CNA Requirements in Georgia: 85-Hour Training

How to become a CNA in Georgia: a 85-hour state training minimum, the Credentia competency exam — verified from Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH).

Source-verified

Requirements below are drawn from Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH), Division of Medical Assistance Plans — the Georgia Nurse Aide Registry, administered day to day by Alliant Health Solutions under contract. The Department's own manual sets out the split: 'DCH has established and maintains a registry of nurse aides... The Contractor is contracted by DCH to oversee the daily operation and maintenance of the registry, while DCH maintains accountability for overall operation of the registry.' Adverse findings sit with a third body — DCH's Healthcare Facilities Regulation Division (HFRD), 'A State Department that investigates and maintains the Nurse Aide Adverse Finding information', and 'Only the State Survey and Certification Agency may place on the registry findings of abuse, neglect or misappropriation of property.' The written/oral and skills examination is delivered by an outside testing agency, currently Credentia. No board of nursing is involved. (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: Georgia certifies by REGISTRY LISTING with a fixed two-year term, and the Department of Community Health owns it while a contractor runs it. 'DCH has established and maintains a registry of nurse aides. All persons who have successfully passed evaluation and testing will be added to the registry which is managed by the Contractor. The Contractor is contracted by DCH to oversee the daily operation and maintenance of the registry, while DCH maintains accountability for overall operation of the registry and compliance with these regulations.' The contractor is named in the Department's own glossary: 'Alliant Health Solutions – The contractor: this organization is appointed by the Department of Community Health (DCH) to administer and oversee the state nurse aide registry and training program.' Certification comes from passing the state examination, not from the course: 'Once the written/oral and skills competency testing is passed the testing agency will electronically transmit this information to the Georgia Nurse Aide Registry. The Georgia Nurse Aide Registry will have ten (10) business days to place the certified nurse aide's information on the registry.' What arrives is a registry entry with a certification number and an expiration date — Georgia's public search returns 'Certification #', 'Original Certification Date', 'Expiration Date', 'Status', 'Adverse Findings' and 'Reciprocity State'.
The path: In order: (1) apply to and be accepted by a Georgia state-approved Nurse Aide Training Program; (2) 'Complete all state approved hours in a Georgia State approved nurse aide training program, which includes classroom, lab and clinical hours. All clinical training must be in an approved healthcare facility under the supervision of a state approved LPN/RN instructor. All CNA instructors must be approved by the State Contractor'; (3) 'Take the written/oral and skills competency examination after successful completion of the nurse aide training program and clinical rotation'; (4) receive the programme's completion certificate. The candidate applies for testing online — 'The nurse aide test candidate must create an account on-line at https://credentia.com/test-takers/ga with Credentia in the CNA365 system' — and there is a short fuse on the invitation: 'The candidate must create a username/password within 48 hours of receiving the test e-mail from Credentia.'
The training must be in English, but the exam need not be: Georgia states the course-language rule flatly: 'The nurse aide course must be taught in English ONLY.' The examination is a different matter — the testing agency's Georgia fee schedule prices a 'Spanish Examination Only' alongside the Written and Oral forms, and an Oral Examination exists specifically for candidates who have difficulty reading English. Both statements are official and this record reports both rather than reconciling them.
What the 85 hours may and may not contain: Georgia is unusually specific about what does not count. 'The 85 hours required by the state must be spent on the Federal/State Core Curriculum. All additional subject matter hours must be added to the required hours for the nurse aide training program.' Facility orientation is excluded from the clinical portion — 'Orientation to the facility cannot be included in the twenty-four (24) hours of clinical.' Clinical must happen in an approved healthcare facility, and the Department lists which kinds qualify: nursing homes, long-term acute care facilities, assisted living facilities, in-patient hospice facilities (not agencies), transitional care units, hospitals and sub-acute units. Overnight hours do not count: '(10 p.m. – 7 a.m. is not acceptable for the clinical rotation).'
Three attempts inside twelve months: 'If the individual does not complete the evaluation satisfactorily, the individual must be advised of the areas which he or she did not pass; and that he or she has three (3) opportunities to take the evaluation within twelve (12) months after the completion of the program. If the competency evaluation program is not completed satisfactorily within the twelve (12) months period, the individual must enroll in a state approved NATP for retraining.' The testing agency states the consequence more sharply, and it is the detail candidates most often get wrong: 'If you fail either part of the NNAAP Examination three (3) times, you will need to complete another training program and retake BOTH parts of the NNAAP Examination, not just the part that was failed.' Absences count against you too: 'if you were scheduled to take the exam three (3) times and did not become licensed — either because of failing the exam or absence(s) — you will need to retrain.'
A rule aimed at the school, not the student — but worth knowing before you enrol: 'The Georgia Nurse Aide Training Programs (NATP) must maintain an eighty (80) percent or greater pass rate for the yearly state written/oral and skills competency examinations', and falling short puts the programme on probation for a year, with continued failure risking withdrawal of approval. Georgia also requires programmes to show their numbers on request: 'All nurse aide training programs must provide state competency examination results to potential students upon request.' Two consumer protections travel with it: 'Training program completion certificates cannot be held for funds owed. The program is responsible for collecting all funds owed prior to the completion of the classroom, lab and clinical sessions.'
Light duty bars the skills evaluation: 'Candidates are prohibited from taking the Skills Evaluation if on limited activity or light duty due to medical reasons. Candidates must be able to complete required skills included in the Skills Evaluation. Candidates on light duty cannot take the Skills Evaluation; however, they can take the written/oral exam. Medical documentation stating return to full duty is required to take the skills evaluation.'
Medication Aide — a boundary, not a step: Georgia's Certified Medication Aide is a separate credential administered through the same registry portal and the same public 'Nurse Aide/Medication Aide' tab. It was not researched for this record and nothing is claimed about it.

