CNA Certification in California — Requirements & Fees

Q: How old do you have to be to become a CNA in California?

16. CDPH lists it first among the three conditions: 'An applicant for certification as a CNA shall comply with each of the following: Be at least sixteen (16) years of age. Have successfully completed a training program approved by the department in California, which includes an examination to test the applicant's knowledge and skills related to basic patient care services. Obtain a criminal record clearance.'

How to become a CNA in California: a 160-hour state training minimum — verified from California Department of Public Health (CDPH).

Source-verified

Requirements below are drawn from California Department of Public Health (CDPH) — Center for Health Care Quality, Licensing and Certification Program; Healthcare Workforce Branch (HWB), Healthcare Professional Certification and Training Section (HPCTS) (official site) and last verified August 14, 2026. Boards change fees and rules often — confirm before acting.

Requirements at a glance

What the credential is: A certification issued by the state health department, with a state-maintained public registry behind it. CDPH's own words: 'The Healthcare Workforce Branch (HWB), Healthcare Professional Certification and Training Section (HPCTS) is primarily responsible for the certification of nurse assistants by ensuring applicants adhere to the California Health and Safety Code, Section 1337-1338.5.' The operator is CDPH — not a Board of Nursing and not a private contractor — though CDPH contracts the EXAM out to three approved testing vendors. What the statute protects is the title and the paid role: a 'certified nurse assistant' is a person 'who holds himself or herself out as a certified nurse assistant and who, for compensation, performs basic patient care services... and is certified as having completed the requirements of this article' (H&S Code 1337(d)(3)), and CDPH states flatly, 'You must have an active CNA certificate to represent yourself as a CNA.' Those services 'shall not include any services which may only be performed by a licensed person and otherwise shall be performed under the supervision of a registered nurse... or a licensed vocational nurse' (1337(d)(3)).
The three eligibility conditions: CDPH states them as a list: 'An applicant for certification as a CNA shall comply with each of the following: Be at least sixteen (16) years of age. Have successfully completed a training program approved by the department in California, which includes an examination to test the applicant's knowledge and skills related to basic patient care services. Obtain a criminal record clearance.' California is one of the few states that publishes a minimum age for this credential.
When the application is filed — before the training, not after: California's sequence is unusual: the initial application goes in at ENROLMENT. CDPH: 'You must complete and submit the following to CDPH: An Initial Application (CDPH 283B), upon enrollment in the training program. A copy of the Request for Live Scan Service (BCIA 8016) form.' The form itself says the same — submit 'upon enrollment in the program and before patient contact.' The reason is statutory and CDPH spells it out: 'Per Health and Safety Code 1338.5 (2) (A) "Upon enrollment in a training program for nurse assistant certification, and prior to direct contact with residents, a candidate for training shall submit a training and examination application and the fingerprint cards to the State department to receive a criminal record review through the Department of Justice.", therefore, CDPH cannot accept Pre-Clearance applications. You must be enrolled in a CDPH approved training program prior to CDPH conducting a criminal record review.'
Criminal record clearance — Live Scan only, and it recurs: The background check must be run for CDPH specifically and electronically. CDPH: 'No, the California Department of Public Health require the background check results electronically from the Department of Justice'; 'I have a background check from my employer; can I use it to fulfill the CNA certification requirement? No, you must specifically live-scan for the California Department of Public Health.' Applicants who cannot obtain electronic prints may instead file two FD-258 fingerprint cards with a $32.00 check or money order payable to 'The Department of Justice'. The clearance is not one-and-done: H&S Code 1337(b) provides that 'The requirement that certified nurse assistants obtain a criminal record clearance upon certification and biannually thereafter shall apply regardless of the setting in which the certified nurse assistant is employed', and every renewal requires that the holder 'previously received and maintained criminal record clearance'. Timing is case-by-case: 'Records are reviewed on a case-by-case basis, therefore time frames will vary person to person.'
The RN program director signs off on the training: The CDPH 283B carries a certification block completed by the registered nurse responsible for the training program: 'I certify that this individual has successfully completed state and federal nurse assistant training requirements and is eligible to take the Competency Evaluation.' CDPH's program-side guidance makes the same point about documentation: 'After the completion of the NATP training, the RN Program Director must attest on the Initial Application (CDPH 283 B) with the completion signature, that the student has met all the clinical and classroom training requirements.'
Equivalency — the route for nursing students, foreign nurses and military medics: A separate application (CDPH 283E) lets certain applicants skip the CNA training program but NOT the exam. CDPH: 'If the applicant is presently enrolled in (or completed) a Registered Nurse, Licensed Vocational Nurse, or Licensed Psychiatric Technician program, or has received medical training in military services, or has received the above license(s) from a foreign country or U.S. state, the applicant may not have to take further training and may qualify to take the Competency Evaluation.' It requires an official sealed transcript (or a sealed letter on school letterhead listing equivalent training and completion of at least the 'Fundamentals of Nursing' course, with dates and hours), or a DD-214 for military applicants; proof of paid nursing or nursing-related work in a facility within the last two years (waived for current nursing students or a degree obtained within the last two years); and the Live Scan or fingerprint cards.
How long the department takes: CDPH: 'Please allow up to 30 business days for completed applications to be reviewed and processed, we are not able to respond with information for applications that were sent less than 30 business days ago.' After passing the exam, 'you must allow at least sixty (60) days for CDPH to receive your examination results from the testing vendor.' Expediting does not exist: 'Applications are processed in date order received'; 'Sending the initial application by overnight/certified mail will expedite the mailing time, but not the processing time'; and 'The California Department of Public Health does not have a public counter.'
An ITIN can replace a Social Security Number: CDPH: 'Can I use an Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN) in lieu of a Social Security Number? Yes, an Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN) can be used in lieu of a Social Security Number.' The forms carry the same option, warning only that 'If you use an invalid SSN, your application process may be delayed.'
The address of record is public by court order: An unusual California disclosure that appears on every CDPH CNA form: 'Pursuant to a court order, the California Department of Public Health will be required to release the address of record for certified nurse assistants, home health aides, certified hemodialysis technicians, and licensed nursing home administrators in response to a Public Records Act (PRA) request. (Government Code starting at section 6250.) Court Order: Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers v. California Department of Public Health, Sacramento County Superior Court, February 21, 2018, No. 34-2017-80002636.' The forms therefore ask for a 'Public Address (Required) – Subject to Public Records Act' and, separately, an optional 'Confidential Address' for departmental mail. Phone number and email are not released.

