Virginia Board of Nursing, Department of Health Professions (DHP) — the same board that licenses registered nurses, practical nurses, advanced practice registered nurses, licensed certified midwives and massage therapists. It certifies nurse aides, registers medication aides, maintains the nurse aide registry, and approves nurse aide education programs. Office: Perimeter Center, 9960 Mayland Drive, Suite 300, Henrico, Virginia 23233-1463. Unlike most states, Virginia does not split this occupation between a health department and a licensing agency — one board owns training approval, certification, the registry and discipline. administers certified nursing assistant licensing in Virginia. 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
Virginia’s own term is CERTIFIED NURSE AIDE, abbreviated C.N.A. — note ’nurse aide’, not ’nursing assistant’, throughout the statute, the regulations and the Board’s pages. ‘Certified nursing assistant’ is the term the public uses; the credential Virginia issues under that sound is a certificate, and the statute protects only the exact forms: ‘Certified Nurse Aide’, ‘C.N.A.’, ‘or any words, letters, signs, or devices to indicate that person is a certified nurse aide’ (Va. Code 54.1-3022). ‘Virginia CNA license’ is a folk term — the Board issues a CERTIFICATE to nurse aides, a REGISTRATION to medication aides, and a LICENSE to nurses, and its own fee table keeps the three words in separate columns. In Virginia the certificate and the registry entry are the same status, so ‘getting on the registry’ and ‘getting certified’ describe one act. Names to keep apart: NNAAP is the examination (National Nurse Aide Assessment Program), not the credential, and Credentia is the board’s testing contractor, not the regulator; ADVANCED CERTIFIED NURSE AIDE is a distinct higher certificate with its own 120 hours of training, its own application and renewal fees and its own three-contact-hour annual continuing education, and it appears as a separate occupation on the public lookup; REGISTERED MEDICATION AIDE and ADVANCED REGISTERED MEDICATION AIDE are separate Board of Nursing registrations under a different chapter; and NATCEP, the federal term for a nurse aide training and competency evaluation program, is what Virginia calls a ’nurse aide education program’ (18VAC90-26). Finally, the Nurse Licensure Compact that Virginia belongs to covers registered and practical nurses only and has nothing to do with this certificate.
License types & fees
| Type | Notes | Who Its For |
|---|---|---|
| Certified Nurse Aide (CNA) — certification by examination | Virginia issues a CERTIFICATE and protects the title by statute: 'No person shall use or assume the title "Certified Nurse Aide" or abbreviation "C.N.A." or any words, letters, signs, or devices to indicate that person is a certified nurse aide unless certified by the Board' (Va. Code 54.1-3022). The board's rule states the effect in registry terms — 18VAC90-25-71 is headed 'Certification by examination' and opens 'To be placed on the registry and certified by examination, the nurse aide must ...', so in Virginia the certificate and the registry listing are the same act. AN UNUSUAL TERM STRUCTURE: 'Initial certification shall be for two years' (18VAC90-25-70(C)), and after that first term renewal is ANNUAL (Va. Code 54.1-3026; 18VAC90-25-80(A)(2)). THREE ROUTES INTO THE EXAMINATION, all in 18VAC90-25-71(A)(1): a board-approved nurse aide education program; OR 'At least one clinical nursing course that includes at least 40 hours of clinical experience involving direct client care within the past 12 months while enrolled in a nursing education program preparing for registered nurse or practical nurse licensure'; OR completion of an RN or LPN education program. | A person at least 16 years old who has completed a Virginia board-approved nurse aide education program (or qualifies through a nursing-education route) and passed the state competency examination. |
| Certified Nurse Aide — certification by endorsement | 18VAC90-25-72: to be placed on the registry by endorsement the nurse aide shall '1. Be a graduate of a state-approved nurse aide education program that meets the requirements for clinical training and competency set forth in 42 CFR 483.152; 2. Have satisfactorily completed a competency evaluation program; 3. Be currently registered in another state, with no finding of abuse, neglect or misappropriation of property; 4. Submit the required application; and 5. Submit the required verification form to the credentialing agency in each state in which the applicant has been registered, certified, or licensed, unless electronic verification is available.' The statute adds the substantial-equivalence test and a clean-record condition: the applicant must be certified in another state 'with requirements that are essentially similar to the requirements for certification set out in this article', must not have committed a disciplinable act, and must have 'no record of abuse, negligent practice, or misappropriation of a patient's or resident's property or any disciplinary action taken or pending in any other state or territory' (Va. Code 54.1-3024). Endorsement normally avoids the examination entirely — the state-linked candidate handbook puts it plainly: 'If you are a nurse aide currently listed on another state's nurse aide registry, and you are seeking certification on the Virginia Nurse Aide Registry, you MAY NOT need to test.' | A nurse aide currently registered or certified in another state, in good standing, with no abuse, neglect or misappropriation finding. |
