Free calculators · rules checked October 22, 2026
Most states quietly mark a nursing assistant inactive after 24 months without paid work — and the way back can cost $0, a retest fee, or a whole training course, depending on your state and your dates. Answer three questions and get your real status, your real deadline, and your cheapest route back.
If you have never worked for pay since certifying, use your certification date.
This calculator works from the dates you type. It is not the registry and never sees your record.
Your state, your certification date, your last paid shift. Out comes your status, the exact date your clock runs out, and — if it already has — the cheapest legal way back in your state. In Illinois that can be free recertification testing. In Florida, past the line, the certificate is null and void. The difference is your dates.
There is no national compact for nursing assistants. Your certification does not simply "transfer." Some states take it as-is, some charge up to $275, some make you retest, and a few will reject it outright — Michigan only accepts a named list of states, and California holds you to its 160-hour training standard. Get the verdict for your exact pair.
Federal law (42 CFR 483.152(c)): if you paid for your own training and a nursing facility hired you within 12 months of finishing, the facility must pay those costs back to you, pro rata. Almost nobody claims it. This decoder turns the rule into your dollar figure.
State registries publish their own rules — one state at a time, in government language, with no view of any other state. Schools sell retraining, so their pages lean toward "take the course again." Staffing platforms sell job placements, so their pages stop at fee tables. Nobody in that chain is paid to tell you the three most valuable words in this field: "retest only," "recertification is free," or "you are owed money."
We are. This site sells one $39 kit and takes no money from schools, staffing agencies, or registries — so the free calculators can print the whole verdict, including when the verdict is "don't buy anything, just file this form."
How to read every answer here: each verdict shows the rule it came from, the registry that published it, and the date we checked it. Confirm with the registry before you resign or accept a start date — that is not fine print, it is part of the answer.
Every state page carries the same five things: how to stay active, what happens when you lapse, the cheapest way back, what it costs to transfer in, and the registry's own link and phone number.
Alabama · Alaska · Arizona · Arkansas · California · Colorado · Connecticut · Delaware · District of Columbia · Florida · Georgia · Hawaii · Idaho · Illinois · Indiana · Iowa · Kansas · Kentucky · Louisiana · Maine · Maryland · Massachusetts · Michigan · Minnesota · Mississippi · Missouri · Montana · Nebraska · Nevada · New Hampshire · New Jersey · New Mexico · New York · North Carolina · North Dakota · Ohio · Oklahoma · Oregon · Pennsylvania · Rhode Island · South Carolina · South Dakota · Tennessee · Texas · Utah · Vermont · Virginia · Washington · West Virginia · Wisconsin · Wyoming
The calculators give you the verdict. The kit gives you the paperwork path: per-state recovery steps with the right forms and route numbers, transfer application checklists, the fill-in reimbursement request letter, employer work-history proof templates for the "I worked but nobody reported it" fix, and deadline-tracker worksheets for your next 24 months.
$39 — one-time payment
Per-state recovery paths · transfer checklists for your pair · reimbursement request letter (printable) · work-history proof kit · deadline worksheets. One payment, yours to keep.
There is no single national answer. The federal floor: a state registry must remove an aide who has not performed paid nursing-related work for 24 consecutive months (42 CFR 483.156). Most states run on that 24-month work clock, but some renew on a calendar (Alaska, Oregon, Rhode Island), and Washington renews every year on your birthday for a $95 fee. Your state's exact rule is on its state page.
Often not — and that gap is where people waste $500 to $2,500. Many states let you back in with testing only (Connecticut's Route 4 has no time cap; Illinois recertification is testing). Some set a line: California allows retest-only reactivation up to 2 years after expiry, then requires retraining. Florida voids the certificate after 24 months without paid work. Run the status checker with your dates before you pay anyone.
Not automatically — there is no compact for nursing assistants. Every destination state runs "endorsement" its own way: fees from $0 to $275, some retests, some training-hour checks, and Michigan's named-state list. The transfer checker computes your exact pair.
Often, yes. If a nursing facility hired you within 12 months of you completing training, federal law (42 CFR 483.152(c)) requires the facility to reimburse your training costs on a pro rata basis — and a facility may never charge an aide it employs for training or the exam. The reimbursement decoder computes your figure.
No. This is a calculator built from published state rules, checked and dated. It never accesses your record. Your state registry is the only official source of your status — every verdict here links to it.