Legal basis

California Department of Public Health (CDPH) — Center for Health Care Quality, Licensing and Certification Program; Healthcare Workforce Branch (HWB), Healthcare Professional Certification and Training Section (HPCTS) administers certified nursing assistant licensing in California. 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

California’s own term is CERTIFIED NURSE ASSISTANT (CNA) — ’nurse assistant’, not ’nursing assistant’ — and that is the term used in Health & Safety Code 1337 and on every CDPH form. ‘Certified nursing assistant’ is the common national phrasing for the same credential and is what most job postings say; California does not use it in statute. What CDPH issues is a CERTIFICATE, so ‘California CNA license’ is a folk term — the statute speaks of a person ‘certified as having completed the requirements of this article.’ ‘NA’ or ’nurse assistant’ without ‘certified’ is a different, statutory thing in California: ‘any unlicensed aide, assistant, or orderly, who performs nursing services… in a skilled nursing or intermediate care facility’ (1337(d)(1)) — an uncertified worker. ‘STNA’ is Ohio’s term and ’nurse aide’ is the federal and most-states term; California uses neither on its forms. Do not confuse the CNA with the two credentials CDPH certifies alongside it and lists in the same public lookup — HOME HEALTH AIDE (HHA) and CERTIFIED HEMODIALYSIS TECHNICIAN (CHT) — nor with the LICENSED VOCATIONAL NURSE (LVN) or the NURSING HOME ADMINISTRATOR (NHA). ‘NATP’ is the Nurse Assistant Training Program; ‘NAC#’ is the Nurse Assistant Certification Number a CDPH-approved continuing-education provider must display; ‘OASYS’ and ‘TMU’ are the CDPH and vendor application systems, not credentials.