Legal basis

Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH), Division of Medical Assistance Plans — the Georgia Nurse Aide Registry, administered day to day by Alliant Health Solutions under contract. The Department’s own manual sets out the split: ‘DCH has established and maintains a registry of nurse aides… The Contractor is contracted by DCH to oversee the daily operation and maintenance of the registry, while DCH maintains accountability for overall operation of the registry.’ Adverse findings sit with a third body — DCH’s Healthcare Facilities Regulation Division (HFRD), ‘A State Department that investigates and maintains the Nurse Aide Adverse Finding information’, and ‘Only the State Survey and Certification Agency may place on the registry findings of abuse, neglect or misappropriation of property.’ The written/oral and skills examination is delivered by an outside testing agency, currently Credentia. No board of nursing is involved. administers certified nursing assistant licensing in Georgia. 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

Georgia says ‘Certified Nurse Aide’ and abbreviates it CNA, and the Department’s own glossary treats the everyday synonym as equivalent: ‘A “certified nurse aide” is also known as a nursing assistant.’ ‘Certified nursing assistant’ is therefore accurate in Georgia usage even though the state’s documents lead with ’nurse aide’. Georgia does issue a CERTIFICATION with a number and an expiry date — the public search returns ‘Certification #’, ‘Original Certification Date’ and ‘Expiration Date’ — so unlike Illinois or Pennsylvania, a Georgia CNA genuinely holds a dated credential rather than an open-ended listing. ‘Georgia CNA license’ remains a folk term; no licence is issued and no board of nursing is involved. The initialisms a reader will meet: NATP, the Nurse Aide Training Program (the course); NATCEP, the Nurse Aide Training and Competency Evaluation Program (the same thing in federal language, used interchangeably in the Department’s manual); CEP, the competency evaluation program, which the Department defines as ’the testing program for the nurse aides that are approved by the Department of Community Health and the State Contractor’; NNAAP, the National Nurse Aide Assessment Program, which is the examination itself; and CNA365, the testing agency’s application system. Three organisations get confused constantly: DCH owns the programme, Alliant Health Solutions runs the registry and training-programme approval, and Credentia runs the examination — while a fourth, Gainwell Technologies, is DCH’s Medicaid fiscal agent and maintains the older GAMMIS portal where Georgia’s nurse aide material used to live. ‘GNA’ appears in Georgia’s own eligibility rules as another state’s title (Maryland’s Geriatric Nursing Assistant) and is not a Georgia credential.

