteer, and a certified nursing assistant — which is the statutory root of the board’s rule that ‘The titles CNA and LNA are mutually exclusive.’ So an unpaid volunteer performing nursing assistant services is outside the certified-nursing-assistant category altogether, and a person cannot hold both nursing assistant credentials at once. STUDENTS ARE COVERED BY THE PROGRAM, NOT BY A CREDENTIAL: the training program supplies the instructor supervision and must identify each student as a student — ‘During clinical training sessions, a training program shall ensure that each student is identified as a student by a name badge or another means readily observable to staff, patients, and residents’ — and the program ‘shall not utilize, or allow the clinical facility to utilize, students as staff during clinical training sessions’ (R4-19-801(C)(1)-(2)). That last clause is the practical boundary: student clinical time may not be turned into staffing. A LICENSED HEALTH AIDE IS A NARROW FAMILY-CAREGIVER CREDENTIAL rather than an exemption: it is open only to ‘a parent, guardian or family member of an individual who is under twenty-one years of age and who is eligible to receive continuous skilled nursing or skilled nursing respite care services’ (A.R.S. 32-1645(C)(1)). WHAT IS NOT AN EXEMPTION: no Arizona source read on 2026-08-14 provides a temporary or provisional nursing assistant permit, a grandfathering route, or a route onto the CNA Registry by holding a nursing licence alone — the nursing-licence and nursing-coursework routes in R4-19-806(B)(4) and (5) are routes to the EXAMINATION, not around it, and the applicant still must pass both parts. Tiers searched: A.R.S. 32-1601, 32-1606, 32-1642, 32-1643, 32-1645, 32-1646, 32-1647, 32-1648, 32-1649 and 32-1650; and A.A.C. Title 4, Chapter 19, Article 8 in full.

Fees

THE CNA IS FREE TO GET AND FREE TO KEEP — AND THE TWO EXCEPTIONS ARE WHERE THE MONEY IS. From AZBN’s own Agency Fees table: ‘CNA Exam $0’; ‘CNA: Every 2 Years $0’ under Renewals. The statute backs the pattern rather than merely permitting it — the fee section, A.R.S. 32-1643, sets amounts for ‘Issuing a license to an applicant to become a licensed nursing assistant or licensed health aide, $50’, ‘Issuing a license to a licensed nursing assistant or licensed health aide applicant for renewal, $50’, and ‘Application for renewal of a licensed nursing assistant or licensed health aide license after its expiration, $25 for each year it is expired, not to exceed a total of $100’ — and lists NO fee for the certified nursing assistant anywhere in its 28 items. The renewal statute mirrors the same asymmetry in a single word: for an LNA, ‘On receipt of the application and fee, the board shall issue a renewal license’; for a CNA, ‘On receipt of the application, the board shall issue a renewal registration’ (A.R.S. 32-1642(D) and (E)). TWO CNA CHARGES DO EXIST, both on the board’s fee table: ‘CNA/LNA Endorsement $50’ — coming in from another state’s registry is not free — and, under Late Fee, ‘CNA/LNA Renewal $10/yr since last renewed’. THE LNA COLUMN, for comparison: LNA Exam $50; CNA/LNA Endorsement $50; Background Check $50; ‘LNA: Every 2 Years $50’ renewal; LNA Reinstatement $75; late renewal $10 per year since last renewed. OTHER BOARD CHARGES THAT CAN REACH A NURSING ASSISTANT: ‘Verification of Certification/Licensure $50’; ‘Failure to Report Change of Address $25’ (the statute sets the same $25 at 32-1643(A)(28)); ‘Copying of Records .50¢/page if > 10 pages’; ‘Insufficient Fund Check $50’. A PAYMENT SURCHARGE APPLIES TO EVERY CARD TRANSACTION AND IT IS NEW: ‘The Office of the State Treasurer has awarded a new merchant services contract to manage the processing of card payments for all Arizona state agencies. Beginning September 11, 2025, a $2.00 or 2.2% (whichever is greater) processing fee will be charged on all credit and debit card transactions. eCheck (ACH) payments will remain free of charge.’ AZBN heads its table ‘ALL FEES ARE NON-REFUNDABLE.’ NOT BOARD FEES: training program tuition, and whatever the contracted testing vendor charges a candidate. One rule limits tuition in a specific setting: ‘A Medicare or Medicaid certified long-term care facility-based nursing assistant program shall not require a student to pay a fee for any portion of the program including the initial attempt on the state competency exam.’

Exam

BOTH PARTS, AND ARIZONA’S DEADLINE IS TWO YEARS RATHER THAN A CAP ON ATTEMPTS. A.R.S. 32-1647(A): ‘An applicant for licensure as a licensed nursing assistant or an applicant for registration as a certified nursing assistant who wishes to be placed on the registry of nursing assistants shall pass both the written and manual skills competency examinations on subjects contained in the licensed nursing assistant or certified nursing assistant training program approved by the board.’ THE FAILURE RULE IS A CLOCK, NOT A COUNT — A.R.S. 32-1647(C): ‘If a certified nursing assistant applicant fails to pass either the written or the manual skills competency examination within two years after completing an educational program, the applicant shall complete to the board’s satisfaction an approved nursing assistant training program before the applicant may take that examination again.’ Arizona sets no maximum number of attempts for the CNA; the rules describe retakes on the parallel LNA track as available ‘under conditions prescribed in written policy by the exam vendor, until a passing score is achieved or their time expires’ (R4-19-806(D)(3)), with the same consequence when time runs out: ‘An applicant who does not take or pass an examination within the time period specified… shall enroll in and successfully complete a Board approved training program in the certification category before being permitted to retake an examination’ (R4-19-806(E)). The registry rule states the two-year window from the other side: placement requires having ‘passed the nursing assistant written and manual skills competency evaluation within the past two years’ (R4-19-810(A)(1)(a)). COST: AZBN’s fee table lists ‘CNA Exam $0’ — the board charges nothing for the CNA examination application. PROGRAM ACCOUNTABILITY: a training program ‘shall attain, at a minimum, an annual first-time passing rate on the manual skill and written certifying examinations that is equal to the Arizona average pass rate for all candidates on each examination minus 20 percentage points,’ with a notice of deficiency issued to any program of five or more test-takers that misses it in a calendar year (R4-19-801(E)). The board publishes annual NA program pass-rate reports. Arizona publishes no passing score, question count or time limit for the state examination on the pages read, and this record states none.

