Nurse Aide · rules checked October 22, 2026
Re-registration is required every 2 years and is your own responsibility, not your employer's. You must have at least 8 hours of paid employment as a nurse aide, under RN supervision in a direct care setting, within the previous 2 years. Independent private duty work does not count. OHFLAC mails a notice or application at least 60 days before your expiration date and your completed application must arrive before that date. There is no renewal fee.
If you have never worked for pay since certifying, use your certification date.
| Credential | Nurse Aide |
|---|---|
| Registry | West Virginia Nurse Aide Registry (OHFLAC Nurse Aide Program) · (304) 558-0050 |
| Training required | 120 hours |
| Exam | Professional Healthcare Development (PHD) — $125 (written $55 · skills $70) |
| How renewal works | Stays active through paid work inside the window — no calendar expiry while you keep working. Renewal fee: $0. |
| Keep-active work rule | Re-registration is required every 2 years and is your own responsibility, not your employer's. You must have at least 8 hours of paid employment as a nurse aide, under RN supervision in a direct care setting, within the previous 2 years. Independent private duty work does not count. OHFLAC mails a notice or application at least 60 days before your expiration date and your completed application must arrive before that date. There is no renewal fee. |
| Continuing education | No in-service or continuing education is required to keep registry status. Facilities must separately provide and document at least 12 hours of nurse aide in-service per year under federal rules; the registry does not track it. |
| Who reports your work | You do — nobody files it for you |
Changing soon: OHFLAC now sits under the West Virginia Office of Inspector General in current listings (the registry's governing agency is shown as OIG / OHFLAC); the policy manual on the OHFLAC site is still the May 2016 edition, so fee and vendor details were cross-checked against current secondary listings.
If you lost status for lack of reportable work - roughly 2 to 4 years without reportable work, or since your most recent training - you are eligible for the 16-hour refresher course instead of full retraining, then you must pass the competency exam (3 attempts, testing finished within 6 months of completing the refresher). Staffing agency and other non-nursing-home work must be verified by the employer, by letter for agency work.
If you have had no reportable paid nurse aide work in the past 5 years, the refresher route closes: you must complete the full 120-hour nurse aide training program again and pass the competency evaluation.
Trap: registry entries are removed after 24 consecutive months with no nurse aide duties, unless the entry carries a substantiated finding (those stay). Renewal can be blocked by paperwork, not work: if your employer is not a nursing home, that employer must verify your 8 hours as part of your application, and agency aides need an employer letter enclosed. Exam pricing is unusual: written + skills together are $125, but the oral + skills combination is $160.
Application fee: $0 · typical processing: About 2 weeks for review and processing per secondary reports; the OHFLAC manual does not promise a timeframe.. Reciprocity is free. You must be listed in good standing on another state's registry whose education and competency requirements are substantially the same as West Virginia's, complete the Application by Reciprocity with required attachments for OHFLAC-NAP review, and clear the WV CARES background check screening. You cannot work until you are listed as active. West Virginia CNA matters go through OHFLAC, not the Board of Nursing - the Board of Nursing licenses RNs/LPNs/APRNs only.
The table below is computed for an active aide in good standing, trained to the origin state's standard hours. Your own hours or status can change your row — run the transfer checker with your real facts.
| Certified in | Verdict for West Virginia | Fee | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Alaska | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Arizona | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Arkansas | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| California | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Colorado | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Connecticut | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Delaware | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| District of Columbia | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Florida | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Georgia | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Hawaii | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Idaho | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Illinois | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Indiana | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Iowa | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Kansas | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Kentucky | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Louisiana | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Maine | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Maryland | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Massachusetts | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Michigan | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Minnesota | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Mississippi | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Missouri | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Montana | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Nebraska | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Nevada | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| New Hampshire | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| New Jersey | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| New Mexico | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| New York | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| North Carolina | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| North Dakota | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Ohio | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Oklahoma | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Oregon | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Pennsylvania | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Rhode Island | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| South Carolina | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| South Dakota | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Tennessee | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Texas | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Utah | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Vermont | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Virginia | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Washington | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| West Virginia | Same state — no transfer needed | ||
| Wisconsin | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
| Wyoming | Accepted as-is | $0 | West Virginia endorses an active, good-standing certification with no application fee and no retest. Application and background check still apply. |
The kit carries West Virginia's full recovery path — the forms, the order to file them, the phone scripts — plus transfer checklists for every destination. See the kit →
