CNA Requirements in Vermont — Training, Exam & Registry

How to become a CNA in Vermont: a 75-hour state training minimum — verified from Vermont State Board of Nursing.

Source-verified

Requirements below are drawn from Vermont State Board of Nursing, within the Office of Professional Regulation (OPR) in the Office of the Vermont Secretary of State — 'The Vermont State Board of Nursing, together with the Secretary of State's Office of Professional Regulation (OPR), provide governance, oversight and enforcement for your profession.' The Board issues the licence. A SECOND agency owns the training and testing side: the Department of Disabilities, Aging, and Independent Living (DAIL), through its Division of Licensing and Protection (DLP), approves the Nurse Aide Training and Competency Evaluation Program and approves the competency examination (Board rule 10-1; 26 V.S.A. 1645(c)(1)). (official site) and last verified August 16, 2026. Boards change fees and rules often — confirm before acting.

Requirements at a glance

What the credential is: Vermont LICENSES nursing assistants. This is not a certification and not a registry listing: the credential is a licence issued by the Vermont State Board of Nursing under the same chapter that licenses registered nurses and practical nurses, and the definition of 'License' in that chapter includes it — 'a current authorization permitting the practice of nursing as a registered nurse, licensed practical nurse, or advanced practice registered nurse, or the practice as a nursing assistant' (26 V.S.A. 1572(5)). The credential's name is Licensed Nursing Assistant, and OPR itself supplies the translation for out-of-state readers, heading one of its own sections 'Out of State Licensed Nursing Assistants (LNA aka CNA)'. Vermont backs the licence with both title protection and a practice bar: 'A person shall not use any letters, words, or insignia in connection with the person's name that indicate or imply that the person is a nursing assistant unless the person is licensed in accordance with this subchapter', and 'A person shall not practice nursing or nursing-related functions as defined in section 1641 of this subchapter without being licensed by the Board' (26 V.S.A. 1644(a)-(b)). THE SPLIT THAT DEFINES VERMONT: two agencies own different halves. The Board of Nursing at OPR issues, renews and disciplines the licence. The Department of Disabilities, Aging, and Independent Living, through its Division of Licensing and Protection, approves the training programs and the competency examination — the Board's own rule conditions licensure on 'a nursing assistant education program approved by the Department of Disabilities, Aging, and Independent Living' and 'a competency examination approved by the Department of Disabilities, Aging, and Independent Living or an equivalent exam acceptable to the Board' (Rule 10-1), and the statute names the same department when it comes to re-examination after a lapse (26 V.S.A. 1645(c)(1)).
Age: 16, set by statute rather than by rule: an applicant must be 'no less than 16 years of age' (26 V.S.A. 1642(1)). Vermont sets a higher floor of 18 only for the Medication Nursing Assistant specialty (Rule 10-6(b)). No Vermont source read on 2026-08-16 states a separate employment-side minimum age.
Criminal background check — fingerprint-supported, and slow: Required of every first-time applicant and, since a 2022 change, of expired licensees renewing. OPR: 'Fingerprint-supported background checks are required for nursing licensure in Vermont. If you have done a criminal background check for OPR nursing licensure and have not had a lapse in licensure you DO NOT have to complete another criminal background check.' The Board rule makes it an element of licensure by both examination and endorsement — 'complete a federal criminal background check' (Rules 10-1(b), 10-3(b)). MECHANICS: after attesting to the FBI release questions in the online application the applicant receives a Fingerprint Authorization Certificate by email in 3-5 business days, takes it to a fingerprinting appointment, and the certificate must travel with the prints to the Vermont Crime Information Center — 'Remember to send your fingerprints and Fingerprint Authorization Certificate (FAC form) to VCIC, not to OPR. We are unable to accept fingerprint cards, and you will have to start the process over.' Prints taken outside Vermont 'must be "ink prints" completed on the FD-258 fingerprint card', and the reason given on the card should be 'VT License' rather than employment. TIMING IS THE REAL CONSTRAINT: 'Once VCIC receives your information, it can take 12 weeks for OPR to receive results' — which is why the 90-day provisional licence exists. On renewal the delay is absorbed rather than passed on: 'License renewal will not be delayed by pending criminal background checks.' Changing credential type does not always mean a new check: 'If you are applying for a new nurse licensure type, for example, LNA to LPN, LPN to RN, or RN to APRN and had completed a background check for your current license within 12 months of your new application, you do not have to repeat your criminal background check.'
Who pays for training and testing — and the two different payers: Vermont splits the bill by when you were hired, and it is one of the few states where the STATE itself pays part of it. DAIL's Nurse Aide Training and Testing Reimbursement Procedures: 'Licensed Nursing Assistants (LNAs) who successfully complete a Nurse Aide Training and Competency Evaluation Program (NATCEP) and are employed by a federally certified nursing facility, are not responsible to pay for LNA training and testing costs', and 'DAIL (DLP) must reimburse the LNA for the cost of the testing.' On training: 'If the individual is employed by or has an offer of employment from a certified nursing facility on the date on which the training course begins, the nursing facility must cover the cost of the training program, to include any fees for textbooks or other required course materials.' If not, and the person is hired within a year: 'If the individual is not employed by, nor has an offer of employment from a certified nursing facility on the date on which the individual began the training course, but becomes employed by or receives an offer of employment from a facility no later than 12 months after completing a NATCEP, the State must provide payment for costs incurred in completing the program', pro rata — 'for every month they are employed as an LNA at a certified facility, they are eligible to receive 1/12th of the cost of the training program for a total of 12 months if continuously employed', paid quarterly and starting after 90 days of employment. TO CLAIM IT the LNA sends DLP a zero-balance invoice from the testing vendor and/or training program, a letter from the CMS-certified facility stating job title and dates of employment including the date of the employment offer, and their name, mailing address and Social Security number. One boundary is explicit: 'Neither the State nor the nursing facility is responsible for reimbursing an individual for licensure expenses' — the $25 application fee is the candidate's own.
The Authorization to Test letter: Vermont puts OPR upstream of the examination: the application goes in first, and only then does the candidate get cleared to test. OPR: 'Once your application is received, reviewed and your education has been approved, you will be issued a formal authorization to take the ... written and skills exams.' The testing provider will not release results without it — 'You must upload your Authorization to Test from the Vermont Office of Professional Regulation to your Excel portal after registering for your tests ... Failure to upload these documents will result in an inability to receive results and receive your License from the Vermont Office of Professional Regulation.' The same letter gates the reinstatement route: 'Individuals looking to reinstate their license MUST have received an Authorization to Test letter from the Vermont Office of Professional Regulation.'
Scope of practice — what an LNA may and may not do: The Board defines it by categories rather than by a task list. Rule 10-4(a): 'An LNA's scope of practice includes: (1) Basic Nursing Care; (2) Personal Care; (3) Basic Restorative Care; (4) Psychosocial Support; (5) Care of the Cognitively Impaired; (6) Communication; and (7) Patient Safety.' Anything beyond that arrives by delegation — 'Additional tasks and skills may be performed by LNAs through the delegation process by APRNs, RNs and LPNs' (Rule 10-4(b)) — and the ceiling is absolute: 'An LNA may not perform activities which exceed the scope defined by the level of licensure. This means that LNAs may not perform, even if directed to do so, an activity not appropriate to their level of licensure or otherwise prohibited by law. Examples of activities not within the LNA scope of practice include nursing assessments, nursing judgments, and development of the plan of care' (Rule 10-4(c)). The Board's LNA Scope of Practice position statement puts the accountability on the individual: 'Every LNA is accountable for practicing within the LNA scope of practice. Successful completion of an approved nursing assistant education program and passing the state competency exam imply basic competency in the skills and tasks listed in the LNA scope of practice.'
Processing times: OPR publishes them and they are short by licensing standards: 'Please allow a minimum of 5 full business days for processing' for a first-time or out-of-state application, and 'Please allow 3-5 business days for processing' for a renewal. The long pole is the background check at 12 weeks, not the licence file.