License types & fees

Type	Notes	Who Its For
Certified Nurse Aide (CNA) — a two-year listing on the Georgia Nurse Aide Registry	Earned by completing a Georgia state-approved Nurse Aide Training Program of at least 85 hours and passing BOTH parts of the state competency examination. Unlike most registry states, Georgia puts a date on it: 'The nurse aide must renew their certification every two (2) years from date of original certification', and the registry search returns a certification number with an original certification date and an expiration date. Georgia trains for breadth rather than for nursing homes alone: 'Georgia requires the program to provide one comprehensive course to train candidates to work in all health care facilities (e.g. nursing homes, hospitals, hospice, home health, etc.).'	A person who will provide direct patient care under the supervision of a registered nurse or licensed practical nurse. The Department's glossary: 'A "certified nurse aide" is also known as a nursing assistant. This individual provides direct health care to a client by performing routine patient care duties under a supervision of a registered nurse (RN) or licensed practical nurse (LPN).'
Nurse aide who has not yet been tested — trainee status inside an approved programme	Georgia gates hands-on contact by hours rather than by hiring date: 'The first sixteen (16) hours of training must include these subjects. The training must be completed before the student has any direct contact with a facility resident' — communication and interpersonal skills including stress management and chain of command; infection control; safety and emergency procedures including foreign-body airway obstruction and body mechanics; promoting residents' independence; and respecting residents' rights. The state also caps the pace: 'A maximum of eight (8) hours is allowed for the training of the NA student per day', and overnight clinical is barred — '(10 p.m. – 7 a.m. is not acceptable for the clinical rotation)'.	A student enrolled in a Georgia state-approved Nurse Aide Training Program.
LPN or RN placed on the CNA registry — a documented, non-automatic route	Georgia does NOT waive the examination for nurses: 'A LPN or RN with an active nursing license in Georgia or another state within the U.S. will be required to take the written/oral and skills competency exams.' The Department explains why the route exists: 'Most Licensed Practical Nurses or Registered Nurses that wish to be placed on the Certified Nurse Aide Registry are usually transferring from another state awaiting licensure with the Georgia Board of Nursing.' A nurse who has only APPLIED to sit the licensing examination has a shorter path: they 'may become certified by completing the first sixteen (16) hours of training required before "Hands on" patient care and then successfully completing the written/oral and skills competency examination', filing a written request with a transcript (no more than three years past graduation), a copy of the Georgia Board of Nursing verification letter for testing, a Social Security card copy and government photo identification.	A licensed practical nurse or registered nurse who wants CNA listing, typically while awaiting Georgia licensure.
Certified Medication Aide (CMA) — a separate Georgia credential on the same portal	Named here only because Georgia runs it through the same registry contractor and the same public tab — the state's own portal carries 'Certified Nurse Aide' and 'Certified Medication Aide' as sibling sections, and the Department's manual refers readers to the 'Nurse Aide/Medication Aide' tab for both. Nothing about the CMA credential was researched for this record and no claim is made about its requirements.	Not covered by this record.

Who does NOT need this license — exemptions

Georgia’s nurse aide scheme is built around the Nursing Home Facility, and its own definition draws the first boundary: in the Department’s manual ’the term “nurse aide” means any individual providing nursing related services to residents in a Nursing Home Facility’ — the scope that the federal training-and-registry requirement attaches to. Yet Georgia deliberately trains BROADER than that boundary: ‘Georgia requires the program to provide one comprehensive course to train candidates to work in all health care facilities (e.g. nursing homes, hospitals, hospice, home health, etc.)’, and clinical rotations may be served in nursing homes, long-term acute care facilities, assisted living facilities, in-patient hospice facilities, transitional care units, hospitals and sub-acute units. NO EXEMPTION EXISTS FOR LICENSED NURSES seeking CNA listing — they must sit both examinations (see reciprocity and license_types), which is the opposite of several neighbouring states. TIME-LIMITED ALLOWANCES rather than exemptions: the 16-hour gate before any direct resident contact, and the nursing home’s duty to provide a competency evaluation programme ‘for individuals used as a nurse aide by the facility… and such preparation as may be necessary for the individual to complete such a program.’ WHAT THIS RECORD DOES NOT CLAIM: no Georgia source read on 2026-08-14 states whether a hospital, home health agency, hospice or personal care home must employ registry-listed aides, or whether volunteers, nursing students or family caregivers fall outside the requirement. The Department’s manual is written for training programmes and nursing homes, and this record follows its scope rather than extending it. Georgia’s own clinical-contract list is explicit that some settings do NOT qualify even for training: ‘Clinical contracts from Personal Care homes Senior Care Retirement Communities’ are excluded, which is evidence about training venues, not about where a CNA may work.