License types & fees

Type	Notes	Who Its For
Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) certificate	California issues a real certificate with an expiration date, not merely a registry listing. The statutory definition is a person 'who holds himself or herself out as a certified nurse assistant and who, for compensation, performs basic patient care services directed at the safety, comfort, personal hygiene, and protection of patients, and is certified as having completed the requirements of this article' (Health & Safety Code 1337(d)(3)). The initial certificate is issued for TWO BIRTHDAYS rather than two calendar years, so the first term is longer than 24 months.	A person at least 16 years old who has completed a CDPH-approved nurse assistant training program, passed the Competency Evaluation and obtained criminal record clearance.
Nurse assistant working while certification is pending	CDPH: 'You may work up to 120 days as a Nurse Assistant while certification requirements are pending.' Separately, an uncertified 'nurse assistant' is a defined statutory category — 'any unlicensed aide, assistant, or orderly, who performs nursing services directed at the safety, comfort, personal hygiene, or protection of patients in a skilled nursing or intermediate care facility' (H&S Code 1337(d)(1)) — and the statute contemplates facilities using noncertified nurse assistants (1337.3(d)), with the orientation program in 1337.1(a) aimed at 'newly employed nurse assistants prior to providing direct patient care'.	Someone who has passed the Competency Evaluation but whose certificate has not yet issued.
Home Health Aide (HHA) — a SEPARATE California certificate, not covered by this record	The same CDPH section certifies Home Health Aides and Certified Hemodialysis Technicians, and the CNA and HHA renewal forms are combined, which is why HHA rules appear alongside CNA rules on every CDPH form. HHA renewal is 24 in-service hours rather than 48 and bars online CEUs entirely. Nothing in this record describes the HHA credential.	Not covered here.

Who does NOT need this license — exemptions

California’s carve-outs are statutory and unusually specific about SETTINGS. Health & Safety Code 1337(a) closes with a list of facilities the whole article does not reach: ‘This article shall not apply to intermediate care facilities/developmentally disabled habilitative, intermediate care facility/developmentally disabled-nursing, and intermediate care facility/developmentally disabled-continuous nursing which have staff training programs approved by the State Department of Developmental Services, general acute care hospitals, acute psychiatric hospitals, or special hospitals.’ So the CNA training-and-certification article is aimed at skilled nursing facilities and intermediate care facilities; a general acute care hospital, an acute psychiatric hospital or a special hospital is outside it. ONE OBLIGATION SURVIVES THAT CARVE-OUT: ‘The requirement that certified nurse assistants obtain a criminal record clearance upon certification and biannually thereafter shall apply regardless of the setting in which the certified nurse assistant is employed’ (1337(b)). A SECOND STATUTORY EXEMPTION, easy to miss because it sits at the end of a long section: ‘This article shall not apply to a program conducted by any church or denomination for the purpose of training the adherents of the church or denomination in the care of the sick in accordance with its religious tenets’ (1337.3(g)). A THIRD, facility-side: the precertification training duty ‘does not apply to a skilled nursing facility or intermediate care facility that demonstrates to the department that it employs only nurse assistants with a valid certification’ (1337.1(b)(6)). TIME-LIMITED PERMISSION RATHER THAN EXEMPTION: ‘You may work up to 120 days as a Nurse Assistant while certification requirements are pending.’ And the statute itself contemplates uncertified aides — it directs CDPH to adopt ‘regulation changes necessary to provide for patient care when facilities utilize noncertified nurse assistants who are performing direct patient care’ (1337.3(d)) — while 1337.1(a) requires an orientation program for ’newly employed nurse assistants prior to providing direct patient care’. WHAT IS NOT AN EXEMPTION: the title itself is protected wherever the person works — ‘You must have an active CNA certificate to represent yourself as a CNA.’ Note also that IN-HOME work does not count toward keeping the certificate: ‘No, IHSS is considered private duty’, and in-home care and staffing agencies are unacceptable work settings for both renewal and reciprocity.