Legal basis

Vermont State Board of Nursing, within the Office of Professional Regulation (OPR) in the Office of the Vermont Secretary of State — ‘The Vermont State Board of Nursing, together with the Secretary of State’s Office of Professional Regulation (OPR), provide governance, oversight and enforcement for your profession.’ The Board issues the licence. A SECOND agency owns the training and testing side: the Department of Disabilities, Aging, and Independent Living (DAIL), through its Division of Licensing and Protection (DLP), approves the Nurse Aide Training and Competency Evaluation Program and approves the competency examination (Board rule 10-1; 26 V.S.A. 1645(c)(1)). administers certified nursing assistant licensing in Vermont. 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

Vermont’s own term is LICENSED NURSING ASSISTANT, abbreviated LNA, and the state supplies the translation itself: the Secretary of State heads one of its own sections ‘Out of State Licensed Nursing Assistants (LNA aka CNA)’. So ‘CNA’, ‘certified nursing assistant’ and ‘CNA certification in Vermont’ all point at a credential Vermont does not issue under those names — what you get here is a LICENCE, on the same statutory footing as a practical nurse’s, and 26 V.S.A. 1572(5) defines ‘License’ to include ’the practice as a nursing assistant.’ Statutory drafting uses the bare noun ’nursing assistant’ (26 V.S.A. 1641-1646) while the Board’s rules, forms and licence records use ‘LNA’; the Board’s Part 10 is headed ‘Licensed Nurse Assistants’ with ‘Nurse’ rather than ‘Nursing’, so both spellings appear in official text. Three further naming traps. (1) MNA — Medication Nursing Assistant — is a SPECIALTY DESIGNATION added to an LNA licence, not a separate licence and not a higher grade of aide. (2) NATCEP is the training program (Nurse Aide Training and Competency Evaluation Program), the term DAIL uses on the approval side; it is not the credential. (3) The Nurse Licensure Compact covers RNs and LPNs and does not reach nursing assistants, so a multistate nursing licence is irrelevant to this credential. Finally, the two agencies are routinely confused: the Office of Professional Regulation at the Secretary of State ISSUES the licence, while the Department of Disabilities, Aging, and Independent Living APPROVES the training program and the competency examination.

