CNA Requirements in Washington: 108-Hour Training

How to become a CNA in Washington: a 108-hour state training minimum, the Credentia competency exam — verified from Washington State Board of Nursing (WABON).

Source-verified

Requirements below are drawn from Washington State Board of Nursing (WABON) — the regulator of nursing assistants since July 1, 2026. Applications, renewals and complaints are still filed through the Washington State Department of Health's HELMS online system, and credentials are still verified through the Department of Health's Provider Credential Search. (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: Washington issues a real credential, and it issues TWO of them at different levels. RCW 18.88A.020(9) defines a 'nursing assistant' as 'an individual, regardless of title, who, under the direction and supervision of a registered nurse or licensed practical nurse, assists in the delivery of nursing and nursing-related activities to patients in a health care facility or an individual, regardless of title, who uses their nursing assistant credential to work as a long-term care worker,' and then splits the term: 'The two levels of nursing assistants are: (a) Nursing assistant-certified, an individual certified under this chapter; and (b) Nursing assistant-registered, an individual registered under this chapter.' WHO REGULATES IT CHANGED ON JULY 1, 2026 and every older guide is now wrong on this point. WABON: 'In 2025, Senate Bill 5051 was enacted to streamline oversight of the Nursing Assistant (NA) profession by consolidating regulatory authority. Effective July 1, 2026, responsibility for credentialing and disciplinary actions will transfer from the Washington State Secretary of Health to the Washington State Board of Nursing (WABON).' What did NOT change: 'Applications, renewals, and complaints will continue to be submitted through the Department of Health's HELMS Online System; The Provider Credential Search will remain available for verifying credentials; Existing nursing assistant credentials remain valid.' The same legislation also seated nursing assistants on the board — it added 'two nursing assistant-certified members' and broadened an existing seat 'to include a licensed practical nurse or registered nurse with experience as a nursing assistant educator.'
Choose the credential BEFORE you apply — there are no refunds: WABON puts this warning at the top of its own page and it is worth repeating: 'Important: There are no refunds. Make sure you apply for the correct credential before you submit your application.' The choice is framed as: 'Choose this option if you want to begin working quickly and plan to complete Nursing Assistant Certified training soon' (NAR) versus 'Choose this option if you're planning to enroll or have completed training or want full certification before working' (NAC).
The eight NAC pathways: WABON names them as the first step of the NAC application: Traditional Training; Alternative Training — Home Care Aide; Alternative Training — Medical Assistant; Endorsement (currently holds an active out-of-state certification); Nursing School Student; Out-of-State Training; Military Training; and Out-of-Country Training. TRADITIONAL is the ordinary route: 'Washington State traditional nursing assistant certified training programs provide a complete training program for nursing assistants and require no previous training or credentials. Applicants must complete and pass the training program and the competency exams (skills and written).' The two BRIDGE routes cut the hours sharply for people who already hold a Washington Home Care Aide or Medical Assistant credential — 36 hours instead of 108, see training_hours. NURSING SCHOOL STUDENTS: 'Many students qualify after their first quarter, but your transcripts must be reviewed to make sure you meet the requirements,' and the submission is official nursing school transcripts plus a current CPR card. OUT-OF-STATE TRAINING (trained elsewhere but never certified there) and OUT-OF-COUNTRY TRAINING both need official transcripts or a certificate of completion plus a current CPR card. MILITARY TRAINING needs 'A copy of your DD214 (Member-4 or Service 2 copy) or NGB-22 (for National Guard members)' and 'Official transcripts from the Joint Services Transcript (JST) or the Community College of the Air Force (CCAF).' In each non-traditional case the outcome is the same: 'If your education is approved, you can take the state tests (skills and written exams). We will send you a letter that allows you to schedule your exams.'
Rule-level eligibility for the ordinary route: WAC 246-841A-463: to be eligible for the NAC credential a traditional-program or nursing-education-program student shall '(a) Have successfully completed a Washington state-approved training program as outlined in WAC 246-841A-440 or the equivalent in an approved nursing education program; and (b) Have successfully completed a competency evaluation.' Before approval the applicant must submit the board-approved application, proof of training from an approved program, and the fees required by WAC 246-841A-990.
Application mechanics: Four or five steps, all online. Complete the application in the HELMS Portal; pay the fee online; attach required forms and documents — 'Any yes responses to personal data questions must have supporting documents, such as official certified court documents and written statements. If documentation is not uploaded, this may delay the processing of your application'; then submit. 'After you submit your application and payment, you will get an email with your pending credential number,' which is the reference number for every later contact. For traditional-program graduates the paperwork mostly moves without the candidate: 'In most cases, your school will confirm that you completed your training, and our testing vendor, Credentia, will send your test results directly to us.'
Where nursing assistants may work: Broader than nursing homes, and the rule says so. WAC 246-841A-403: '(1) Nursing assistants work in health care facilities as identified in RCW 18.88A.020. These include nursing homes, hospitals, hospice care facilities, and agencies and home health agencies. (2) In addition, nursing assistants may work for other entities delivering health care services where licensed nurses supervise nursing assistants performing within the nursing assistant scope. Examples include, but are not limited to: Adult family homes, assisted living communities, residential treatment facilities, and correctional facilities.' Students must 'Meet other registration and certification timelines as required by the care setting.'
Delegation — an extra layer for community and in-home settings: Not part of getting certified, but it is the most common next step. RCW 18.88A.210 lets a nursing assistant-registered or nursing assistant-certified accept delegation of nursing care tasks in community-based or in-home care settings — but only after providing the delegating nurse 'a certificate of completion issued by the department of social and health services indicating the completion of basic core nurse delegation training,' being regulated under chapter 18.88A RCW and subject to the uniform disciplinary act, and meeting 'any additional training requirements identified by the board.' Insulin by injection needs more: a separate DSHS certificate of completion 'indicating completion of specialized diabetes nurse delegation training,' covering 'diabetes, insulin, sliding scale insulin orders, and proper injection procedures.'
Background disclosure: Both credentials require answers to the personal data questions, with documentation attached for every affirmative answer; WABON keeps a dedicated 'Positive Background Check' page in its licensure-requirements menu. Beyond that, no Washington source read on 2026-08-14 states a fingerprint requirement for the NAR or NAC, and this record asserts none.