Fees

CDPH CHARGES NOTHING TO CERTIFY OR RENEW. Its own FAQ answers it in one line: ‘What are the processing fees? There are no processing fees for your application.’ No fee appears on the CDPH 283B initial application, the CDPH 283C renewal application, the CDPH 283E equivalency/reciprocity application or the CNA program page. WHAT A CANDIDATE DOES PAY: (1) FINGERPRINTING — Live Scan is done through a private Live Scan agency at that agency’s rolling fee plus the state/federal fees, none of which CDPH publishes; an applicant who cannot obtain electronic prints instead sends two FD-258 fingerprint cards ‘accompanied by a $32.00 check or money order made payable to “The Department of Justice”’. (2) TESTING FEES, set by the vendor, not by CDPH — D&SDT-Headmaster, one of the three CDPH-approved vendors, published on its California nurse aide page: ‘EFFECTIVE 3-1-2026: Testing fees price increase: Knowledge Exam $40, Audio Version of the Knowledge Exam $45, Skills Test $100.’ Credentia and the Regional Testing Center set their own; those figures were not read and are not stated here. (3) TRAINING COST — set by each approved program and not published by CDPH. Note that the vendor also allows training programs and sponsoring facilities to pay testing fees on a candidate’s behalf (‘How to Pay Testing Fees (for Training Programs and Sponsoring Facilities)’), so many candidates never see the exam fee directly.

Exam

California calls it the COMPETENCY EVALUATION, and it has two portions — a written (knowledge) test and a skills test. Certification requires completing ‘a training program approved by the department in California, which includes an examination to test the applicant’s knowledge and skills related to basic patient care services’, and the statute charges CDPH with developing ‘program content for orientation, training, inservice and the examination for testing knowledge and skills related to basic patient care services’ (H&S Code 1337.3(d)). CDPH’s records refer to ’the date you completed both portions of the competency evaluation’. AN AUDIO/ORAL VERSION EXISTS: D&SDT-Headmaster publishes an ‘Audio Version of the Knowledge Exam’ and separate ‘Remotely Proctored Knowledge Exam Instructions’ alongside in-person instructions. LANGUAGE — A CHANGE IS IN MOTION: H&S Code 1337.3(a)(2), as amended by Stats. 2025, ch. 243 (SB 862), effective January 1, 2026, provides that ‘No later than December 31, 2025, the department shall solicit applications from vendors to provide the written and oral competency examination of a nurse assistant certification examination in Spanish.’ PROGRAM-LEVEL PASS-RATE PRESSURE: CDPH must ’examine each training center’s trainees’ competency test passage rate, and require each program to maintain an average 60 percent test score passage rate to maintain its participation in the program’, calculated over two years (1337.3(b)). SCORE DELIVERY: results go from the vendor to CDPH, and CDPH warns candidates to ‘allow at least sixty (60) days for CDPH to receive your examination results from the testing vendor.’ NOT FOUND IN ANY OFFICIAL CALIFORNIA SOURCE READ: the number of written questions, the time limit, the number of skills tested, the passing score, and the number of attempts allowed before retraining — Those figures live in each vendor’s own candidate handbook and differ by vendor, so this record does not state a single California-wide answer.