Fees

GEORGIA CHARGES NOTHING TO BE LISTED, AND SAYS SO IN A WAY THAT ALSO BINDS THE SCHOOLS: ‘DCH does not impose any charges related to registration for individuals to be listed on the registry; therefore, programs may not request or require payment related to registration of an individual.’ There is also no renewal fee: ‘There is no renewal fee for re-listing on the Georgia Nurse Aide Registry certification’, and no charge for a name or address change — ‘There is no charge for changing your name or address on the Registry.’ THE COSTS ARE EXAMINATION FEES, set for Georgia by the Department’s testing agency: Written Examination Only $35; Oral Examination Only $35; Spanish Examination Only $35; Skills Examination Only $95; Competency Evaluation (Written and Skills) $130; Competency Evaluation (Oral and Skills) $130. Payment goes through the candidate’s testing account ‘in the form of a credit card, debit card, single-use card, or electronic voucher. Vouchers can be purchased by the training programs.’ WHO SHOULD BE PAYING: ‘Under federal and Georgia laws, nursing homes are required to pay the NNAAP fees for their nurse aide employees, including individuals required to re-test.’ NOT SET BY THE STATE: training tuition, which each approved programme sets — though Georgia protects the student’s paperwork from a fee dispute: ‘Training program completion certificates cannot be held for funds owed.’

Exam

Two parts, both required: ‘There are two parts of the NNAAP Examination, the Written (or Oral) Examination and the Skills Evaluation. You must pass both parts to be listed on the Georgia Nurse Aide Registry.’ WRITTEN: ‘seventy (70) multiple-choice questions written in English.’ ORAL, for candidates who have difficulty reading English: ‘sixty (60) multiple-choice questions and ten (10) reading comprehension/word recognition questions’, and it must be requested at registration. A SPANISH form also exists — the Georgia fee table prices a ‘Spanish Examination Only’ at the same rate as the written and oral forms. SKILLS: ‘you will be asked to perform five (5) randomly selected nurse aide skills. You will be rated on these skills by a Nurse Evaluator’, and the standard is all-or-nothing: ‘You need a Satisfactory result on all five (5) skills to pass the Skills Evaluation.’ RESULTS: delivered online within a few hours of the testing day, ’listed as Pass or Fail only, there is no numeric score included’; ‘Test results will not be given over the telephone, nor can they be sent by Credentia to your employer.’ A failing skills report is diagnostic — it names each of the five skills, marks each Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory, and prints the step numbers missed under any failed skill. ATTEMPTS AND CLOCK: three attempts within twelve months of programme completion for the ordinary route, after which retraining is required; and three failures of either part means retaking BOTH parts after a new training programme. ELIGIBILITY ROUTES change the clock, and Georgia publishes seven of them: E1 new nurse aide (Georgia-approved programme); E2 currently licensed LPN/RN; E3 out-of-state-trained but not yet on any registry; E4 out-of-state-trained with a lapsed certification of a year or less; E5 Georgia certification lapsed a year or less; E6 reciprocity candidates who are active elsewhere but have not worked in 24 months, or who are listed as not eligible to work in long-term care, or who hold a Maryland CNA rather than a GNA; and E7 candidates whose Georgia-approved training institute is no longer active. Routes E2 through E6 require authorisation from the registry contractor before the candidate may apply to test. ⚠ The vendor’s handbook states the E4, E5 and E7 windows two different ways in two different articles. AFTER PASSING: results are transmitted electronically and ‘The Georgia Nurse Aide Registry will have ten (10) business days to place the certified nurse aide’s information on the registry.’