| Advanced Certified Nurse Aide — a separate, higher certificate for an existing Virginia CNA | This is Virginia's own career-ladder credential, created by statute in 2001. 18VAC90-25-110(A): the applicant shall '1. Hold current certification as a certified nurse aide in Virginia; 2. Have been certified for at least three years as a certified nurse aide; 3. Have never had a finding of abuse, neglect, or misappropriation of patient property entered on a nurse aide registry in any jurisdiction and have not had any disciplinary actions taken by the board within the five years preceding application for advanced certification; 4. Have a recommendation for advanced certification from a licensed nurse who has supervised the applicant in providing direct patient care for at least six months within the past year; and 5. Have successfully completed a minimum of 120 hours of advanced training in an approved program that includes a competency evaluation acceptable to the board.' The point of it, in the statute's words, is 'to establish a career advancement certification that will indicate enhanced competence in patient care tasks and enable certified nurse aides to expand the scope of the responsibilities and duties delegated to them' (Va. Code 54.1-3025.1(A)). It is the only Virginia nurse aide credential with a continuing-education requirement — see ce_hours. It cannot outlive the basic certificate: 'Current certification as a nurse aide in Virginia must be maintained in order to hold certification as an advanced certified nurse aide' (18VAC90-25-120(A)). ⚠ ITS RENEWAL INTERVAL IS DISPUTED BETWEEN VIRGINIA'S OWN SOURCES: the statute says the advanced certificate 'shall be renewed biennially' (Va. Code 54.1-3025.1(B)), while the Board's regulation renews it 'concurrently with the renewal of the basic certification' (18VAC90-25-120(B)) — which is annual — and the Board's fee table lists the $20 advanced renewal under a column headed 'Renewal (Annual)'. Both are recorded in ce_hours and neither is treated as superseding the other. | A Virginia CNA of at least three years' standing with a clean record and a supervising nurse's recommendation. |
| Registered Medication Aide (RMA) — a SEPARATE Board of Nursing registration, not covered by this record | Virginia REGISTERS medication aides under Va. Code 54.1-3041 through 54.1-3043 and 18VAC90-60, a different chapter from the one governing nurse aides. The board's published fees show it on a different cycle from the CNA certificate — application $50, ANNUAL renewal $30 plus $15 if late, reinstatement $90 ($120 after suspension or revocation), duplicate $15. The board also runs a separate Advanced Registered Medication Aide credential and separately approves Medication Aide education programs. This record covers the nurse aide certificate and the advanced nurse aide certificate only. | Not covered here — named because the same board issues it and because it appears on the same fee schedule and the same public lookup. |
Who does NOT need this license — exemptions
Virginia’s exclusions are two lines of statute and they are drawn around HOLDING OUT rather than around the work or the setting. Va. Code 54.1-3027: ‘This article shall not be construed to affect or apply to: 1. The gratuitous care of friends or family members; 2. A person for hire who does not represent himself as or hold himself out to the public as a certified nurse aide. However, a person for hire who is not a certified nurse aide in accordance with this article shall not hold himself out as a certified nurse aide or be employed as a certified nurse aide.’ Read carefully, that second clause does two things at once: it exempts paid caregiving work performed by someone who does not claim the credential, and it then forbids that person from being ’employed as a certified nurse aide.’ So Virginia’s certification requirement attaches to the title and to the job classification, not to the tasks. The reinforcing provision is the title statute: ‘No person shall use or assume the title “Certified Nurse Aide” or abbreviation “C.N.A.” or any words, letters, signs, or devices to indicate that person is a certified nurse aide unless certified by the Board’ (Va. Code 54.1-3022). A THIRD, IMPLIED CARVE-OUT sits in the education rules: nurse aide students perform client care as part of an approved program under an instructor who is ‘on site solely to supervise the students’ (18VAC90-26-30(G)), wearing identification that ‘clearly distinguishes them as a “nurse aide student”’ (18VAC90-26-50(B)). A GRANDFATHER PROVISION remains on the books: the Board shall add to the registry ‘any individual determined by the Board of Nursing as being qualified to be a nurse aide by reason of training in accordance with federal law prior to October 1, 1989’, and those individuals ‘shall meet any continuing requirements of the Board to retain certification’ (Va. Code 54.1-3028). WHAT VIRGINIA DOES NOT PUBLISH: an equivalent of the federal 120-day window that lets a certified nursing facility employ an untrained aide while they certify. Searched on 2026-08-16 across Va. Code 54.1-3022 through 54.1-3028.1, 18VAC90-25 in full, 18VAC90-26 in full, the Board’s Nurse Aide and Fees pages and the state-linked candidate handbook, and no such window appears in any of them; that federal allowance runs through nursing-home certification rules rather than through the Board’s chapter, and this record makes no claim about it. Also not found: any exemption for a licensed nurse, a home care worker or an assisted living aide, because the statute never draws the line by setting in the first place.