Renewal & continuing education

Every two years, and California renews on THREE conditions, not one. CDPH: ‘CNA certificates must be renewed every two (2) years. You may renew your certificate any time within two (2) years after the expiration date of your certificate, if by the time your certificate expires you will have completed the following: You have previously received and maintained criminal record clearance for CNA, HHA, Intermediate Care Facility-Developmentally Disabled (ICF-DD), DD Habilitative, or DD Nursing and a criminal clearance is granted. You have provided nursing or nursing-related services in a facility to residents for compensation (under the supervision of a licensed health professional) within your most recent certification period. You have successfully obtained and submitted documentation of forty-eight (48) hours of In-Service Training/CEUs within your most recent certification period.’ THE WORK REQUIREMENT IS SMALL BUT REAL: ‘One (1) of the two (2) renewal requirements is that you work at least one (1) day for pay providing nursing or nursing-related services to residents in a facility under the supervision of a licensed health professional.’ Where that day is worked matters — CDPH lists acceptable settings as ‘Skilled Nursing Facilities, Acute Hospitals, Alzheimer’s Units, Clinics, Disability Habilitative (ICF/DDH) - ICF/Developmentally Disabled Nursing (ICF/DDN), Home Health Agencies, Hospice, Intermediate Care Facility (ICF) – ICF/Developmentally, Prison System Facilities, Psychiatric Facilities, Sheriff’s Department Medical Unit’ and unacceptable settings as ‘In-home care, Staffing agencies, Home Health Agency’. ⚠ THOSE TWO LISTS CONTRADICT EACH OTHER: ‘Home Health Agencies’ appears on the acceptable list and ‘Home Health Agency’ on the unacceptable list, on the same CDPH page. Both are recorded here rather than reconciled. In-Home Supportive Services is specifically excluded: ‘No, IHSS is considered private duty.’ TIMING: renewal may be filed ‘up to six months prior to the expiration date on the certificate’, and CDPH sends a renewal notice by mail — but ‘The Renewal Application is available for download from our website’ if it does not arrive. Renewal may be filed on paper or online; CDPH announced that ‘OASYS now offers a fully online process for CNA renewal applications.’ THE CERTIFICATION PERIOD IS MEASURED IN BIRTHDAYS: ‘The initial CNA/HHA certificate is issued for two birthdays, not two years, and will expire on your birthday. Each year of the certification period will be from one birthday to the following birthday, any additional time from the issue date until the first birthday will be counted towards the first year of the certification period.’ CDPH publishes a Certification Period Calculator spreadsheet because of it. CDPH’s renewal application (CDPH 283C) is the aide’s own signed application — no CDPH source states who else, if anyone, may file it — and the in-service log (CDPH 283A) must be signed by the instructor responsible for the training and ‘retained by the CNA/HHA for a period of four (4) years.’ 48 hours of in-service training or continuing education per two-year certification period — the highest requirement of any state in this wave, and double the HHA requirement. CDPH’s rule, stated on both the renewal application and the in-service form: ‘CNAs: Must obtain forty-eight (48) hours of In-Service Training/CEUs within the certification period. A minimum of twelve (12) of the forty-eight (48) hours shall be completed in each year of the two (2) year certification period. A maximum of twenty-four (24) of the forty-eight (48) hours may be obtained only through a CDPH-approved online computer training program listed on our website.’ So the hours cannot be crammed into the final months, and at most half may be online. WHO MAY PROVIDE THEM: ‘Only CDPH-approved In-Service Training Programs and CDPH-approved CEU providers with a Nurse Assistant Certification Number (NAC#) are accepted’ — in-service training must come from ‘a health facility where the CNA/HHA has been employed within the most recent certification period’, while CEUs must come from a CDPH-approved provider whose NAC# appears on the certificate. CREDIT CONVERSIONS CDPH PUBLISHES: nursing coursework counts — ‘One (1) semester unit = fifteen (15) hours; One (1) quarter unit = ten (10) hours’ for LVN, RN or Licensed Psychiatric Technician programs, with a transcript required; and ‘If the CDPH-approved HHA Training Program (40-hour program) was completed during the certification period, twenty-six (26) hours of the forty (40-hour) training program may count towards CEUs.’ A HARD FLOOR ON SESSION LENGTH: ‘Training less than 50 minutes increments cannot be counted towards the CEU/In-Service training renewal requirement.’ ABUSE-PREVENTION CONTENT IS MANDATED BY STATUTE inside the recurring hours: ‘A minimum of four hours of instruction on preventing, recognizing, and reporting instances of resident abuse, including instruction on preventing, recognizing, and reporting residents’ rights violations, shall be included within the total minimum hours of continuing education or in-service training required and in effect for certified nurse assistants’ (H&S Code 1337.1(e)(2)). PAID TIME: CDPH’s form states that ‘CNAs are to receive the normal hourly wage for attending the In-Service on their regularly scheduled shift or during another shift.’ Documentation goes in on form CDPH 283A with the instructor’s printed name, signature and title, and online CEU certificates must be attached.

How to apply

Applications are handled by California Department of Public Health (CDPH) — Center for Health Care Quality, Licensing and Certification Program; Healthcare Workforce Branch (HWB), Healthcare Professional Certification and Training Section (HPCTS). Start at the official application page .

Verify a license in California

California Department of Public Health — Licensing and Certification Program (L&C Certification Verification search) publishes a public license search , searchable by certificate/license type (Certified Nurse Assistant, Home Health Aide, Certified Hemodialysis Technician, Nursing Home Administrator, or All), certificate/license number, last name, first name or last name starting with. It covers California CNA, HHA, CHT and Nursing Home Administrator credentials in one search. The field list above was read from the live search page’s own controls, not from a description of the tool. Two limits the page states about itself, and both change what a search result means: ‘Effective March 1, 2023 the online Registry will only display active, denied, suspended and revoked statuses for CNA, HHA and CHT’ — so an EXPIRED or DELINQUENT certificate returns nothing at all, and a blank result does not distinguish ’never certified’ from ’lapsed’; and ‘Names will appear more than once for holders of multiple certificates.’ The page also carries its own data-freshness stamp (‘Database Last Updated’ with a date and time), and CDPH advises narrowing broad searches: ‘when using this search option results may appear in large volume. In order to narrow the query results, we recommend search by “certificate/license number” or “last name, first name”.’ Concerns about accuracy go to the Healthcare Professional Certification and Training Section by email. CDPH treats this lookup as the substitute for paper verification in reciprocity too — another state’s certificate needs no CDPH 931 form ‘if your certificate is verifiable online’.