Renewal & continuing education

Every two years, and Georgia is one of the few registry states that runs it as a real renewal with a real expiry date. ‘The nurse aide must renew their certification every two (2) years from date of original certification. The registry will send out renewal forms sixty (60) business days prior to expiration date. It is the responsibility of the nurse aide to renew their certification and to make sure the registry has the correct mailing address.’ WHAT RENEWAL PROVES IS WORK, NOT STUDY: ‘To be eligible for renewal based on employment, you must work for pay, performing nursing-related services, for at least eight (8) hours every twenty-four (24) consecutive months under the supervision of a nurse. This employment must be documented by completing an online Georgia Nurse Aide Registry renewal form and uploading the required documents prior to each listing expiration date. The listing expiration date is twenty-four (24) months from either the date of your last successful competency examination or last recertification date, whichever is more recent.’ PROOF: ‘Proof of employment consists of a copy of a pay stub or W-2 form within the past twenty-four (24) consecutive months.’ Private duty is allowed but costs more paperwork: an aide working private duty ‘must be under the general supervision of an LPN or RN and provide a notarized letter from employer with the LPN or RN name and license number detailing job duties, length of employment, and state payment was given for services rendered within the past twenty-four (24) consecutive months.’ REMINDERS ARE COURTESY, NOT PROTECTION: a renewal reminder email goes out roughly 60 days before expiry, and ‘It is your responsibility to renew by the expiration date, even if you do not receive the Renewal Reminder notification.’ ADDRESS AND NAME CHANGES ARE A TEN-DAY DUTY: ‘If there is a change of address, it is the sole responsibility of the CNA to report this change. The CNA has ten (10) business days to report the change’, with name changes requiring official documentation — a signed Social Security card in the new name plus government photo identification, or a court-issued marriage certificate, divorce decree or other legal document plus photo identification. ‘Failure to inform the Registry of a physical address, email address or name change may jeopardize your listing status.’ NONE is required of the individual CNA to renew a Georgia registry listing. Renewal is proved by paid work and documentation, not by coursework — see renewal_cycle, and note that the Department’s renewal instructions ask only for a pay stub, a W-2 or (for private duty) a notarised employer letter. WHAT DOES EXIST IS A FACILITY-SIDE IN-SERVICE DUTY, and Georgia states it with arithmetic: ‘Full time CNAs status works 2080 hour/annually = 12 hours in-service. Part time CNAs at 20 hours a week = 1040 hours/annually = 6 hours of in service, etc.’, with ‘Part time and PRN CNAs also need to have in-service hours.’ The obligation runs to the nursing home, not to the registry: ‘The Nursing Home Facility must provide such regular performance review and regular in-service education to assure that individuals used as nurse aides are competent to perform services as nurse aides, including training for individuals providing nursing-related services to residents with cognitive impairments. The facility must complete a performance review of every nurse aide at least once every twelve (12) months.’ So a Georgia CNA in a nursing home should receive in-service hours proportional to hours worked, but missing them is a facility compliance problem rather than a bar to renewing the registry listing. Tiers searched on 2026-08-14: the Department’s Nurse Aide Training Program Manual (Part II, version dated July 1, 2026) in full, the state contractor’s Certified Nurse Aide pages, and the state-approved Georgia Nurse Aide Candidate Handbook articles on eligibility, the registry, exam fees and exam results.

How to apply

Applications are handled by Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH), Division of Medical Assistance Plans — the Georgia Nurse Aide Registry, administered day to day by Alliant Health Solutions under contract. The Department’s own manual sets out the split: ‘DCH has established and maintains a registry of nurse aides… The Contractor is contracted by DCH to oversee the daily operation and maintenance of the registry, while DCH maintains accountability for overall operation of the registry.’ Adverse findings sit with a third body — DCH’s Healthcare Facilities Regulation Division (HFRD), ‘A State Department that investigates and maintains the Nurse Aide Adverse Finding information’, and ‘Only the State Survey and Certification Agency may place on the registry findings of abuse, neglect or misappropriation of property.’ The written/oral and skills examination is delivered by an outside testing agency, currently Credentia. No board of nursing is involved.. Start at the official application page .

