Can You Work as a CNA in Washington While Waiting for Certification?

Yes. Washington lets you work as a nursing assistant before you are certified if you hold a Nursing Assistant-Registered (NAR) credential from the Department of Health (DOH). The NAR is a provisional credential: it requires an application, a background check, and a fee per the DOH fee schedule, but no training or exam. With it, a licensed facility can employ you in a nursing assistant role under the supervision of licensed nurses while you finish training and pass the two-part NAC exam. The one hard limit is that a NAR hired by a nursing facility has four months from the date of hire to complete training and pass the exam.

The three credentials, side by side

People searching this question are usually confused by Washington's naming. There are three separate credentials, and only one of them is what job boards mean by "CNA."

The NAR is not a lesser version of the NA-C for the long term. It exists to let you earn while you learn, and it expires in usefulness the moment you become certified.

Who can apply for a NAR

Any adult who can pass the DOH background check may apply for a NAR. You do not have to be enrolled in a program on the day you apply, although the credential is designed for people who are about to enroll, are enrolled, or have finished training and are waiting on exam results or DOH processing. Common NAR holders are:

• Students in a four-week traditional program who want to start at a facility during or right after class.
• Graduates whose skills test is passed but whose Credentia knowledge test or DOH application is still pending.
• Out-of-state CNAs whose Washington endorsement is in process.
• Facility employees in other roles, such as dietary or housekeeping, moving into direct care with the employer's sponsorship.

Employers often ask new hires to obtain the NAR themselves, and some pay the fee. Either way, the application is yours, and the credential follows you if you change employers.

How to get a NAR

1. Create an account on the DOH online licensing portal and select the Nursing Assistant-Registered application.
2. Complete the personal information and attestation questions. These ask about criminal history and disciplinary actions. Answer them truthfully; the DOH runs a name-based statewide background check, and can require a fingerprint check for recent out-of-state residents.
3. Pay the application fee listed on the current DOH fee schedule.
4. Wait for the record to appear as Active in Provider Credential Search. Employers verify there before your first shift, as explained in our Washington CNA license lookup guide.

Complete applications generally move faster than NA-C applications because there is no training report or exam result to match. A yes answer on any attestation question adds review time. What the background check covers, and how convictions are weighed, is in our article on the Washington CNA background check.

What a NAR can and cannot do on the floor

A NAR performs nursing assistant tasks that a licensed nurse assigns and supervises, consistent with the facility's policies and the training the NAR has received so far. In practice that means basic care: bathing, dressing, toileting, feeding assistance, repositioning, transfers with the right equipment, vital signs once trained, and observation and reporting. Facilities typically assign a NAR to work alongside experienced NA-Cs and limit independent assignments until competency is documented.

A NAR cannot:

• Represent themselves as certified, on a badge, a resume, or a job application.
• Perform tasks that require the NA-C credential as a prerequisite, such as nurse-delegated tasks in community settings or medication administration under a medication assistant endorsement.
• Work as an independent contractor or in private-duty home care as a "CNA."
• Continue in a nursing facility nursing assistant role beyond four months from hire without becoming certified.

If you want the full task list, our overview of the Washington CNA scope of practice covers both credentials.

The four-month rule in one paragraph

Federal nursing home rules, mirrored in Washington, prohibit a nursing facility from using an individual as a nurse aide for more than four months unless the person has completed approved training and passed the competency exam. Washington applies this through the NAR: hired on the first of a month, you must be an NA-C by the same date four months later. The clock runs from hire, not from the day training starts, and not from the day you receive the NAR. Hospitals, assisted living, and adult family homes are not nursing facilities under that rule, but they set their own deadlines in policy. What happens when the deadline is missed, and how to plan so it is not, is the subject of our companion article on Washington's four-month rule for NARs.

Making the timeline work

A realistic plan for a NAR hired by a nursing facility looks like this:

That leaves margin inside the 16-week window, but only if training starts promptly. The largest avoidable delays are waiting for a class start date and retaking the skills test. Programs must allow at least four skills attempts, so a first failure is not fatal, but each retake costs calendar time. Huduma CNA Programs in Federal Way runs day and weekend patterns so working NARs can train around shifts; dates are on the class schedule page.

Holders of an active Washington HCA credential have a shorter route. The HCA bridge is 40 clock hours at Huduma over five weekdays or about two and a half weekends, and eligibility route E6 lets bridge graduates sit for the same exam. Details are on the HCA–CNA Bridge program page.

Pay as a NAR

Employers set NAR wages, and most pay a rate slightly below their NA-C base with a raise on certification. Statewide NA-C job postings averaged about $23.62 per hour in August 2026, and shift differentials of roughly $1.50 to $4 per hour typically apply to NARs on the same schedule. The 2026 state minimum wage of $17.13 per hour is the floor everywhere, with some cities higher. Ask in the interview what the certification raise is and whether the employer reimburses tuition or exam fees; many nursing facilities do both to solve their own four-month problem.

Frequently asked questions

Can I work as a CNA in Washington without any training? Not under the CNA title. You can work as a NAR in a facility under nurse supervision with no training, but you must be working toward certification, and a nursing facility can employ you that way for only four months.

Do I need a NAR if I already passed the exam and I am waiting for the DOH? If you want to work in a nursing assistant role during the wait, yes. Passing the exam does not authorize practice; only an Active NA-C or NAR record does.

Does a NAR expire? It renews annually on your birthday like other DOH credentials. Most people let it lapse once the NA-C is issued, since the NA-C replaces it.

Can a home care agency hire a NAR? Home care agencies and adult family homes generally require the HCA credential for in-home caregivers, which is a different DSHS-regulated pathway. The NAR is aimed at licensed facilities with nurse supervision.

Is the NAR the same thing as being a nursing assistant student? No. Students are covered by their program's clinical agreement during clinical hours only. The NAR is an employment credential that lets a facility pay you for nursing assistant work outside of school.

If you are weighing whether to get the NAR first or finish class first, the deciding factor is usually whether an employer is ready to hire you now. If one is, apply for the NAR and enroll in the next available cohort; our comparison of NAR vs NAC in Washington covers the remaining differences.