License types & fees

Type	Notes	Who Its For
Licensed Nursing Assistant (LNA) — licensure by examination	Vermont LICENSES this occupation — the statute is titled 'Nursing assistant licensure by examination' and reads: 'The Board may issue a license to practice as a nursing assistant to an applicant who: (1) is no less than 16 years of age; (2) has completed an approved nursing assistant education program; and (3) has successfully completed the competency examination' (26 V.S.A. 1642). The Board's rule adds three operative details the statute leaves out: the education program must have been completed 'within two years of application', it must be 'approved by the Department of Disabilities, Aging, and Independent Living or its equivalent in another U.S. jurisdiction', and the applicant must 'complete a federal criminal background check' (Rule 10-1). A student route exists inside the same rule — an applicant may instead 'be a student in an RN or LPN education program who has completed studies equivalent thereto', supported by a Verification of Education Form for Nursing Students filed by the nursing school. Vermont's own definition of what an LNA is: 'an individual who performs nursing or nursing-related functions under the supervision of a licensed nurse' (26 V.S.A. 1641(2)).	A person at least 16 years old who has completed a Vermont-approved nursing assistant education program (or is a nursing student with equivalent studies) and passed the state competency examination.
LNA licensure by endorsement — for an out-of-state nursing assistant licensed under three years	26 V.S.A. 1643(a): 'The Board may issue a license to practice as a nursing assistant to an applicant who: (1) is licensed or registered in another U.S. jurisdiction; and (2) has met the practice requirements set by the Board by rule.' The rule supplies those requirements — the applicant must 'be licensed or certified as nursing assistant by another state', 'complete a federal criminal background check', and 'demonstrate, via job description or other appropriate employer verification, at least 50 days (400 hours), in the two years preceding application, of employment as a nurse assistant or in a role, regardless of title or obligation to hold a license, that would reasonably tend to reinforce the training and skills of a licensed nurse assistant' (Rule 10-3). OPR adds that endorsement also requires 'Verification of your licensure submitted from your original state of licensure and from your most recent state of licensure, if different.'	A person licensed or certified as a nursing assistant in another U.S. jurisdiction who does not qualify for Fast Track Endorsement.
LNA Fast Track Endorsement — for an out-of-state nursing assistant licensed three years or more	Rule 4-1: 'An applicant with three or more years of full-time licensed practice, as an LNA, LPN, RN, or APRN, in good standing, in a U.S. jurisdiction outside Vermont, may qualify for expedited licensure in Vermont. See 3 V.S.A. 136a.' OPR's LNA instructions describe what it takes in practice: the online application and fee, and a 'Verification of Licensure form. Provide verification of your most current state of licensure. Verification must show proof of continuous licensure in good standing for 3 years preceding the date of this application.' Note what this route does NOT ask for: the 50-days/400-hours employment demonstration that ordinary endorsement requires.	A person actively licensed or certified in good standing as a nursing assistant in another U.S. jurisdiction for three or more years immediately preceding the application.
LNA licensure for a military medic — a mandatory-issue route	This is one of the few places in the statute where the Board's discretion disappears. 26 V.S.A. 1643(b): 'Except as otherwise provided by law, the Board SHALL issue a license to practice as a nursing assistant to an applicant who: (1) is a service member or a veteran; (2) has received designation by the U.S. Armed Forces as a 68W Combat Medic Specialist or equivalent; and (3) is certified as a National Registry Emergency Medical Technician.' 'Veteran' is defined narrowly for this purpose: 'a former service member who received an honorable discharge or a general discharge under honorable conditions from active duty not more than two years prior to submitting an application for licensure' (1643(c)(2)). OPR's instructions list the uploads: 'a copy of your military identification, technical school training and NREMT' for a serving member, or 'a DD214, technical school training and NREMT' for a veteran.	A service member or a recently discharged veteran who was a U.S. Armed Forces combat medic and holds NREMT certification.
Provisional LNA licence — a 90-day bridge, issued once	OPR: 'A 90-day provisional license can be issued if all application requirements are complete EXCEPT for the official verification of licensure or the results of a criminal background check ... A 90-day provisional can only be issued once per applicant and cannot be extended.' The trigger is a fingerprint receipt, not a completed check: 'In order to be eligible for a provisional license you will need to upload your fingerprint receipt to your online account.' The statutory basis is 3 V.S.A. 130, and the Board's rule on provisional licensure says only that much: 'The Board is authorized to issue provisional licenses to certain applicants who have met other licensure requirements but whose eligibility for licensure is contingent upon acceptable verification of licensure from another jurisdiction or the results of a required criminal background check. See 3 V.S.A. § 130' (Rule 4-5, quoted in full — the rule is one sentence and adds no conditions). IT IS OPR'S APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS, NOT THE RULE, THAT MAKE THE PROVISIONAL OPTIONAL. The LNA Application Instructions (February 2026) state: '3 V.S.A. §130 allows for a 90-day provisional license to expedite entry into the workforce for applicants who have otherwise met licensure requirements and are either awaiting verification of licensure or the results of a criminal background check. A provisional license may be issued based on a voluntary agreement between the applicant and the Office. An applicant is not required to request one.' The distinction is worth keeping straight in Vermont specifically, because an OPR instruction sheet and a Board rule are separate instruments that can and do diverge here — see lapse_rule, where they say different things. The reason it matters: 'Once VCIC receives your information, it can take 12 weeks for OPR to receive results', and without a provisional licence 'If you do not complete the process within 90 days you will not be able to work in Vermont until the background check results have been received.'	An applicant who has met every other licensure requirement but is waiting on the criminal background check result or on verification of licensure from another state.
Medication Nursing Assistant (MNA) — a specialty designation ON an LNA licence, not covered by this record	'A medication nursing assistant (MNA) is a licensed nursing assistant authorized by a specialty designation to administer medications in limited settings set out by 26 V.S.A. 1641' (Rule 10-5). Eligibility is demanding: an unencumbered Vermont LNA licence, age 18, a high school diploma or G.E.D., 'two years' experience consisting of no fewer than 4,000 hours of LNA experience, of which at least one year and 2,000 hours were acquired in a long-term care nursing facility', a Board-approved MNA training program completed within the preceding year, and MNA competency and math proficiency examinations (Rule 10-6). Approved MNA training runs 'no fewer than 60 hours of class instruction including lab/simulation instruction; and 40 hours of supervised clinical instruction' (Rule 10-13). Unlike the LNA licence, the MNA specialty carries continuing education — see ce_hours.	Not covered here — named because it is Vermont's only credential above LNA and it is added to the LNA licence rather than replacing it.