Fees
VIRGINIA CHARGES NO APPLICATION FEE FOR THE BASIC NURSE AIDE CERTIFICATE — the Board’s published fee table lists ‘Certified Nurse Aide (CNA)’ with an Application of $0, an annual Renewal of $30, a Reinstatement of $30, a Duplicate CNA of $0 and a Returned Check of $50. The regulation matches on the renewal side and simply contains no application fee: 18VAC90-25-16(A) lists ‘Annual renewal for certified nurse aide $30’, ‘Handling fee for returned check or dishonored credit card or debit card $50’, and then only the advanced-certification fees — application $25, renewal $20, reinstatement $30. ‘Fees shall not be refunded once submitted’ (18VAC90-25-16(B)). THE EXAMINATION IS SEPARATE AND IS NOT A STATE FEE. The state-linked candidate handbook publishes it: Written Examination Only $45, Oral Examination Only $45, Skills Examination Only $95. ‘You must pay for both the Skills Evaluation and the Written (or Oral) Examination the first time you test’, so a first sitting is $140. ‘Fees are not refundable’, and ‘Payment must be made in the form of a credit card, debit card, single use card, or electronic voucher. Vouchers can be purchased by the training programs.’ WHO ACTUALLY PAYS: ‘Under federal and Virginia laws, nursing homes are required to pay the NNAAP fees for their nurse aide employees, including individuals required to retest.’ TUITION IS ALSO NOT A STATE FEE, and for many students it is not a fee at all — an approved program must ‘Impose no fee for any portion of the program, including any fees for textbooks or other required course materials, on any nurse aide student who, on the date on which the student begins the program, is either employed or has an offer of employment from a facility’ (18VAC90-26-20(B)(2)). FOR CONTEXT, the same Board table prices a registered nurse licence at $190 application and $140 biennial renewal and a Registered Medication Aide at $50 application and $30 annual renewal — the nurse aide certificate is the cheapest credential the Board issues. Payment method for Board fees: ‘Fees shall be paid by check or money order made payable to the Treasurer of Virginia and forwarded to the board. Online payments shall be paid by debit or credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover). All fees are nonrefundable.’ Searched on 2026-08-16 and NOT found: any late fee or penalty for a late CNA renewal (the Board’s table shows late-renewal surcharges for RN, LPN, APRN, LMT and RMA but the CNA row carries none), and any endorsement-specific fee.
Exam
Two parts, both required: a written (or oral) examination and a skills evaluation. ‘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 Virginia Nurse Aide Registry.’ WRITTEN: ‘The written part of the test is comprised of seventy (70) multiple-choice questions written in English.’ ORAL, as an alternative for candidates who read English with difficulty: ‘The Oral Examination includes sixty (60) multiple-choice questions and ten (10) reading comprehension/word recognition questions’, and it must be requested at registration — ‘If you want to take the Oral Examination, you must request it when you submit your registration form.’ SKILLS: ‘For the Skills portion test, you will be asked to perform five (5) randomly selected nurse aide skills. You will be rated on these skills by a Nurse Evaluator.’ The subject areas are fixed by statute rather than by the vendor — Va. Code 54.1-3025 requires the clinical competency evaluation to include ‘1. Basic nursing skills; 2. Personal care skills; 3. Recognition of mental health and social services needs; 4. Basic restorative services; and 5. Resident or patient rights.’ ATTEMPTS AND WINDOW: three attempts and two years from completion of training, after which the candidate ‘shall reenroll and successfully complete another approved nurse aide training program before reapplying’ (18VAC90-25-71(B)); the handbook adds that ‘Both exams must be passed under the same application.’ A MEDICAL RESTRICTION MOST STATES DO NOT SPELL OUT: ‘Federal law states that you cannot take the Skills Evaluation if you are on restricted activity or light duty for medical reasons. You must be able to complete all required skills included in the Skills Evaluation. THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS RULE. Candidates who are on light duty are not permitted to take the Skills Evaluation, but light duty does not prevent you from taking the Written Examination.’ WHAT VIRGINIA DOES NOT PUBLISH, searched on 2026-08-16 across 18VAC90-25, 18VAC90-26, the Board’s nurse aide and fees pages and the state-linked handbook articles read: a passing score or a time allowance. The Board reserves the passing standard to itself by rule and does not print the number, and the handbook articles read here do not state one. Candidates who need to challenge a result use the handbook’s Grievance Process; the Board separately publishes a skills list and an accommodations request form through its contractor.