Verify a license in Georgia

Alliant Health Solutions, the Georgia Department of Community Health’s contracted registry administrator (the Department links this search from its Healthcare Facility Regulation Division page as ‘Find a Certified Nurse Aide’) publishes a public license search , searchable by last name, first name, middle initial, certification number or status (active / inactive). It covers The Georgia Nurse Aide Registry — ‘The information you access will validate the certification of active or inactive certified nurse aides on the Georgia Nurse Aide Registry.’ A result row carries the aide’s name, certification number, original certification date, expiration date, status, adverse findings and reciprocity state. HOW IT BEHAVES, from the page itself: you may enter one or more of the criteria and press Search; the page warns that if nothing matches ‘You may need to check both Active and Inactive status’, because an inactive aide will not appear in an Active-only search. Two identity fields appear only after results are returned — ‘The SSN and DOB fields will appear when search results are displayed. Please enter DOB and/or SSN to validate the correct nurse aide’ — so confirming you have the right person is a second step, not part of the initial search. WHAT TO EXPECT BEFORE YOU GET AN ANSWER: the search asks you to prove you are a person, with a challenge box between the form and the results. Results are produced by submitting the form, so an individual record has no web address of its own and cannot be bookmarked, forwarded or cited, and an automated watch on this address sees only the empty form. Georgia publishes two other routes: the registry answers by telephone on (678) 527-3010 or 1-800-414-4358, and the Department maintains a separate Nurse Aide Registry Adverse Findings Report on its CareConnect portal under the Nurse Aide/Medication Aide tab. One limit the Department states outright: ‘The website does not provide a printed list of all nurse aides on the registry.’ Where a result carries a finding, Georgia requires the disputing side to travel with it — any response to an inquiry that includes a finding of abuse, neglect or misappropriation must also include any statement the nurse aide filed disputing it.

Records come from Alliant Health Solutions, the Georgia Department of Community Health’s contracted registry administrator (the Department links this search from its Healthcare Facility Regulation Division page as ‘Find a Certified Nurse Aide’)’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 CNA training does Georgia require?

85 hours, including 24 hours of clinical rotation — ten hours above the federal minimum. The Department of Community Health’s own manual states it twice: ‘Georgia requires a minimum of eighty-five (85) hours of training which must include twenty-four (24) hours of clinical rotation in a facility supervised by an approved Registered Nurse or Licensed Practical Nurse.’ Several details narrow what counts: the 85 hours must be spent on the federal and state core curriculum, with any extra subject matter added on top; facility orientation cannot be counted inside the 24 clinical hours; no more than eight hours of training may be given in a day; and clinical rotations may not run between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. Georgia also trains for breadth, requiring ‘one comprehensive course to train candidates to work in all health care facilities.’

Does a Georgia CNA certification expire?

Yes — and this is where Georgia differs from many registry states. ‘The nurse aide must renew their certification every two (2) years from date of original certification’, and your entry carries an expiration date the public can see. Renewal is proved by work rather than study: at least eight hours of paid nursing-related services under a nurse’s supervision in the preceding 24 months, documented with a pay stub or W-2 and uploaded with the renewal form before the expiry date. The registry emails a reminder roughly 60 days ahead, but the duty is yours: ‘It is your responsibility to renew by the expiration date, even if you do not receive the Renewal Reminder notification.’ There is no renewal fee.

What does the Georgia CNA exam cost?

$130 for the full competency evaluation — both the written (or oral) examination and the skills evaluation together. Taken separately, the written, oral or Spanish examination is $35 each and the skills evaluation is $95. Georgia itself charges nothing to be listed: ‘DCH does not impose any charges related to registration for individuals to be listed on the registry; therefore, programs may not request or require payment related to registration of an individual.’ And if you work in a nursing home you should not be paying the exam fee at all — ‘Under federal and Georgia laws, nursing homes are required to pay the NNAAP fees for their nurse aide employees, including individuals required to re-test.’ Training tuition is set by each approved programme.

What is on the Georgia nurse aide exam?

Two parts and you must pass both. The written examination is 70 multiple-choice questions in English. If reading English is difficult you may request an oral version instead — 60 multiple-choice questions plus 10 reading comprehension and word recognition questions — and a Spanish written form is also priced on Georgia’s fee schedule. The skills evaluation asks you to perform five randomly selected nurse aide skills in front of a Nurse Evaluator, and the standard is absolute: ‘You need a Satisfactory result on all five (5) skills to pass the Skills Evaluation.’ Results come back Pass or Fail with no numeric score, usually within a few hours of the testing day, and a failing skills report names each skill and prints the exact step numbers you missed.