Legal basis

Washington State Board of Nursing (WABON) — the regulator of nursing assistants since July 1, 2026. Applications, renewals and complaints are still filed through the Washington State Department of Health’s HELMS online system, and credentials are still verified through the Department of Health’s Provider Credential Search. administers certified nursing assistant licensing in Washington. 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

Washington’s statutory terms are NURSING ASSISTANT-CERTIFIED (NAC) and NURSING ASSISTANT-REGISTERED (NAR) — RCW 18.88A.020(9) calls them ’the two levels of nursing assistants.’ ‘CNA’ is what everyone says and what employers advertise, and it maps to the NAC; the state’s own credential abbreviation is NAC, and that is what appears in the verification portal’s credential-type list. ‘Nursing assistant license’ is loose but not wrong in Washington: WABON itself writes ‘NA License,’ ‘renew your license’ and ‘reactivate a license’ for both levels, even though the statute calls one a certificate and the other a registration. THE NAMING TRAP THAT COSTS MONEY IS NAR VERSUS NAC. They are separate credentials with separate applications and identical fees, and WABON warns ‘There are no refunds. Make sure you apply for the correct credential before you submit your application.’ An NAR is not a trainee CNA — it is a credential you can work on immediately, with a four-month certification clock if the employer is a nursing home. THREE MORE CREDENTIALS SHARE THE SAME BOARD AND ARE NOT THIS ONE: the MEDICATION ASSISTANT CERTIFICATION ENDORSEMENT (MACE), an add-on to an active NAC; the HOME CARE AIDE-CERTIFIED (HCA), a separate Washington credential under chapter 18.88B RCW that can bridge into the NAC in 36 hours; and the NURSING TECHNICIAN (NTEC), a distinct credential with its own $25 fee that appears alongside the NAR and NAC on WABON’s fee table. Finally, the regulator’s own name is a live source of confusion: nursing assistant credentials are now WABON’s, but they are still applied for and renewed in the Department of Health’s HELMS system and still verified through the Department of Health’s Provider Credential Search, and the board’s contact address is still a doh.wa.gov email.

