How to Become a Licensed Practical Nurse in Alberta

The short answer

To work as a licensed practical nurse (LPN) in Alberta you must be registered with the College of LPNs and HCAs of Alberta (CLHA) and hold a valid practice permit. The College was called the College of Licensed Practical Nurses of Alberta (CLPNA) until February 2, 2026, when health care aides became a regulated profession under the same college — the old name and the old clpna.com address still lead to the same regulator, now at clha.com.

The new-graduate route, in order, is: graduate from an approved practical nursing diploma program in Alberta, apply for provisional registration and the Canadian Practical Nurse Registration Examination (CPNRE) through MyCLHA, work under supervision on a provisional permit while you wait, pass the CPNRE, and move to the general register. Alberta uses the CPNRE — not the REx-PN, which is offered only in British Columbia and Ontario.

Who the Alberta New Graduate route is for

The route in this guide is for applicants who graduated from an approved practical nursing diploma program in Alberta in the past four years, who have not been registered previously and have not passed the CPNRE. If you trained outside Alberta or outside Canada, you are on a different route — out-of-province new graduate or internationally educated nurse — with different requirements and a different application fee. Take the College's applicant quiz on its site if you are unsure which route is yours.

Step 1 — Graduate from an approved practical nursing diploma program

Complete a practical nursing diploma from a program the College approves. The College's new-graduate page describes the route as being for graduates of an approved practical nursing diploma program in Alberta in the past four years. Your school sends your official transcripts directly to the College; the College also accepts official transcripts sent through MyCreds to lpnstudentservices@clha.com.

Step 2 — Apply for provisional registration and the CPNRE

Alberta new graduates have two options, and they are not equivalent:

• Provisional registration and the CPNRE. If your application succeeds, you receive a provisional permit and are enrolled to write the CPNRE. You can work, supervised, while you wait.
• The CPNRE only. If your application succeeds, you can only write the exam. You will not receive a practice permit in Alberta, and if you later want to work here you must submit a fresh application to the College.

Choose the first option unless you have a definite reason to sit the exam without working in Alberta. Both cost the same $100 application fee.

Before you apply, prepare:

• The $100 application fee.
• Completion of the Understanding LPN Professional Regulation module and the Protecting Patients from Sexual Abuse and Sexual Misconduct module.
• A criminal record check completed through Sterling Backcheck.
• Two forms of valid ID.
• Official transcripts sent from your school directly to the College.
• Professional liability insurance, which must be provided before an Active practice permit is issued.
• Verification of registration if you are or have been registered as a health care provider with another regulatory body.

Apply online:

1. Create an account on MyCLHA.
2. Once logged in, select APPLY under Provisional to begin the New Graduate application.
3. Submit the application and pay the $100 application fee.
4. If your paid application has missing requirements, the College contacts you within five business days. If you have not completed the required modules, you receive information on how to access them.
5. You receive a decision letter and final invoice for your permit fee and cost of CPNRE within ten business days of all application requirements being met.
6. You receive information on how to register for the CPNRE within ten business days of your invoice being paid. You are placed in the first available testing window and can register for a specific testing day.

A paper application is available by emailing lpnstudentservices@clha.com — use it only if you are applying for the CPNRE only, not for a provisional permit.

Step 3 — Work under supervision on a provisional permit

Provisional registration provides a temporary practice permit. It lets you work as a nurse under supervision while waiting to write the CPNRE, and registrants holding a provisional practice permit are recognized as licensed practical nurses who may carry out the activities they are competent to perform. The final invoice covers the cost of the provisional practice permit and writing the CPNRE, and it must be paid in full before a practice permit is issued. You can look up the expiry date for your provisional permit on your MyCLHA account, and you may extend provisional registration up to a maximum of one year from the date it was first issued. After one year, or if you choose not to extend, the registration will not be renewed.

Step 4 — Write and pass the CPNRE

The CPNRE is the final step for provisional practical nurses to move to the College's general register. To be eligible to write it, you must be a successful graduate of a practical nursing program in Canada or an internationally educated nurse who has been assessed by the College. The exam cannot be challenged to meet entry-to-practice requirements — completing a program is mandatory.

The College places you in the first available testing window once your invoice is paid. Exams run in January, March, May, July, September, and November, and the window you land in depends on when your completed application was approved and your invoice paid:

Within ten business days of paying, you get a CPNRE information email telling you which window you are in and when to expect a booking email from Meazure Learning, the exam provider. You then pick a specific date and time for your exam. The exam is written on the Meazure online proctoring platform — check its technical requirements before your booking. Results are released within four to six weeks of the testing window closing. If you do not write within the testing window you are placed in, there is a $100 Did Not Write fee. You have four attempts at the exam: if you are unsuccessful on your fourth attempt, you must return to school and complete another practical nursing program, which provides a new provisional permit and four more attempts. If you fail for a third time while holding a provisional permit, the permit is cancelled.

Step 5 — Move to the general register

On passing the CPNRE, a provisional registrant is eligible for an Active practice permit and is automatically added to the general register. The College states the move happens one to two business days after the results are posted, at no additional fee. Practice permits are valid only until November 30 each year, and must be renewed annually.

What the opened pages do not state

The College's new-graduate page and its CPNRE page give different figures for the exam fee — $600 on the new-graduate page's CPNRE-only section and $610 all-inclusive ($115 administration fee plus $495 exam fee) on the dedicated CPNRE page — so this guide prints no single CPNRE fee and no single permit fee; check the College's current fee schedule before you pay. The pages do not list the approved Alberta practical nursing programs by name, so this guide names none; confirm your program is approved with the College before you enrol. This guide gives no advice on whether you qualify — that is the College's decision when it assesses your application.

Related guides:

• How to Become a Licensed Practical Nurse in British Columbia — the BC route, which uses the REx-PN exam instead of the CPNRE.
• How to Become a Licensed Practical Nurse in Manitoba — the Manitoba route, also through the CPNRE but under a different college.
• How to Become a Licensed Practical Nurse in Saskatchewan — the Saskatchewan route, through a Saskatchewan Polytechnic diploma and the CPNRE.
• How to Become a Licensed Practical Nurse in New Brunswick — the New Brunswick route, through the Association of New Brunswick Licensed Practical Nurses and the CPNRE.
• How to Become a Registered Nurse in Alberta — the registered nurse route in the same province, a different profession with a different regulator.

Sources

• College of LPNs and HCAs of Alberta, Alberta New Graduates — who the route is for, the two application options, the $100 application fee, the required modules and documents, the five- and ten-business-day service standards, and the one-year provisional extension.
• College of LPNs and HCAs of Alberta, CPNRE — the CPNRE as the final step to the general register, the $610 all-inclusive fee, the $100 Did Not Write fee, the four-attempt rule, that Alberta does not use the REx-PN, and the 2027 testing windows with their invoice-paid deadlines and Meazure booking.
• College of LPNs and HCAs of Alberta, Internationally Educated Nurses — the separate internationally educated route, its $340 application fee, and the 1,000 practice hours over four years.