How many times can I take the Georgia CNA exam?

Three, within twelve months of finishing your training programme. Georgia’s manual is explicit that missing the window has the same effect as running out of attempts: ‘If the competency evaluation program is not completed satisfactorily within the twelve (12) months period, the individual must enroll in a state approved NATP for retraining.’ And a third failure resets both halves, not just the one you failed: ‘If you fail either part of the NNAAP Examination three (3) times, you will need to complete another training program and retake BOTH parts.’ Being absent counts as an attempt — if you were scheduled three times and did not become certified ’either because of failing the exam or absence(s)’, you retrain.

What happens if my Georgia CNA certification lapses?

Georgia removes the entry. ‘The registry must remove entries for individuals who have performed no nursing-related services for a period of twenty-four (24) consecutive months’, unless the entry carries a documented finding of abuse, neglect or misappropriation. Coming back depends on how long you have been out. If your certification lapsed a year or less ago you may be authorised to re-test under the state’s lapsed-certification eligibility route, with three attempts. Beyond that Georgia requires retraining: a certification expired one year or more from the registry expiration date means completing a new state-approved training programme, after which passing both parts of the exam restores certification for two years.

I am a CNA in another state — can I transfer to Georgia?

Usually yes, on a transfer form, but Georgia attaches conditions and reserves a discretion. You must be ‘current, in good standing on the other state’s registry and have proof of employment within the past twenty-four (24) consecutive months.’ A separate rule catches people who trained elsewhere and delayed testing: ‘If the nurse aide does not complete and pass the written/oral and skills competency exam within one (1) year of completion in another state’s approved training program, Georgia will not extend reciprocity.’ And even a clean transfer is not guaranteed to skip the exam — ‘The State Contractor reserves the right to require nurse aides transferring to take the written/oral and skills competency exam.’ Transfer requests are reviewed within ten business days and you receive written confirmation. Georgia publishes no transfer fee.

Can a licensed nurse become a Georgia CNA without testing?

No — and this is one of Georgia’s sharper departures from other states. ‘A LPN or RN with an active nursing license in Georgia or another state within the U.S. will be required to take the written/oral and skills competency exams.’ The Department explains who uses the route: nurses transferring in while they wait on Georgia licensure. A nurse who has applied to sit the licensing examination gets a shorter path — completing ’the first sixteen (16) hours of training required before “Hands on” patient care’ and then passing both parts of the competency examination — supported by a school transcript no more than three years past graduation, the Georgia Board of Nursing verification letter for testing, a Social Security card copy and government photo identification.

Does a Georgia CNA need continuing education?

Not to renew the registry listing — renewal asks for proof of paid work, not certificates of study. What does exist is an obligation on the nursing home that employs you, scaled to your hours: Georgia’s manual works it out as 12 in-service hours a year for a full-time CNA at 2,080 hours, 6 hours for a part-time CNA at 20 hours a week, and it states that ‘Part time and PRN CNAs also need to have in-service hours.’ Facilities must also ‘complete a performance review of every nurse aide at least once every twelve (12) months.’ Missing in-service is a problem for your employer’s compliance rather than a bar to renewing your certification.

How do I check a Georgia CNA's certification?

Use the Georgia Nurse Aide Program’s public search, which the Department of Community Health links from its Healthcare Facility Regulation Division page. You can search by last name, first name, middle initial or certification number, and filter by Active or Inactive status — and if you get nothing, check both statuses, because an inactive aide will not show in an Active-only search. Date of birth and Social Security number fields appear after results are returned so you can confirm you have the right person. Expect a challenge box before results appear, and note the search cannot be bookmarked or forwarded. Georgia also answers by telephone on (678) 527-3010 or 1-800-414-4358, and publishes a separate adverse findings report. There is no downloadable list of every aide: ‘The website does not provide a printed list of all nurse aides on the registry.’

See every license and certification LicensingAtlas covers in Georgia.

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.