License types & fees

Type	Notes	Who Its For
Nursing Assistant-Certified (NAC)	This is the credential most people mean by 'CNA' in Washington. RCW 18.88A.085(1): 'The board shall issue a nursing assistant certificate to any applicant who demonstrates to the board's satisfaction that the following requirements have been met: (a) Successful completion of an approved training program or successful completion of alternative training meeting established criteria adopted by the board under RCW 18.88A.087; and (b) Successful completion of the competency evaluation.' Application $85, renewal $95, renewed annually on the holder's birthday. There are eight named pathways in — see requirements.	Someone who has completed an approved nursing assistant training program (or an accepted alternative) and passed both parts of the state competency evaluation.
Nursing Assistant-Registered (NAR)	A genuinely separate, lower credential — not a provisional CNA. WABON: 'No prior training required. With this license, you may start working right away. In some circumstances, an NAR license is required before or during a training program.' RCW 18.88A.080: 'The board shall issue a registration to any applicant who pays any applicable fees and submits, on forms provided by the board, the applicant's name, address, and other information as determined by the board,' and 'Applicants must file an application with the board for registration within three days of employment.' The rule repeats it for students: a nursing assistant student shall 'Apply for a nursing assistant registration within three days of hire at a nursing home' (WAC 246-841A-403(3)(a)). The federal clock then applies: 'Registered nursing assistants (NARs) employed in a nursing home have four months to complete an approved training program and testing for certification.' Same fees as the NAC — $85 application, $95 renewal — and the same annual birthday renewal. Holding an NAC makes the NAR redundant: 'If you hold an active Nursing Assistant Certification (NAC), you do not need to renew your Nursing Assistant Registration (NAR) credential.'	Someone who wants to start working immediately, or who is required to hold a registration before or during a training program.
Medication Assistant Certification Endorsement (MACE) — an add-on to the NAC, not covered here	Named because the same board, the same application system and the same fee rule cover it, and because people conflate it with the NAC. It requires its own 100-hour training program (50 classroom theory, 10 skills lab, 40 clinical practicum under WAC 246-841A-590), its own written competency exam, and 'at least 1,000 hours of work experience in a nursing home as a nursing assistant-certified within the year immediately before the date of application.' Fees are $25 to apply and $10 to renew. This record documents the NAR and NAC only.	An active nursing assistant-certified who wants to administer certain medications and perform certain prescriber-ordered treatments in a nursing home under registered nurse supervision.

Who does NOT need this license — exemptions

RCW 18.88A.140 lists them, and it is written as a limit on the chapter’s reach rather than as a set of licence waivers: ‘Nothing in this chapter may be construed to prohibit or restrict: (1) The practice by an individual licensed, certified, or registered under the laws of this state and performing services within their authorized scope of practice; (2) The practice by an individual employed by the government of the United States while engaged in the performance of duties prescribed by the laws of the United States; (3) The practice by a person who is a regular student in an educational program approved by the secretary, and whose performance of services is pursuant to a regular course of instruction or assignments from an instructor and under the general supervision of the instructor; (4) A nursing assistant, while employed as a personal aide as defined in RCW 74.39.007 or a long-term care worker as defined in chapter 74.39A RCW, from accepting direction from an individual who is self-directing his or her care.’ Read them for what they actually cover: (1) is the other-credential carve-out — a licensed nurse practising as a nurse is not practising unlawfully as an uncertified nursing assistant; (2) is the federal-employee carve-out; (3) protects the student doing clinical work under an instructor, which is why a traditional-program student needs no credential for the clinical component itself; and (4) is a consumer-direction rule, preserving a client’s authority to direct their own care. THE STUDENT EXEMPTION HAS A HARD EDGE THAT IS NOT IN THE STATUTE: WAC 246-841A-403(3) requires a nursing assistant student to ‘Apply for a nursing assistant registration within three days of hire at a nursing home’ and to ‘Meet other registration and certification timelines as required by the care setting.’ Being a student protects the training; it does not cover paid employment. THE FOUR-MONTH FEDERAL WINDOW IS NOT AN EXEMPTION FROM CREDENTIALING EITHER — it presupposes the NAR: ‘Registered nursing assistants (NARs) employed in a nursing home have four months to complete an approved training program and testing for certification.’ Tiers searched 2026-08-14: chapter 18.88A RCW in full, chapter 246-841A WAC in full, and the WABON NA License, NAC Program Information, Renew or Reactivate and Verify a License pages. NO AGE MINIMUM appears in any of them for either credential, and this record states none.