Records come from California Department of Public Health — Licensing and Certification Program (L&C Certification Verification search)’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

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

160 hours — 60 classroom and 100 supervised clinical. The statute sets both numbers: a precertification program ‘consisting of at least 60 classroom hours of training on basic nursing skills, patient safety and rights, the social and psychological problems of patients, and elder abuse recognition and reporting’ plus ‘at least 100 hours of supervised and on-the-job training clinical practice’ (Health & Safety Code 1337.3(c)(2)). CDPH states the total plainly: ‘California requires 160 hours of training to complete the program.’ Skills-lab time is extra and does not count — ‘Laboratory time does not count as part of the required 160 training hours.’ California is 85 hours above the 75-hour federal floor, the highest requirement of any state in this wave.

How old do you have to be to become a CNA in California?

CDPH lists it first among the three conditions: ‘An applicant for certification as a CNA shall comply with each of the following: Be at least sixteen (16) years of age. Have successfully completed a training program approved by the department in California, which includes an examination to test the applicant’s knowledge and skills related to basic patient care services. Obtain a criminal record clearance.’

What does it cost to get a CNA certificate in California?

The state charges nothing. CDPH answers it directly: ‘What are the processing fees? There are no processing fees for your application.’ The costs sit elsewhere — the training program sets its own price; fingerprinting is done through a Live Scan agency at that agency’s rates (an applicant who cannot get electronic prints instead sends two FD-258 cards with a $32.00 check payable to ‘The Department of Justice’); and the exam fee is set by whichever CDPH-approved testing vendor is used. D&SDT-Headmaster, one of the three, published fees effective March 1, 2026 of $40 for the knowledge exam, $45 for the audio version and $100 for the skills test.

Who gives the California CNA competency exam?

One of three vendors CDPH approves, not CDPH itself. The published list is D&S Diversified Technologies (D&SDT)-Headmaster, LLP — operating as HD Master California Nurse Aide Testing Services — Credentia Nurse Aide LLC, and the Regional Testing Center at Golden West College in Huntington Beach, the only one physically in California. CDPH’s own FAQ names the choices to candidates as ‘Credentia, Headmaster or National Nurse Aide Assessment Program.’ The exam has a written (knowledge) portion and a skills portion, and CDPH warns that after passing you must ‘allow at least sixty (60) days for CDPH to receive your examination results from the testing vendor.’

When do you apply — before or after the training?

Before. California is unusual here: the initial application (CDPH 283B) plus the Live Scan request goes to CDPH ‘upon enrollment in the training program and prior to patient contact’, because Health & Safety Code 1338.5 requires the criminal record review to start at enrolment. CDPH will not run the check early either: ‘CDPH cannot accept Pre-Clearance applications. You must be enrolled in a CDPH approved training program prior to CDPH conducting a criminal record review.’

Why is a California CNA certificate valid for more than two years?

Because it runs on birthdays, not calendar dates. CDPH: ‘The initial CNA/HHA certificate is issued for two birthdays, not two years, and will expire on your birthday. Each year of the certification period will be from one birthday to the following birthday, any additional time from the issue date until the first birthday will be counted towards the first year of the certification period.’ A certificate issued 20 March 2023 to someone born 15 May expires 15 May 2025. After that first term it renews every two years, and CDPH publishes a Certification Period Calculator spreadsheet to work it out.

How many continuing education hours does a California CNA need?

48 hours per two-year certification period, with two constraints most states do not impose: ‘A minimum of twelve (12) of the forty-eight (48) hours shall be completed in each year of the two (2) year certification period’, and ‘A maximum of twenty-four (24) of the forty-eight (48) hours may be obtained only through a CDPH-approved online computer training program.’ In-service training must come from a health facility that employed the aide during the period; CEUs must come from a CDPH-approved provider with a Nurse Assistant Certification Number (NAC#). Sessions shorter than 50 minutes do not count, nursing coursework converts at 15 hours per semester unit or 10 per quarter unit, and CDPH states that CNAs ‘are to receive the normal hourly wage for attending the In-Service on their regularly scheduled shift.’