Who does NOT need this license — exemptions

Vermont’s exemptions are short and are written into the licensing subchapter itself. 26 V.S.A. 1646: ‘(a) Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to prohibit other licensed or certified professionals from carrying on in the usual manner any of the functions of their professions. (b) This subchapter does not prohibit the performance of nursing or nursing-related functions that are incidental to their program of study by persons enrolled in approved nursing assistant education and competency evaluation programs. (c) Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to conflict with the administration of medication by nonlicensees pursuant to the residential care home licensing rules adopted by the Department of Disabilities, Aging, and Independent Living.’ Three things follow. FIRST, another licensed or certified professional — a nurse, for instance — does not need an LNA licence to do aide-type work within their own profession. SECOND, students in an approved program may perform nursing-related functions as part of the program, which is what makes clinical training lawful. THIRD, subsection (c) preserves a genuinely separate scheme: medication administration by unlicensed staff in residential care homes runs on DAIL’s residential care home licensing rules, not on the Medication Nursing Assistant specialty. WHAT VERMONT DOES NOT DO is limit the licence requirement to nursing homes. The prohibition in 26 V.S.A. 1644(b) is written against the FUNCTION rather than the setting — ‘A person shall not practice nursing or nursing-related functions as defined in section 1641 of this subchapter without being licensed by the Board’ — and ’nursing or nursing-related functions’ means ’nursing-related activities as defined by rule, which include basic nursing and restorative duties for which a nursing assistant is prepared by education and supervised practice’ (1641(3)). There is no equivalent of the federal 120-day trainee grace period in Vermont’s statute or in the Board’s rules; no Vermont source read on 2026-08-16 publishes one, so this record claims none. There is also NO volunteer carve-out in 26 V.S.A. 1646 and no age-based or employer-based exemption. The penalty for getting this wrong is in 26 V.S.A. 1644(c): ‘A person who violates this section shall be subject to the penalties set forth in 3 V.S.A. 127’ — a civil penalty of up to $5,000, and criminally a fine of up to $5,000 or up to one year’s imprisonment, or both.