Fees

WABON PUBLISHES A FEE TABLE AND THE RULE PUBLISHES THE SAME NUMBERS — they reconcile exactly, which is worth saying because most states’ code and agency figures do not. NURSING ASSISTANT-CERTIFIED (NAC) and NURSING ASSISTANT-REGISTERED (NAR) carry identical fees: Initial Application $85; Renewal $95; Late Renewal (less than one year late) total $145; Reactivation (more than one year late) total $197. MEDICATION ASSISTANT ENDORSEMENT: $25 initial, $10 renewal. OTHER CHARGES: Verification of License $25 for all license types; Paper Duplicate License $10 for NAR and NAC — and WABON notes that duplicates are rare, since ‘The Washington State Board of Nursing (WABON) is no longer printing credential certificates upon issuance of a nursing credential.’ The rule behind those totals itemises them: WAC 246-841A-990 sets, for registration credentials, Application $85.00, Renewal of registration $95.00, Duplicate registration $10.00, Registration late penalty $50.00 and Expired registration reissuance $52.00; and the identical list for certification credentials — Application for certification $85.00, Certification renewal $95.00, Duplicate certification $10.00, Certification late penalty $50.00, Expired certification reissuance $52.00; plus Application for endorsement $25.00 and Endorsement renewal $10.00 for the medication assistant endorsement. So the $145 late-renewal total is the $95 renewal plus the $50 late penalty, and the $197 reactivation total is $95 plus $50 plus the $52 reissuance. NON-REFUNDABLE, AND SAID TWICE: the rule calls every fee ’nonrefundable’, WABON’s fee page says ‘All nurse license fees are non-refundable,’ its renewal page says ‘All renewal and reactivation fees are non-refundable,’ and its application page opens with ‘Important: There are no refunds.’ EXAM COSTS ARE SEPARATE AND ONLY HALF OF THEM IS A FIXED FIGURE: ‘Skills Test: (cost is determined by NA program). Online Knowledge Test: $55.’ NOT A STATE FEE: training program tuition. Note also that the RN and LPN fees on the same WABON table include HEALWA and Washington Center for Nursing surcharges; no such surcharge appears on the NAR or NAC lines.