Renewal & continuing education

EVERY TWO YEARS, ON THE LAST DAY OF YOUR BIRTH MONTH, AND THE CONDITION IS WORK RATHER THAN MONEY OR STUDY. A.R.S. 32-1642(E): ‘a certified nursing assistant shall file an application to renew the certified nursing assistant registration every two years on the last day of the certified nursing assistant’s birth month. An applicant for renewal shall submit a verified statement that indicates whether the applicant has performed nursing or nursing-related services within the previous twenty-four consecutive months and whether the individual’s registry entry includes documented findings of abuse, neglect or misappropriation of property. On receipt of the application, the board shall issue a renewal registration to each qualified renewal applicant.’ The rule supplies the number the statute leaves out and makes it mandatory rather than merely disclosable — R4-19-810(A)(2): to renew CNA Registry status the applicant submits verified statements establishing ‘(a) Whether applicant has performed nursing assistant or nursing related services for at least eight hours within the past 24 months. An applicant must complete this work requirement to be eligible for renewal. (b) Whether the applicant’s listing on any registry in any other state includes documented findings of abuse, neglect or misappropriation of property.’ Note the second limb: Arizona asks about findings on ANY OTHER STATE’S registry, not just its own. Renewal is filed through the board’s Nurse Portal and costs nothing on time. THE LNA CYCLE LOOKS SIMILAR AND IS NOT THE SAME: an LNA also renews every two years on the last day of the birth month, but must show ’employment as a nursing assistant, performing nursing assistant tasks for an employer or the applicant’s performance of nursing assistant activities as part of a nursing or allied health program for a minimum of 160 hours every two years since the last license or certificate was issued’, and pay $50 (R4-19-809(A)(2)(f), A.R.S. 32-1643). Twenty times the hours, plus a fee. NONE. Arizona requires no continuing education to keep a CNA registry listing. The renewal conditions are the verified work statement and the registry-findings disclosure, and nothing else: A.R.S. 32-1642(E) asks only for the verified statement, and R4-19-810(A)(2) lists exactly two things the applicant must establish — at least eight hours of nursing assistant or nursing-related services within the past 24 months, and whether any other state’s registry carries findings against them. Neither an education requirement nor a refresher course appears in either. Tiers searched 2026-08-14: A.R.S. Title 32, Chapter 15 sections 32-1601, 32-1606, 32-1642, 32-1643, 32-1645, 32-1646, 32-1647, 32-1648 and 32-1649; A.A.C. Title 4, Chapter 19, Article 8 in full (R4-19-801 through R4-19-815, including the training program rules, the initial licensure and endorsement rules, the renewal rule and the registry rule); and the board’s Agency Fees, Renew your License, Apply for a License, Primary Source Verification and NCLEX/NA/MA Exams pages. THE CLOSEST THING TO A RECURRING EDUCATION OBLIGATION IN THE ARTICLE BELONGS TO SOMEONE ELSE: a medication assistant seeking a subsequent certificate must document ’eight hours of continuing education specific to medications, medication administration, and performance of selected patient treatments’ from a board-approved medication education programme, a professional association’s approved continuing education, or a nursing home staff development programme — a reinstatement condition on the CMA credential, not a renewal condition on the CNA.

How to apply

Applications are handled by Arizona State Board of Nursing (AZBN) — the board maintains the Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) Registry and separately licenses Licensed Nursing Assistants (LNAs). 1740 W Adams Street, Suite 2000, Phoenix, AZ 85007.. Start at the official application page .

Verify a license in Arizona

Arizona State Board of Nursing publishes a public license search , searchable by last name plus first name, with an option to search maiden and other names, credential type (CMA, CNA, LHA, LHA2, LHA3, LNA, SN, UCNA), credential number plus credential type or NCSBN ID. It covers Every non-nurse credential the Arizona State Board of Nursing issues — certified nursing assistants, licensed nursing assistants, certified medication assistants, licensed health aides and school nurses. The board calls it the AZBN Verification Portal and treats it as authoritative: ‘The Arizona State Board of Nursing (AZBN) is a primary source, as required by the Joint Commission, of verifying the licensure/certification status for all nursing licenses issued in the State of Arizona. The information for nurses is updated every business day and uploaded to NURSYS (APRN/RN/LPN) or the AZBN Verification Portal (CNA/LNA/CMA/LHA),’ and ‘The AZBN Online Verification System is a primary source verification of licensure/certification of all nursing assistant, medication assistant, health aide, and school nurse credentials issued by the Arizona State Board of Nursing.’ The division of labour is the thing to remember: RN, LPN and APRN licences are verified through Nursys, and nursing assistants are NOT in Nursys — they are only here. The search fields above were read from the live search form’s own labels and input names rather than from a description of the tool. Results are produced by submitting the form, so an individual person’s result has no address that can be linked or bookmarked. A separate paid service exists for sending a verification to another state or organisation: the board charges $50 for a ‘Verification of Certification/Licensure’.

Records come from Arizona State Board of Nursing’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.