Fees

STATE FEES ARE SET BY STATUTE, and they are among the lowest for any Vermont profession. 26 V.S.A. 1577: ‘Applicants and persons regulated under this chapter shall pay the following fees: (1) Nursing Assistants (A) Application $25.00 (B) Biennial renewal $65.00.’ OPR’s published fee chart matches exactly — ‘075 - Licensed Nursing Assistant’ with a $65 renewal fee, a $25 application fee, and a renewal date of ‘November 30th of Even Years’ — and the chart explains where the numbers come from: ‘Regulatory fees are established by the Legislature and listed in the Vermont Statutes … Board profession fees can be found within each profession’s chapter in 26 V.S.A.’ Note the direction of the two figures: renewing costs more than applying. Both application and renewal fees are non-refundable. LATE RENEWAL IS THE EXPENSIVE PART, and it escalates monthly. 3 V.S.A. 127(d)(1): a person whose licence has expired for not more than one biennial period may reinstate ‘by meeting renewal requirements for the profession, paying the profession’s renewal fee, and paying the following nondisciplinary reinstatement penalty: (A) if reinstatement occurs within 30 days after the expiration date, $100.00; or (B) if reinstatement occurs more than 30 days after the expiration date, an amount equal to the renewal fee increased by $40.00 for every additional month or fraction of a month, provided the total penalty shall not exceed $1,500.00.’ Relief is possible but narrow: ‘A licensee seeking reinstatement may submit a petition for relief from the reinstatement penalty, which a board may grant only upon a finding of exceptional circumstances or extreme hardship’, and no penalty is assessed ‘for any period during which a licensee was a member of the U.S. Armed Forces on active duty.’ OPR states the practical version: ‘Any penalties associated with your late renewal will need to be paid in order for your license to be renewed. You may contact the renewal clerk if you wish to receive the form to request relief from the reinstatement penalty.’ VERIFICATION TO ANOTHER STATE, from the Secretary of State’s nursing apply-and-renew page under ‘Verification of Licensure — From OPR to another licensing authority’: ‘Please log in to your online services account to request a verification of licensure. There is a $20 fee. OPR offers official online verification at no cost at Find a Professional.’ The same page adds that the paper forms it publishes ‘can be used but are not required’, that ‘Every state is different, please contact the receiving state’, and that ‘Verifications are processed within 5 business days.’ NOT A STATE FEE: the examination. The testing provider charges ‘$200’ for the written and skills tests together, and the Board’s fee statute contains no examination fee. NOT SET BY THE STATE: tuition for the nursing assistant education program. AND SEE THE REIMBURSEMENT RULE ABOVE — for an LNA employed by a federally certified nursing facility, the testing cost is reimbursed by DAIL and the training cost falls on the facility or on the State, though ‘Neither the State nor the nursing facility is responsible for reimbursing an individual for licensure expenses.’ A NO-INITIAL-RENEWAL RULE softens the first cycle: ‘An applicant issued an initial license within 90 days of the end of a licensing period will not be required to renew or pay the renewal fee. The license will be issued through the next full licensure period’ (Rule 4-4).

Exam

Two parts, both required, and you must be cleared by OPR before you can sit them. ‘The Competency Exam includes two parts: a written test and a skills test. You need to pass both sections in order to obtain your license.’ REGISTRATION: candidates book a date through the testing provider’s schedule and pay at the end — ‘your seat is NOT reserved until your payment is received’ — then upload the Authorization to Test letter from the Office of Professional Regulation to the testing portal. ‘You will be registering for 2 tests: Written Test and Skills Test for combined exam fees of $200.’ ATTEMPTS — THREE, then back to school: ‘A candidate who has not passed LNA exams after three attempts must repeat an approved nursing assistant education program’ (Board rule 10-2). RESULTS go to the candidate, the training program coordinator, DAIL’s Division of Licensing and Protection and OPR. STUDY MATERIAL the provider publishes: a Nurse Aide Competency Test Guide and an MNA Competency Test Guide, plus commercially sold sample-question sets that are not part of the examination. WHAT VERMONT DOES NOT PUBLISH, searched on 2026-08-16 across the Secretary of State’s nursing pages, the Board’s administrative rules, DAIL’s NATCEP page and the testing provider’s LNA pages: a question count, a time allowance, a passing score, or the number of skills demonstrated. Those figures are in the provider’s test guide rather than in any state rule, so this record states none of them. NOTE that the examination is also the RE-ENTRY mechanism, not just an entry one — a lapsed licensee returning after fewer than five years away must ‘repeat and pass the competency examinations approved by the Department of Disabilities, Aging, and Independent Living before licensure renewal’ (26 V.S.A. 1645(c)(1)), and the provider offers the same competency exam ‘for those who currently hold an inactive or expired Vermont LNA License.’