Exam

TWO PARTS, DIFFERENT DELIVERY, DIFFERENT PRICES, AND YOU TAKE THEM IN ORDER. WABON: ‘The Nursing Assistant Certification (NAC) exam consists of two parts: Part 1: In-person Skills Test. Part 2: Online Knowledge Test.’ The knowledge test is registered for AFTER the skills test is passed. The rule states the same two-part structure and the pass rule: ‘The competency evaluation includes a knowledge exam and a skills competency exam. Students must pass both exams before their nursing assistant-certified application can be approved’ (WAC 246-841A-460(1)). For a board-approved-program student ’the skills competency exam takes place after the successful completion of theory, skills lab, and clinical components of the course. The student receives a certificate of completion after successfully completing the state skills competency exam.’ For non-routine candidates — ‘military training, nursing school students, OBRA reactivation, or as out-of-state applicants who have not tested in another state’ — ’the board will work individually with the student to arrange a state competency exam date and time.’ COST: ‘Skills Test: (cost is determined by NA program). Online Knowledge Test: $55.’ NINE ELIGIBILITY ROUTES, and knowing yours determines whether you need an Authorization to Test first: E1 new nursing assistant from an approved Washington traditional program; E2 nursing student or nursing program graduate; E3 military nursing student; E4 out-of-state training or nursing program graduate; E5 lapsed credential over 3 years who completed training again; E6 graduate of an approved Washington alternative bridge program; E7 training that occurred before February 1, 2015; E8 OBRA re-activation; E9 training program now closed. Routes E2 through E5 and E7 through E9 must ‘Submit a Complete Application with DOH — Credentialing to receive an Authorization to Test prior to registering for the exam.’ ONE ROUTE HAS A HARSHER RULE THAN THE REST: E8, OBRA re-activation, allows ‘only 1 re-test attempt allowed; you must pass both parts of the exam on 1st attempt or re-training is required.’ ATTEMPTS GENERALLY: RCW 18.88A.090(2) — ‘Any applicant failing to make the required grade in the first competency evaluation may take up to three subsequent competency evaluations as the applicant desires upon prepaying a fee determined by the secretary… for each subsequent competency evaluation. Upon failing four competency evaluations, the secretary may invalidate the original application and require such remedial education before the person may take future competency evaluations.’ PROGRAM ACCOUNTABILITY: the board monitors pass rates and ‘The program standard for pass rates is: (a) At least 80 percent of first-time test-takers pass the knowledge portion of the examination; and (b) At least 80 percent of first-time test-takers pass the skills portion.’ Washington publishes no question count, time limit or passing score for either part, and this record states none.

Renewal & continuing education

EVERY YEAR, ON YOUR BIRTHDAY. WAC 246-841A-990(1): ‘Credentials must be renewed every year on the practitioner’s birthday as provided in WAC 246-12-020 through 246-12-051.’ WABON says the same for each credential: ‘All Nursing Assistant Certified (NACs) in Washington state must renew annually by their birthday to remain in active status,’ and the same sentence for NARs. Renewal is filed in the HELMS Online Portal with the fee. THE ONLY CONDITION IS THE FEE — there is no work-hours requirement and no continuing education; see ce_hours. Two practical points WABON states: an NAC holder does not need to keep the NAR alive (‘If you hold an active Nursing Assistant Certification (NAC), you do not need to renew your Nursing Assistant Registration (NAR) credential’), and reactivation does not buy a fresh year — ‘Your reactivation fee will pay for your expired license to be brought to the current date it is reactivated. You will still be responsible for paying for your next renewal cycle, even if it is due immediately after your license is reactivated. There is no grace period.’ WABON illustrates the trap with its own example: reactivate on December 15 with a December 30 birthday and you renew again on December 30. Its own advice is to wait — ‘If you do not need your license reactivated immediately, you may delay submission of your reactivation application until after your birthday.’ NONE FOR EITHER CREDENTIAL, AND WABON STATES IT AFFIRMATIVELY RATHER THAN LEAVING IT TO SILENCE: ‘There are no continuing education requirements for NACs’ and ‘There are no continuing education requirements for NARs.’ That is a deliberate contrast on the same page, where WABON writes that it ‘requires nursing continuing education and active nursing practice hour requirements for active and retired-active nursing credentials’ and imposes, for example, 30 contact hours per two-year cycle on ARNPs. The nursing assistant lines carry neither a continuing education nor an active-practice-hours condition. Tiers searched 2026-08-14: chapter 246-841A WAC in full (including the fees and renewal rule at 246-841A-990 and the expired-credential rule at 246-841A-980), chapter 18.88A RCW in full (including RCW 18.88A.130 on renewal, which delegates renewal ‘according to administrative procedures, administrative requirements, and fees determined by the secretary’), the WABON NA License page, and the WABON Renew or Reactivate a License page including its NAC and NAR sections. ONE ADJACENT REQUIREMENT THAT IS NOT NAC CONTINUING EDUCATION: a medication assistant whose endorsement lapses must show ’eight hours of continuing education specific to medications, medication administration, and performance of selected patient treatments’ along with 250 hours of medication-assistant employment — a reinstatement condition on a different credential, not a renewal condition on the NAC.

How to apply

Applications are handled by Washington State Board of Nursing (WABON) — the regulator of nursing assistants since July 1, 2026. Applications, renewals and complaints are still filed through the Washington State Department of Health’s HELMS online system, and credentials are still verified through the Department of Health’s Provider Credential Search.. Start at the official application page .