Renewal & continuing education
Annual after a two-year first term — an unusual structure, and both halves are sourced. THE FIRST TERM: ‘Initial certification shall be for two years’ (18VAC90-25-70(C)); the state-linked handbook repeats it — ‘Your initial nurse aide certification is valid for two (2) years.’ THEREAFTER, ANNUAL: ‘Each certificate issued to practice as a nurse aide shall be renewed annually upon payment of any specified fee’ (Va. Code 54.1-3026), and the Board’s fee table heads the CNA column ‘Renewal (Annual) $30’. WHAT YOU ATTEST TO — AND NOTE THE MISMATCHED LOOK-BACK: ‘The certified nurse aide shall annually submit a completed renewal application with the required fee and attestation of performance of nursing-related activities for compensation within the two years immediately preceding the expiration date’ (18VAC90-25-80(A)(2)). So the filing is yearly but the work test looks back two years, which tracks the federal 24-month standard. The handbook states the same rule from the candidate’s side: ‘You are required to personally attest that you have been employed for pay performing nursing-related activities within the previous two (2) years. To be renewed and maintained on the Registry, you must meet the work requirement mentioned above or you will be required to retake the NNAAP Examination to demonstrate continued competency.’ THE CONSEQUENCE OF NOT MEETING IT is spelled out in the rule: ‘A certified nurse aide who has not performed nursing-related activities for compensation during the two years preceding the expiration date of the certification shall repeat and pass the nurse aide state examination prior to applying for renewal of certification’ (18VAC90-25-80(A)(4)). NOTICE — TWO DIFFERENT LEAD TIMES, BOTH OFFICIAL: the regulation says ‘No less than 30 days prior to the expiration date of the current certification, a notice for renewal shall be sent by the board to the address of record’ (18VAC90-25-80(A)(1)), while the Board-linked handbook says ‘At least sixty (60) days prior to the expiration date of your certificate, a renewal notice will be mailed to your last address on record.’ This record reports both and resolves neither; either way the notice is not a condition of the duty — ‘Failure to receive the application for renewal shall not relieve the certificate holder of the responsibility for renewing the certification by the expiration date’ (18VAC90-25-80(A)(3)), and the handbook adds the practical fallback: ‘If you do not receive your renewal notice by the middle of the month in which your certificate is due to expire, contact the Board of Nursing.’ ONE CYCLE THIS SECTION DOES NOT SETTLE: the ADVANCED certified nurse aide’s. The Board renews it concurrently with the basic certificate — so annually, at $20 on its fee table’s ‘Renewal (Annual)’ column — while Va. Code 54.1-3025.1(B) says an advanced certificate ‘shall be renewed biennially’. ce_hours states both. Employment can be documented on the Board’s Employment Verification Form - Certified Nurse Aide, which asks for employer name and address, start and end dates, role or job held, and the CNA certificate number, and is returned to [email protected] . NONE for the basic Certified Nurse Aide certificate. Virginia’s renewal condition is paid nursing-related work in the preceding two years, attested annually, and nothing else: Va. Code 54.1-3026 requires ‘proof of compliance with any requirements of law and regulation concerning continued employment or competence’, and the Board implemented that as the work attestation at 18VAC90-25-80(A)(2) with no education element anywhere in 18VAC90-25. Tiers searched on 2026-08-16: 18VAC90-25 in full (sections 10, 15, 16, 70, 71, 72, 80, 81, 100, 110, 120), Va. Code 54.1-3022 through 54.1-3028.1, the Board’s Nurse Aide application page, its Fees page and the state-linked candidate handbook. CONTINUING EDUCATION EXISTS ONLY AT THE ADVANCED LEVEL, and it is modest — though HOW OFTEN the advanced certificate renews is itself a statute-versus-regulation conflict, and this record reports both sides. THE STATUTE SAYS EVERY TWO YEARS: ‘An advanced certificate issued to a certified nurse aide shall be renewed biennially upon payment of any specified fee. The certified nurse aide shall submit proof of compliance with any requirements of law and regulation concerning competence as established by the Board’ (Va. Code 54.1-3025.1(B), enacted 2001 c. 448 and never amended). THE BOARD SAYS EVERY YEAR, TWICE OVER: its regulation ties the advanced certificate to the basic one — ‘An advanced certification shall be renewed concurrently with the renewal of the basic certification as a nurse aide in Virginia’ (18VAC90-25-120(B)) — and the basic certificate