Renewal & continuing education

Biennially, on a FIXED statewide date rather than on the anniversary of your licence: LNA licences expire on ‘November 30th of Even Years’ (OPR fee and renewal-date chart). ‘Licenses are valid for fixed, two-year periods. Expiration dates are printed on licenses. A license expires if not renewed by midnight on the date of expiry. Practice under an expired license is prohibited’ (Rule 4-3). WHAT YOU MUST SHOW — PAID-OR-UNPAID PRACTICE, not coursework. Rule 4-8(b): ‘LNAs shall demonstrate, via job description or other appropriate employer verification, at least 50 days (400 hours), in the two years preceding application, of employment as a nurse assistant or in a role, regardless of title or obligation to hold a license, that would reasonably tend to reinforce the training and skills of a licensed nurse assistant.’ The statute writes the same generosity into law: ‘The Board shall credit as ongoing practice those activities, regardless of title or obligation to hold a license, that reasonably tend to reinforce the training and skills of a licensee’ (26 V.S.A. 1645(b)). OPR spells out how to document work that was not itself LNA work: ‘A licensee who has worked in a position that does not require LNA licensure but reinforces the knowledge and skills of an LNA must upload into their renewal application … A copy of their job description that details essential functions of the position; and Employer verification of dates of employment and hours worked on company letterhead.’ HOW IT RUNS: ‘Renewal applications open six weeks before the expiration date and are submitted through the Online Services System’, with ‘Courtesy email reminders’ — but ’non-receipt of such reminders shall not excuse a licensee from the obligation to maintain continuous licensure or the consequences of failing to do so’ (Rule 4-7), and OPR repeats that ‘It is solely the licensee’s responsibility to know the date their license expires.’ PROOF IS ATTESTED, THEN AUDITED: ‘The current practice is that you will not be asked to upload a verification letter at the time of renewal. However, you may be selected in an audit, at which time you will need to obtain a letter verifying your practice hours … 30 days after the renewal period ends, OPR conducts an audit. A percentage of licensees are chosen at random.’ An expired licensee renewing must also complete the criminal background check — a ‘requirement as of 9/1/2022’ — but ‘License renewal will not be delayed by pending criminal background checks.’ Processing takes 3-5 business days. NONE for the LNA licence. Vermont’s renewal condition is practice, not education: the statute says only that ‘To renew a license, a nursing assistant shall meet ongoing practice requirements set by the Board by rule’ (26 V.S.A. 1645(a)), and the rule that supplies those requirements asks for 50 days (400 hours) of qualifying work in the preceding two years and nothing else (Rule 4-8(b)). The contrast inside the same rule is the proof: for RNs and LPNs, Rule 4-8(a) offers continuing education as an ALTERNATIVE to practice hours — ‘20 hours of qualifying continuing education in the two years immediately preceding the application’ — and for APRNs and MNAs the rule adds further requirements. LNAs get neither the alternative nor an obligation. CONTINUING EDUCATION DOES ATTACH TO THE MEDICATION SPECIALTY, and only there. Rule 4-8(c): ‘MNAs shall: (1) Have satisfied LNA renewal requirements; (2) Have completed 4 hours qualifying continuing education specific to medication administration; and (3) Have dedicated at least 25% of the qualifying LNA experience (100 hours) to MNA functions.’ OPR describes the subject matter it will accept for that specialty on the Secretary of State’s nursing apply-and-renew page, under the MNA renewals heading ‘Continuing Education Information’: ‘Continuing education hours will be accepted from accredited Continuing Education providers or programs on topics related to medication administration, medication safety, medication documentation, and medication error prevention.’ The same block notes that such courses may come from an employer’s accredited programs or online. Tiers searched on 2026-08-16 and confirming no LNA continuing-education requirement: 26 V.S.A. chapter 28 subchapter 4 in full (sections 1641 through 1646), 26 V.S.A. 1577, the Administrative Rules of the Vermont Board of Nursing (May 11, 2023) Parts 4 and 10 in full, the OPR LNA Renewal Instructions (March 2026), and the Secretary of State’s nursing FAQ.

How to apply

Applications are handled by Vermont State Board of Nursing, within the Office of Professional Regulation (OPR) in the Office of the Vermont Secretary of State — ‘The Vermont State Board of Nursing, together with the Secretary of State’s Office of Professional Regulation (OPR), provide governance, oversight and enforcement for your profession.’ The Board issues the licence. A SECOND agency owns the training and testing side: the Department of Disabilities, Aging, and Independent Living (DAIL), through its Division of Licensing and Protection (DLP), approves the Nurse Aide Training and Competency Evaluation Program and approves the competency examination (Board rule 10-1; 26 V.S.A. 1645(c)(1)).. Start at the official application page .

Verify a license in Vermont

Vermont Office of Professional Regulation, Office of the Secretary of State publishes a public license search . It covers Every OPR-regulated Vermont professional, including Licensed Nursing Assistants under the Nursing profession. OPR describes what it returns: ‘Find a Professional allows for verification of education, training and examination history. With this search you can find licensing and disciplinary information about any current or former licensee’, and the published result fields are ‘Name; City, State, Zip; License number & type; Issue, Effective & Expiration Dates; License Status’, plus ‘Where applicable, information regarding supervision, endorsements/specialties and disciplinary action’. The endorsements line is what surfaces a Medication Nursing Assistant specialty on an LNA record. The Board’s own rule treats this tool as authoritative: ‘A search tool on the Office website may be considered a primary source verification as to license status and expiration’ (Rule 4-3). BULK ACCESS IS BUILT IN — the same screen offers a ‘PROFESSION ROSTER DOWNLOAD’ option alongside the licensee lookup, so a whole profession’s roster can be exported without a records request. TWO CAVEATS. First, this lookup is not a complete disciplinary search: the state publishes disciplinary action through it only ‘Where applicable’, and points elsewhere for the full picture — ‘A comprehensive search of discipline is available on the Conduct Decision Search page’, which OPR links at sos.vermont.gov/opr/complaints-conduct-discipline/conduct-decision-search/. Second, this free lookup is a different thing from a formal verification sent by OPR to another licensing authority, which is a paid service. The Secretary of State’s nursing apply-and-renew page sets out both, under ‘Verification of Licensure — From OPR to another licensing authority’: ‘Please log in to your online services account to request a verification of licensure. There is a $20 fee. OPR offers official online verification at no cost at Find a Professional.’ ONE PRACTICAL LIMIT: the lookup runs as a form submission inside a case-management application whose web address carries a session identifier, so a search result has no stable address — you cannot bookmark, email or cite one, and anyone watching this page from outside sees only the empty search screen. No are-you-a-person challenge was presented when the form was opened on 2026-08-16. A NOTE ON THE ADDRESS ABOVE, so nobody mistakes it for the search screen: sos.vermont.gov/opr/find-a-professional/ is the Secretary of State’s page ABOUT the lookup. It describes the tool and lists what a result contains, but it carries no licensee-search form of its own — its only text boxes are the site-wide search. The lookup itself opens from that page in a separate case-management application on secure.professionals.vermont.gov, which is why a result has no stable address. The lookup’s search screen lives inside that separate application, and as of August 16, 2026 it does not open to a plain reader outside a browser session, so its search fields are not listed here; the result fields above are the ones OPR itself publishes.