Verify a license in Washington

Washington State Department of Health (the search WABON directs the public, employers and providers to use) publishes a public license search , searchable by first name, last name, credential type, credential status, credential number, business address, city or ZIP code. It covers All Washington health-profession credentials issued by the Department of Health, including the nursing assistant-registered and nursing assistant-certified credentials. WABON is emphatic that this is the only correct way to check a nursing credential, because it has stopped issuing paper: ‘The Washington State Board of Nursing (WABON) is no longer printing credential certificates upon issuance of a nursing credential. WABON discourages photocopying or printing licenses due to the potential misuse of paper copies. The Department of Health’s Provider Credential Search should be used by all healthcare providers, facilities, employers, and the public to verify Washington state licensure status (active, pending, closed, suspended, denied, etc.).’ It doubles as the application-status tool: ‘please check the status of your pending license on the Department of Health’s Provider Credential Search,’ where Active means you may practise, Pending means the application is being processed, and Closed means the application was abandoned for missing information and must be restarted on paper. TWO THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE RELYING ON IT. The address above is a redirect: it lands on the Department of Health’s HELMS licence-search application, which builds its search form in the browser rather than serving it as a plain page, so an automated check of the address sees only an application shell and an individual person’s result has no address that can be linked or bookmarked. And it does NOT cover the national nurse database: Nursys carries Washington RN and LPN licences and shows whether they are single-state or multistate, but nursing assistants are not in it, and ‘The DOH Provider Credential Search will NOT reflect if your Washington state license is single-state or multistate.’.

Records come from Washington State Department of Health (the search WABON directs the public, employers and providers to use)’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

Who regulates CNAs in Washington?

The Washington State Board of Nursing — but only since July 1, 2026, so most older guides name the wrong agency. WABON: ‘In 2025, Senate Bill 5051 was enacted to streamline oversight of the Nursing Assistant (NA) profession by consolidating regulatory authority. Effective July 1, 2026, responsibility for credentialing and disciplinary actions will transfer from the Washington State Secretary of Health to the Washington State Board of Nursing (WABON).’ Several things deliberately did not move: applications, renewals and complaints are still filed through the Department of Health’s HELMS Online System, credentials are still verified through the Department of Health’s Provider Credential Search, and ‘Existing nursing assistant credentials remain valid.’

What is the difference between an NAR and an NAC in Washington?

They are two different credentials, not two stages of one. A Nursing Assistant-Registered needs no training at all — ‘With this license, you may start working right away’ — and in some settings the registration is required before or during a training program. A Nursing Assistant-Certified requires an approved training program (or an accepted alternative) plus both parts of the state competency evaluation. Both cost $85 to apply for and $95 to renew, both renew annually on your birthday, and neither has continuing education. Choose carefully, because WABON states: ‘Important: There are no refunds. Make sure you apply for the correct credential before you submit your application.’ If you work as an NAR in a nursing home, a four-month federal clock starts to complete training and testing.

How many training hours does Washington require for a CNA?

108 hours, and the split is set by rule: ‘a minimum of 108 training hours total, with a minimum of 35 hours of classroom theory, a minimum of 33 hours of skills lab, and a minimum of 40 hours of clinical training.’ Facility orientation is required on top and does not count toward the clinical minimum. If you already hold a Washington Home Care Aide or Medical Assistant credential, a 36-hour bridge program replaces the full course — 17 classroom, 13 skills lab and 6 clinical for the home care aide bridge; 16, 14 and 6 for the medical assistant bridge.

Who gives the Washington nursing assistant exam, and what does it cost?

It comes in two parts with two different deliverers. The in-person skills test is given by your own training program, or through WABON’s regional skills-test scheduling if your program does not offer it or you came in through a non-routine route; its cost ‘is determined by NA program.’ The online knowledge test is registered for through Credentia, the board’s testing vendor, and costs $55. You take them in that order — WABON says to register for the knowledge test ‘AFTER You Pass the Skills Test’ — and the rule requires both: ‘Students must pass both exams before their nursing assistant-certified application can be approved.’