renews annually (Va. Code 54.1-3026; 18VAC90-25-80(A)(2)); and the Board’s published fee table puts the Advanced Certified Nurse Aide row under a column headed ‘Renewal (Annual)’, at $20. Both texts are Virginia’s own and this record resolves neither. What is not in doubt is what the Board actually asks for at renewal: an advanced certified nurse aide renews concurrently with the basic certificate by ‘Attesting to completion of at least three contact hours per year of continuing education and training in any of the competency areas identified in the advanced certification training program. The board may grant an extension or waiver of the continuing education requirement based on good cause shown by the certified nurse aide’ (18VAC90-25-120(B)(2)). Reinstating an advanced certificate requires evidence ’that the applicant has completed all required hours of continuing education and training’ (18VAC90-25-120(D)(4)). By contrast the Board’s Registered Medication Aide credential carries a separate statutory continuing-training duty (Va. Code 54.1-3043), which is a different credential and not covered here.
How to apply
Applications are handled by Virginia Board of Nursing, Department of Health Professions (DHP) — the same board that licenses registered nurses, practical nurses, advanced practice registered nurses, licensed certified midwives and massage therapists. It certifies nurse aides, registers medication aides, maintains the nurse aide registry, and approves nurse aide education programs. Office: Perimeter Center, 9960 Mayland Drive, Suite 300, Henrico, Virginia 23233-1463. Unlike most states, Virginia does not split this occupation between a health department and a licensing agency — one board owns training approval, certification, the registry and discipline.. Start at the official application page .
Verify a license in Virginia
Virginia Department of Health Professions (the Board’s own agency); the Board links it as License Lookup and its testing contractor links the same address as ‘Search Virginia Nurse Aide Registry’ publishes a public license search , searchable by license number, last four digits of Social Security number plus last name, occupation (Certified Nurse Aide; Advanced Certified Nurse Aide listed separately), first name or business name, last name, state, ZIP code or status (current or expired licensees). It covers Every DHP-regulated health professional in Virginia, with Certified Nurse Aide and Advanced Certified Nurse Aide as separate entries in the occupation list. This IS the Virginia nurse aide registry lookup — the Board’s contractor links this exact address under the label ‘Search Virginia Nurse Aide Registry’, which is consistent with Virginia treating the certificate and the registry entry as one status. The page states its own authority: ‘This serves as primary source verification of the credential issued by the Commonwealth of Virginia and meets the requirements of the Joint Commission.’ It also states its coverage window: ‘You are searching database containing current (unexpired) licensee records and also records of licensees whose license has expired since January 1, 2000. Persons desiring to search only persons or businesses with current (unexpired) licenses should be advised to select the Status of “Current Licensees”.’ TWO LIMITS WORTH KNOWING BEFORE YOU RELY ON IT. First, it is throttled for volume users: ‘Not For Commercial Use! … this service is not intended to provide bulk license information to businesses or commercial entities. Businesses wishing to access bulk license information must subscribe to DHP Health Professional Data Services. If you attempt to use this site to verify multiple licenses without a subscription, limits are in place and an error will appear once the limit has been reached.’ Second, a search runs as a form submission, so a result has no web address of its own — you cannot bookmark, email or cite one, and anyone watching this address from outside sees only the empty search screen. The page carries its own freshness stamp (‘Current as of’ with a date and time), and no are-you-a-person challenge was presented when the form was opened on 2026-08-16. The search-by list above was read from the live form’s own inputs and select options, not from a description of the tool. A candidate who needs to know whether they are listed is directed by the Board’s contractor to the same place: visit the Board ’to … Find out if you are currently listed on the Registry.’.
Records come from Virginia Department of Health Professions (the Board’s own agency); the Board links it as License Lookup and its testing contractor links the same address as ‘Search Virginia 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.