Records come from Vermont Office of Professional Regulation, Office of the Secretary of State’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

Is a Vermont CNA licensed or certified?

Licensed — and Vermont is one of the few states where that is literally true. The credential is a Licensed Nursing Assistant (LNA) licence issued by the Vermont State Board of Nursing under the same statutory chapter that licenses registered and practical nurses, and the chapter’s definition of ‘License’ expressly includes ’the practice as a nursing assistant’ (26 V.S.A. 1572(5)). The Secretary of State supplies the translation for newcomers, heading one of its own sections ‘Out of State Licensed Nursing Assistants (LNA aka CNA)’. Vermont backs it with title protection and a practice bar: you may not imply you are a nursing assistant unless licensed, and you may not perform nursing or nursing-related functions without a licence, with penalties of up to $5,000.

How many training hours does Vermont require?

75 clock hours — the federal minimum, not more. The Division of Licensing and Protection, which approves the programs, states it plainly: ‘An approved nurse aide training and competency evaluation program must be at least 75 clock hours in length. Training includes at least 59 hours of curriculum instruction and 16 hours of supervised practical training with a live person in a laboratory or another setting.’ Note that Vermont does not require those practical hours to be worked in a nursing home — a laboratory or another setting with a live person satisfies the rule as published. There is a freshness clock on the other side: the Board licenses only an applicant who completed the program ‘within two years of application’.

Who gives the Vermont LNA exam?

Excel Testing, the provider that the Division of Licensing and Protection links as ‘Vermont Nurse Aide Testing’ and that the Secretary of State lists as the LNA examination information. It is a two-part competency exam — a written test and a skills test — and you must pass both, at a combined fee of $200. Be aware of a wrinkle in the state’s own paperwork: the Secretary of State’s LNA Application Instructions still describe the examination as ’the national Nurse Aide Assessment Program (NNAAP) written and skills exams’, which is a different, national programme. Both statements are Vermont’s, and this record reports both without choosing. Either way you cannot simply book a seat: OPR reviews your application first and issues an Authorization to Test letter, which you upload to the testing portal — without it, results will not be released.

How many times can you take the Vermont LNA exam?

Three. The Board’s rule is one sentence: ‘A candidate who has not passed LNA exams after three attempts must repeat an approved nursing assistant education program’ (Rule 10-2). Vermont publishes no waiting period between attempts and no passing score, question count or time limit in any statute or rule — those figures live in the testing provider’s competency test guide rather than in state law.

What does a Vermont LNA licence cost?

$25 to apply and $65 to renew — both set by statute at 26 V.S.A. 1577, and among the cheapest professional fees Vermont charges. The examination is separate and is not a state fee: the testing provider charges $200 for the written and skills tests together. In many cases you should not be paying for the exam at all. If you complete an approved program and are employed by a federally certified nursing facility, ‘DAIL (DLP) must reimburse the LNA for the cost of the testing’, and the training itself is covered by the facility if you were employed or held an offer when the course began, or by the State if you are hired within 12 months of finishing. The one thing nobody reimburses is the licence fee: ‘Neither the State nor the nursing facility is responsible for reimbursing an individual for licensure expenses.’

How do you renew a Vermont LNA licence, and is there continuing education?

Every two years, on a fixed statewide date — November 30 of even-numbered years — and there is no continuing education for an LNA. What Vermont asks for is practice: ‘at least 50 days (400 hours), in the two years preceding application, of employment as a nurse assistant or in a role, regardless of title or obligation to hold a license, that would reasonably tend to reinforce the training and skills of a licensed nurse assistant.’ That wording is deliberately generous, and the statute repeats it: the Board credits qualifying activities ‘regardless of title or obligation to hold a license.’ If your work was not itself LNA work you upload a job description and an employer letter on company letterhead. Renewal opens six weeks before expiry, and you attest to your hours rather than proving them up front — but 30 days after each renewal period OPR audits a random percentage of licensees. Only the Medication Nursing Assistant specialty carries continuing education, at four hours on medication administration.

What happens if a Vermont LNA licence lapses?