How many times can you fail the Washington nursing assistant competency evaluation?

Four, in the general case. RCW 18.88A.090(2): an applicant who fails the first competency evaluation ‘may take up to three subsequent competency evaluations as the applicant desires upon prepaying a fee… Upon failing four competency evaluations, the secretary may invalidate the original application and require such remedial education before the person may take future competency evaluations.’ One route is far stricter: eligibility route E8, OBRA re-activation, allows ‘only 1 re-test attempt allowed; you must pass both parts of the exam on 1st attempt or re-training is required.’

How much does a Washington CNA cost?

$85 to apply and $95 a year to renew, for either the NAC or the NAR. Renewing late (under a year) costs $145 in total, and reactivating after more than a year costs $197 — figures that break down in the rule as the $95 renewal plus a $50 late penalty plus, for reactivation, a $52 expired-credential reissuance. A verification of licence is $25 and a paper duplicate is $10, though WABON rarely issues paper at all. On top of the state fees sit the $55 online knowledge test and whatever your training program charges for the skills test and tuition. Every state fee is non-refundable.

Do Washington CNAs need continuing education?

No — and WABON says so directly rather than leaving it to inference: ‘There are no continuing education requirements for NACs,’ and the same for NARs. That is a real contrast with the nursing credentials on the same page, where WABON does impose continuing education and active-practice-hour requirements; ARNPs, for example, must complete 30 contact hours per two-year cycle. For nursing assistants the only renewal condition is the fee, paid annually by your birthday.

What happens if a Washington NAC lapses?

It depends on how long. Under a year: renew late through the HELMS Portal for $145 total. Over a year: submit a reactivation application, $197 total. Over three years, with no active credential in another U.S. state: ‘you will be required to complete a new nursing assistant training program and retest prior to your license being reissued.’ The rule states the same three-year line as a competence test — a practitioner whose certificate ‘has expired for over three years’ must ‘Demonstrate competence to the standards established by the board.’ Reactivation buys no breathing room: it brings the credential current but does not defer your next birthday renewal, and ‘There is no grace period.’

Can you transfer a CNA certification from another state to Washington?

Yes, by endorsement, and you may not have to test again. RCW 18.88A.110: ‘An applicant holding a credential in another state may be certified by endorsement to practice in this state without the competency evaluation if the board determines that the other state’s credentialing standards are substantially equivalent to the standards in this state.’ There is no published list of pre-approved states — it is a case-by-case equivalence judgment. WABON asks for your nursing assistant caregiver employment history from the state where you are certified, and requires you to complete the first part of a verification form and send it to every state where you have held an active nursing assistant certification, with the completed form returned to the board. Nursys, which handles RN and LPN verification, does not cover nursing assistants.

How do employers verify a Washington nursing assistant?

Through the Department of Health’s Provider Credential Search, and there is now no alternative. WABON has stopped printing credential certificates: ‘WABON discourages photocopying or printing licenses due to the potential misuse of paper copies. The Department of Health’s Provider Credential Search should be used by all healthcare providers, facilities, employers, and the public to verify Washington state licensure status.’ The search takes a first and last name, credential type and status, credential number, business address, city or ZIP code. It also doubles as the application-status tool — Active, Pending or Closed — which is why WABON asks people not to phone in for status updates.

Can you count paid work toward the clinical hours of a Washington CNA program?

Sometimes — this is one of the more distinctive things in Washington’s rules. WAC 246-841A-440(8) lets a program decide, case by case, to let students ‘complete their clinical training hours by working as a nursing assistant-registered in a care facility under the supervision of a licensed nurse.’ The conditions are real: the work must come after you have finished the required classroom theory and skills lab hours, it must be documented on a board form with the number of hours worked, the program director must require ‘verifiable documentation of supervision and competency evaluation by a supervising licensed nurse prior to awarding clinical training credit,’ and ‘The student must also provide evidence of at least 40 hours of work in the role of a nursing assistant.’ The program retains authority to allow it or not.

See every license and certification LicensingAtlas covers in Washington.

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.