If you are a travel nurse or are thinking of becoming a travel nurse, then the right certifications are your ticket to top high-paying travel nursing contracts. With the right certifications and skills on your resume, you can secure assignments in top health care facilities. The certifications you hold make a huge difference between average pay and earning your true worth in 2026. In this blog, we will discuss the best and top travel nursing certificates that can get you high travel nursing contracts and boost your pay.
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Core certifications that are required for travel nurses
Some of the basic certifications that are required for travel nursing to get top high-paying contracts are:
Basic Life Support (BLS) Certification:
It is the certification that is required for all travel nurses. It teaches nurses how to recognize life-threatening situations and perform CPR. This certification must be AHA-approved.
- Who needs it: All nurses and travel nurses are required to have BLS certification.
- Pay impact: Without BLS certification, you can not get travel nursing assignments because it Is the requirement for all nurses and travel nurses.
ACLS (Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support)
This certification focuses on advanced intervention during cardiovascular emergencies, such as perform advance CPR, managing cardiac arrhythmias, etc. It must be approved by the AHA (American Heart Association).
- Who needs: It is required for ICU, ER, Med surg nurses, and renewal is typically every 2 years.
- Pay impact: This certification gets you high-paying travel nursing assignments in specialized units (especially ICU, ER) and boosts your pay from $5 to $15/ hour.
PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support)
This certification focuses on recognizing and responding to life-threatening emergencies in infants and children.
- Who needs it: Pediatric units face staff shortages all the time, and it is one of the most demanding specialties. This certification is very important for travel nurses working in PICU, NICU, and pediatric ER.
- Pay impact: This certification can boost travel nursing pay up to $8 to $20 per hour.
Specialty certifications
These specialty certifications boost your resume ande a signal to employers that you have advanced knowledge and can handle complex patient care, increasing your chance to get high-paying travel nursing contracts because hospitals prefer nurses with specialized skills. The more advanced certifications you have, the higher your pay will be. Some of these certifications can boost your pay and land you high-paying travel nursing contracts in 2026 are as follows:
Certifications for Critical Care and ICU travel nurses
Some of the certifications for critical care and ICU travel nurses that can boost their pay and get them high-paying travel nursing contracts are:
- CCRN (Critical Care Registered Nurse): Offered by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN). This certification indicates that a travel nurse has advanced knowledge of complex clinical situations and can handle critical patients safely and effectively. Get Your CCRN Certification – AACN
- SCRN (Stroke Certified Registered Nurse): Offered by the American Board of Neuroscience Nursing (ABNN) and is best for RNs and Travel RNs who take care of patients experiencing strokes. Travel nursing agencies are willing to pay $5to $15 more per hour.
- CFRN (Certified Flight Registered Nurse): This certification is for the travel nurses who provide care to the critically ill patients in flight. This can boost travel nurse pay up to $5–$20/hour more.
Certification for travel nurses working in the Emergency Department
- CEN (Certified Emergency Nurse (BCEN): This certification is offered by the Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing (BCEN) and demonstrate advance emergency care knowledge. Depending on the assignment, travel nurses can get $5 to $15 more per hour on their contract with this certification.
- CPEN (Certified Pediatric Emergency Nurse): Offered by BCEN and is best for travel nurses working in pediatric emergency departments, and with this certification, travel nurses can make $5- $20 more per hour depending on the assignment.
Certifications for travel nurses working in medical surgical department
CMSRN (Certified Medical-Surgical Registered Nurse): This certification will make travel nurses stand out for travel assignments in med-surg units, telemetry floors, and step-down units, and can boost pay from $3 to $10 / hour on travel nursing assignments.
RN-BC (Registered Nurse – Board Certified (medical-surgical): This certification can increase the hourly rate of travel nurses from $3 to $8/ hour and can also secure high paying med surg assignments.
Certifications for travel nurses working in the Operating Room
- CNOR (Certified Perioperative Nurse): Depending on assignment and facility, travel nurses can boost their pay from $5 to $12 per hour on a travel nursing assignment with this certification, as hospitals prefer nurses with advanced skills.
- CPAN / CAPA (Post-Anesthesia / Ambulatory Care): Another certification best for travel nurses to consider, as it can increase their pay from $5 to $15/ hour depending on the assignment. This indicates travel nurses’ advanced knowledge in post-anesthesia care.
What are the requirements to become a travel nurse?
You must have an active RN license.
- At least 2 years of experience
- BLS (Basic Life Support) certification
- Specialty certifications such as ACLS, PALS, etc
- Vaccinations and other requirements, such as background checks.
How long does it take to get certifications?
Some certifications take a few hours to a few days, such as BLS, ACLS, and PALS. Some advanced specialty certifications take a few months, such as CFRN and CEN.
Conclusion
The right certification for travel nurses can make a difference between average-paying contracts and high-paying contracts. To be able to get these top high-paying contracts, many hospitals prefer additional certification. BLS is the requirement for all nurses, travel nurses, and other advanced certifications, such as ACLS, PALS, and specialty-related certifications. It helps travel nurses to get top premium contracts and boost their pay.
If you are a nurse with 2 years of experience or a seasoned travel nurse looking for top high-paying travel nursing contracts and want the freedom to choose your own pay, location, facility, etc., then join SkillGigs and get matched to the best travel nursing assignments and on top of that, get a $500 bonus once you sign your first contract with us.
