Michigan Nail Technician License Requirements

Michigan calls the nail technician credential a Manicurist license, issued by the Michigan Board of Cosmetology through LARA's Bureau of Professional Licensing. Everything is handled online through MiPLUS.

The hour requirement changed recently, and which number applies to you depends on when you started training. See the training section below — this is the detail most out-of-date guidance gets wrong.

1. Be at least 17 years old and have an education equivalent to completion of the ninth grade.
2. Complete your training hours — 600 if you began on or after July 1, 2024; 400 if you began before that — in a licensed school of cosmetology, or as an apprentice for at least 6 months in a licensed cosmetology establishment where manicuring is practiced.
3. Pass the practical and theory exams through PSI.
4. Apply online through MiPLUS and pay $63.00, which covers the application fee plus the two-year license fee. Payment is by Visa, Mastercard, American Express, or Discover only.

You will also answer a good moral character question and provide your Social Security number — or, if you are exempt under law from obtaining one or do not have one, upload an SSN affidavit with the application.

Two Deadlines to Track

Your application and fee are valid for one year. If you do not meet the licensure requirements within that year, both expire and you must submit a new application. Separately, passing scores on both exams must be obtained within one year of each other, and each passing score is valid for one year from the date earned. Failing one exam and delaying the retake can invalidate the score you already have.

Michigan raised its manicurist training requirement, and the rule turns on when you began training rather than when you apply:

• Began training on or after July 1, 2024 — not less than 600 hours
• Began training before July 1, 2024 — not less than 400 hours

Anyone enrolling now is on the 600-hour standard, a 50% increase. Guidance published before mid-2024 that quotes 400 hours is not wrong about the past, but it is wrong for new students.

The training must include a minimum number of practical applications prescribed in rules promulgated by the director, so hours alone are not sufficient — your school tracks completed applications too.

The Apprenticeship Route

Michigan allows you to complete the hours as an apprentice instead of at a school, provided the apprenticeship runs not less than 6 months in a licensed cosmetology establishment where manicuring is practiced. The same hour requirement applies; the six months is a minimum duration on top of it.

Experience Counts as Training

If you are applying by reciprocity or were trained outside the United States, Michigan converts work experience into training hours at a fixed rate: 100 hours of training credited for each 6 months of experience. Complete the Verification of Work Experience form to claim it. At that rate, three years of documented experience covers the full 600 hours.

Coming From Another State

Verification of licensure must be sent directly to LARA by the licensing agency of every state where you hold or have ever held a manicurist license — you cannot forward it yourself. It must show your license is in good standing and disclose any disciplinary action taken or pending.

If you are not actively licensed elsewhere, or if that state's requirements are not substantially equal to Michigan's, you will need to take and pass the practical and/or theory exam. If you are not currently licensed anywhere, official final transcripts must also come directly from the school.

Trained Outside the United States

You must show the education or training was substantially equivalent to Michigan's requirements, and any document in another language needs an English copy translated and notarized by an embassy or a professional translation service. The same 100-hours-per-6-months experience substitution is available.

Michigan requires both a practical and a theory examination, administered by PSI. Candidate information bulletins, scheduling, and accommodations all run through PSI at test-takers.psiexams.com/micos or on 855-579-4635.

The Scheduling Trap

This catches a lot of Michigan candidates. Being approved by the Board of Cosmetology to test is not the same as being able to book with PSI. For a first-time registration, the exam registration form must be emailed — the preferred method — or mailed to PSI, and you must allow about two weeks for PSI to process it. Until that processing completes, PSI will not let you schedule, even though the Board has already approved you.

If you have been approved and cannot book, that two-week window is almost always the reason.

Score Validity

Two rules govern how long your results last:

• A passing score is valid for one year from the date it was earned.
• Passing scores on both exams must be obtained within one year of each other.

Practically, that means if you pass theory and then take eleven months to pass the practical, you are at the edge. Sit both close together.

Study Materials

PSI's Candidate Information Bulletin contains the exam content outline. The Board of Cosmetology does not offer or endorse any specific study materials, and points candidates to the CIB and other PSI resources instead. The CIB is also where the current test-taker accommodation information lives.

Michigan manicurist licenses run on a two-year cycle and renew for $48.00 through MiPLUS. Payment is by credit or debit card carrying a Visa, Mastercard, American Express, or Discover logo.

You cannot renew early. The renewal application opens no sooner than 90 days before your expiration date, and LARA sends a renewal notification to both your mailing address and your email around that 90-day mark.

No Continuing Education

Michigan does not require continuing education hours for manicurist renewal. What you do accept is a renewal attestation — by accepting it you certify that you have met the requirements and that everything on the renewal application is true and complete.

The 60-Day Grace Period

Michigan offers a genuine safety net: a 60-day grace period after expiration during which you can still renew without going through the relicensure process. It costs an additional $20.00 late fee on top of the $48 renewal.

That $68 total compares very favourably with the $83.00 relicensure fee that applies once the grace period closes — and relicensure is a different, longer process, not just a bigger bill.

If Your License Has Lapsed More Than 3 Years

Relicensure is filed through MiPLUS by selecting Modification next to your license number. If your license has been lapsed for more than 3 years past the expiration date of your last license, you must satisfy one of the following:

• Pass the examinations required for licensure within the 1-year period immediately preceding the relicensure date, or
• Establish that you have held an active manicurist license in good standing in another state within the 3 years preceding your application

Keep Your Address Current

LARA is blunt about this: failing to receive the renewal postcard or email notification, or failing to notify the Department of an address change, does not exempt you from renewing on time. Address changes are submitted as a MiPLUS modification.

LARA states the scope in one line: the manicurist license type allows a licensee to perform or offer to perform manicuring services. Michigan's cosmetology law sits in Article 12 of Public Act 299 of 1980, the Occupational Code, with detail in the administrative rules for cosmetology.

Michigan issues several distinct personal licenses under that Board, and each is separate:

• Manicurist — 600 hours (400 if training began before July 1, 2024)
• Esthetician — 750 hours
• Natural Hair Cultivation — its own credential
• Electrologist — a separate license with its own guide
• Cosmetologist — 1,500 hours, covering hair, skin, and nail services; also achievable through a 2-year apprenticeship totalling 1,920 hours

A manicurist license does not extend to skin care, hair, or electrolysis. If you want the full scope, the cosmetologist license is the credential that includes nail services rather than an add-on to your manicurist license.

Teaching

Michigan issues a Manicurist Limited Instructor license for those moving into teaching, with its own licensing guide and requirements, distinct from the general Cosmetology Instructor license.

Where You Work

Manicuring must be performed in a licensed cosmetology establishment, which covers salons, suites, and mobile salons. Establishment licenses renew for $50, with a $95 relicensure fee if one lapses — a separate obligation from your personal license if you own the business.