Guide · Texas renewal walkthrough · checked October 22, 2026

How to renew your CNA license in Texas

Texas runs a work-clock renewal system: Your certificate and active listing expire 24 months after issuance/listing or 24 months after your last date of verified employment, whichever is earlier (26 TAC 556.9). To renew, paid nursing or nursing-related services must be documented on HHSC Form 5506-NAR through TULIP — filed by the nursing facility, or by you if the facility does not file — and you must complete 24 hours of in-service education every two years plus an HHSC infection-control and PPE course every year. The Texas rule does not set a minimum number of paid work hours; secondary summaries that claim an 8-hour Texas minimum were not supported by the TAC text retrieved.

Where it happens

TULIP — the Texas Unified Licensure Information Portal — registry: Texas Nurse Aide Registry · 512-438-2050.

The steps, in order

  1. Find your real deadline first: your listing expires 24 months after issuance/listing or 24 months after your last date of verified employment, whichever is earlier (26 TAC 556.9). Most Texas aides who lapse guessed the later date.
  2. Make sure your paid nursing work is documented: your nursing facility files HHSC Form 5506-NAR through TULIP. If the facility does not file it, Texas lets you file it yourself — an unfiled form is the same as unworked hours.
  3. Complete the education pieces for the period: 24 hours of in-service education every two years (geriatrics and care of residents with dementia, including Alzheimer's, must be in the mix) plus the HHSC infection-control and PPE course every year.
  4. Check your listing on the Nurse Aide Registry search and confirm it shows active with the extended date.
  5. Keep your pay stubs and both course certificates. Texas renewal is documentation-driven — the paper is the renewal.

The fee

The registry charges no renewal fee in Texas. The costs are your time and the courses.

The Texas trap

Texas has no minimum paid-hours number in its rule — the “8 hours” figure repeated on other websites is not in the TAC text we read. What actually lapses Texans is missing documentation and the forgotten yearly infection-control course, not an hour count. And if you cannot document the employment history after expiry, the route back is the Prometric exam again — with HHSC able to require a new training program first, depending on how long you have been inactive.

Not sure where you stand?

Renewal instructions assume you're still inside the window. If you're not sure you are, run the status checker with your real dates first — it computes active, at-risk, or lapsed and names your cheapest route back. Your state's full rule table, lapse tiers, and transfer-in verdicts live on the Texas state page. The general mechanics behind every state's renewal are in CNA renewal, explained plainly.

Procedure summarized from the registry and state pages in our dataset, checked October 22, 2026. The registry's own page is the authority — confirm there before a deadline that matters.