New Jersey does not reciprocate with New York and therefore you can’t transfer your CNA license to this state. In addition, if you applied for reciprocity to New York based on your NJ certification and your New Jersey certification has expired, you cannot apply for reciprocity back to NJ. In order to regain your certification if you were initially certified in New Jersey more than five (5) years ago and your certificate has expired in this state, you must now successfully complete the Nurse Aide in Long-Term Care Facilities Training and Competency Evaluation Program which means the course, skills, and written or oral exam. If you were initially certified in New Jersey less than five years ago you could just complete the skills evaluation and the written or oral examination.
In order to work in a New Jersey long term care facility or assisted living facility, a nurse aide candidate must successfully complete the New Jersey curriculum for Nurse Aide in Long Term Care Facilities Training and Competency Evaluation Program or the New Jersey Curriculum for Personal Care Assistants (PCA). The NATCEP training course is 90 hours, consisting of 50-classroom hours and 40 clinical hours in a NJ licensed long-term care facility. The PCA training course is 85 hours, consisting of 69-classroom hours and 16 clinical hours in a NJ licensed assisted living facility, comprehensive personal care home or assisted living program. The State of New Jersey does not require nurse aides to be certified in order to work in an acute care hospital, however, if a hospital has a licensed long term care unit or a licensed sub-acute unit then CNAs must staff those units.
You can verify this or get additional information on official NJ regulations and guidelines for the nurse aide certification and recertification process by contacting the New Jersey Department of Health Certification Program at 609-633-9051. You may also contact PSI Services, LLC which is the New Jersey Nurse Aide and Personal Care Assistant Registry and Testing Service state contract vendor at 877-774-4243 and ask about the reciprocity process.