Do you have to work to keep a California CNA certificate?

Yes — at least one paid day. CDPH: ‘One (1) of the two (2) renewal requirements is that you work at least one (1) day for pay providing nursing or nursing-related services to residents in a facility under the supervision of a licensed health professional.’ Where it is worked matters: CDPH lists skilled nursing facilities, acute hospitals, Alzheimer’s units, clinics, ICF/DD facilities, hospice, prison system facilities, psychiatric facilities and sheriff’s department medical units as acceptable, and in-home care and staffing agencies as unacceptable. In-Home Supportive Services does not qualify — ‘No, IHSS is considered private duty.’ Note that CDPH’s own lists print ‘Home Health Agencies’ as acceptable and ‘Home Health Agency’ as unacceptable; ask CDPH before relying on that setting.

What happens if a California CNA certificate expires?

It depends entirely on how long. Miss the expiration date and you go ‘delinquent’ — CDPH: ‘These individuals will not be verifiable online until the applicant meets all the renewal requirements… Individuals in a delinquent status may not hold himself or herself out to be a certified nurse assistant.’ Within two years of expiry, if you failed the work or in-service requirement, you can reactivate by retaking the Competency Evaluation on the same CDPH 283C form. Past two years, there is no exam-only route: ‘To obtain an active certificate, you must re-train through a CDPH-approved CNA training program’ — the full 160 hours again. Note that a late renewal also resets the dates: ‘Due to the lapse in certification the effective date will be changed to the date the application was renewed.’

Can a CNA from another state work in California?

Yes, and California does not make you retrain or retest. CDPH: ‘If the CNA certification is active and in good standing on another state’s registry, the applicant may qualify for certification in the State of California without taking CNA training or the Competency Evaluation.’ You file the CDPH 283E with a copy of the out-of-state certificate, proof of paid nursing or nursing-related work in a facility within the last two years (not required if you were first certified elsewhere within the last two years), and fingerprints — and the fingerprint rule is strict: ‘The live scan must be completed in the State of California’, though out-of-state applicants may send two FD-258 cards with the $32 Department of Justice fee. If your home-state certificate is not verifiable online, that state’s agency must send CDPH a completed CDPH 931 verification form directly.

Can you work as a nurse assistant in California before the certificate arrives?

For a limited window, yes: ‘You may work up to 120 days as a Nurse Assistant while certification requirements are pending.’ That is separate from the title rule, which does not bend — ‘You must have an active CNA certificate to represent yourself as a CNA.’

Does California's CNA law apply in hospitals?

Largely not, by the statute’s own terms. Health & Safety Code 1337(a) says the article ‘shall not apply to intermediate care facilities/developmentally disabled habilitative, intermediate care facility/developmentally disabled-nursing, and intermediate care facility/developmentally disabled-continuous nursing which have staff training programs approved by the State Department of Developmental Services, general acute care hospitals, acute psychiatric hospitals, or special hospitals.’ The training-and-certification scheme is aimed at skilled nursing and intermediate care facilities. One duty survives regardless of where the aide works: criminal record clearance ‘upon certification and biannually thereafter shall apply regardless of the setting in which the certified nurse assistant is employed.’ A separate exemption covers ‘a program conducted by any church or denomination for the purpose of training the adherents of the church or denomination in the care of the sick in accordance with its religious tenets.’

How do you check whether a California CNA certificate is valid?

Through CDPH’s L&C Certification Verification search, which covers CNAs, home health aides, certified hemodialysis technicians and nursing home administrators. Search by certificate number, by last and first name, or by ’last name starting with’ — CDPH recommends the number or the full name because a partial-name search ‘may appear in large volume.’ One thing to know before reading a blank result: since 1 March 2023 the online registry ‘will only display active, denied, suspended and revoked statuses’, so an expired or delinquent certificate simply does not appear, and the search cannot distinguish a lapsed CNA from someone who was never certified.

See every license and certification LicensingAtlas covers in California.

Sources & verification

Last verified against these sources: August 14, 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.