You may need to sit the competency exams again — and Vermont’s three official statements of the rule do not fully agree, so ask OPR before you enrol in anything. The statute, amended effective July 1 2025, says that a licensee renewing ‘after fewer than five years of absence from practice shall repeat and pass the competency examinations approved by the Department of Disabilities, Aging, and Independent Living’, and only if you fail must you ‘repeat a nursing assistant education program and competency examination.’ OPR’s current renewal instructions draw the same five-year line but put the full education program at the far end. The Board’s rule, which is older, says flatly that any licensee who does not meet the active-practice requirement ‘shall repeat the nursing assistant education program and competency examination’, with no five-year distinction. A separate reinstatement ladder applies once a licence has been expired more than two years, and at the far end of it Rule 4-10(b) says that ‘In most circumstances, completion of an approved nursing re-entry program is a minimum prerequisite to reinstatement’ — though the rules define such a program only for practical and registered nurses, not for nursing assistants, so whether it reaches an LNA is not settled by the rule text. Separately, money accrues fast: reinstating within 30 days of expiry costs a $100 penalty on top of the renewal fee, and after that the penalty is the renewal fee plus $40 for every additional month or part month, capped at $1,500. Working on a lapsed licence is unauthorised practice, not a paperwork problem.

I am a CNA in another state — how do I get licensed in Vermont?

By endorsement, and how fast depends on how long you have held your credential. With three or more years of licensure in good standing you can use Fast Track Endorsement, which needs the application, the fee, and verification showing continuous licensure in good standing for those three years. Under three years, ordinary endorsement applies and adds a work test: you must show ‘at least 50 days (400 hours), in the two years preceding application’ of nursing-assistant work or work that reinforces those skills, plus verification from both your original and your most recent state of licensure. Either way you complete a federal criminal background check. There is no nursing-assistant compact — Vermont belongs to the Nurse Licensure Compact, but that covers RNs and LPNs only, so an out-of-state nursing assistant needs a Vermont licence.

Can you work in Vermont while waiting for the background check?

Yes, on a 90-day provisional licence — but only once. OPR will issue one when every other requirement is met and you are waiting on either the criminal background check result or verification of licensure from another state, and the trigger is proof that your prints are on their way: you upload a fingerprint receipt (or, if mailing from out of state, a receipt of mailing) to your online account. The reason it exists is timing — ‘Once VCIC receives your information, it can take 12 weeks for OPR to receive results.’ The limits are firm: ‘A 90-day provisional can only be issued once per applicant and cannot be extended’, and ‘If you do not complete the process within 90 days you will not be able to work in Vermont until the background check results have been received.’

How old do you have to be to become an LNA in Vermont?

16, and it is in the statute rather than a rule: the Board may license an applicant who ‘is no less than 16 years of age’ (26 V.S.A. 1642(1)). The higher floor of 18 applies only to the Medication Nursing Assistant specialty, which also requires a high school diploma or G.E.D., 4,000 hours of LNA experience including 2,000 in a long-term care nursing facility, an approved MNA training program and two examinations.

How do I check whether someone holds a Vermont LNA licence?

Use the Secretary of State’s Find a Professional lookup, which covers every OPR-regulated profession including Nursing. You can search by licence number, by first and last name, or by business name, and narrow by profession, profession type and status. A record shows name, city and state, licence number and type, issue, effective and expiration dates, status, and where applicable supervision, endorsements or specialties — which is how a Medication Nursing Assistant designation appears — and disciplinary action. The Board’s own rule treats it as authoritative: ‘A search tool on the Office website may be considered a primary source verification as to license status and expiration.’ Two caveats. Disciplinary action appears in a result only ‘Where applicable’, and the state points elsewhere for a complete check — ‘A comprehensive search of discipline is available on the Conduct Decision Search page’ — so a full disciplinary search runs through OPR’s Conduct Decision Search rather than the licensee lookup. And a search result has no address of its own, so you cannot bookmark or forward one: the page you start from describes the tool, while the search itself opens in a separate application. A whole profession’s roster can be exported using the Profession Roster Download option. Vermont’s Adult Abuse Registry is a separate system and is not a public lookup — only subscribing organisations can submit checks against it.

Do you have to be licensed to do nursing assistant work outside a nursing home in Vermont?

Vermont’s prohibition is written against the work, not the building. 26 V.S.A. 1644(b) says ‘A person shall not practice nursing or nursing-related functions as defined in section 1641 of this subchapter without being licensed by the Board’, and section 1641 defines those functions as nursing-related activities ‘which include basic nursing and restorative duties for which a nursing assistant is prepared by education and supervised practice’ — with no setting limit attached. The statutory exemptions are narrow: other licensed or certified professionals doing their own jobs, students performing functions incidental to an approved training program, and medication administration by unlicensed staff in residential care homes under DAIL’s separate rules. Vermont publishes no equivalent of the federal 120-day window that lets a nursing home employ an untrained aide while they certify, so this record claims none.

See every license and certification LicensingAtlas covers in Vermont.

Sources & verification

Last verified against these sources: August 16, 2026.

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

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