Northern Mariana Islands: Permanent Makeup & Nano Brows Regulation

Verified against official sources, 2026-07-16.

How can you check Nano Brows providers in Northern Mariana Islands?

No online lookup located: As of 2026-07-16, we did not locate a public online lookup. You may ask the provider for the credential's name and issuing agency.

A lookup result reflects only the information shown by the issuing agency. Directory inclusion does not certify a provider's credentials or legal compliance.

Who regulates it

CNMI — Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation (CHCC), Bureau of Environmental Health (EHDP): ESTABLISHMENT sanitary permits for 'Tattoo and/or body piercing shops' (3 CMC §2122(f), Environmental Health and Sanitation Act of 2000; NMIAC 140-20.1) — with 'COSMETIC TATTOO' NAMED as its own $140 permit category on CHCC's current fee schedule (filenamed 'Proposed... Feb 2026' — formal adoption unconfirmed, flagged). Dept of Finance/Revenue & Taxation issues the general business license ($100/yr/line, NAICS-classified; transferred FROM Commerce by PL 11-73/1999 — the sanitation reg's own text still names Commerce, internal-inconsistency flag). NO practitioner board of any kind: BPL (14 disciplines) + HCPLB (32) inventories contain no cosmetology/body-art category; no barber/cosmetology board exists at all

Does it cover permanent makeup / nano brows?

Coverage: covered-as-tattoo

The statutory shop definition (epidermis punctured + stained with pigment) reaches PMU on its face, and CHCC's CURRENT fee schedule names 'Cosmetic Tattoo' as its own Body Art permit category ($140 — same as Tattoo and Body Piercing): the regulator itself recognizes PMU — but the schedule is filenamed 'Proposed' and no Commonwealth Register adoption citation was found (agency-practice-vs-rulemaking gap flagged; coverage held at covered-as-tattoo rather than explicitly-covered until adoption confirms). The intake form (Inspection Request Form B) has a 'Tattoo and/or Body Piercing' checkbox (no separate cosmetic-tattoo box). No practitioner competency regime exists (shop-level only). Physician boundary unaddressed. 6 CMC §3117's application to PMU is our plain-text inference (unconfirmed administratively/judicially).

Artist requirements

License required	No individual artist license at this level
Training	NO individual license/exam/training/BBP-certification regime (convergence: statute + NMIAC shop-level only; BPL/HCPLB inventories empty of body-art; no Commonwealth Register practitioner rulemaking found). Individual-level provisions: the -915 duty (shop may not knowingly let a blood-borne-ill artist work) + a possible Health Certificate (communicable-disease screen listed on the permit-application checklist; scope UNRESOLVED)
Exam	none
Bloodborne pathogen	no certification; shop-level exclusion duty (-915) + sanitation standards
Minimum age	no artist floor identified; CLIENTS: under 18 requires parent/legal guardian PRESENCE during the procedure + identity/relationship proof + signed WRITTEN permission (6 CMC §3117 verbatim); fine ≤$1,000 (no imprisonment); no absolute age floor
Fee	n/a (possible Health Certificate fee unresolved)
Renewal	n/a

Facility requirements

License required	Yes
Inspection regime	CHCC sanitary permit (3 CMC §2122(f)): pre-operation inspection (business license + certificate of occupancy verified first); annual renewal; displayed; NON-TRANSFERABLE between persons or locations (-135); demerit-based A/B/C letter grading w/ 6-month (lower grades) or annual re-inspection; supporting docs: business license, occupancy cert, location map, health certificate, water tests where applicable. PLUS Dept of Finance business license: $100/yr per line of business, NAICS-coded, displayed; $1,500 penalty + $250/day for unlicensed operation (NMIAC 70-40.1, amended through 2025-12-15)
Fee	$140 sanitary permit (Tattoo / Body Piercing / Cosmetic Tattoo each, per the live CHCC schedule — adoption caveat) + $100/yr business license
Renewal	annual (both)

Local variation

County-level variation: No

Commonwealth-wide law; Saipan/Tinian/Rota are municipalities with mayors (and Saipan Local Laws exist for zoning), but both regulatory layers are centralized — CHCC's three island offices are branches of one bureau, one rulebook; no municipal body-art ordinance found (non-exhaustive — flagged).

Reciprocity

Absent by structure — no practitioner credential to reciprocate; sanitary permits are establishment- and location-bound (non-transferable); business licenses Commonwealth-specific. (HCPLB's foreign-trained limited-licensure mechanism covers only its 32 clinical professions — not PMU.)

Pending / recent changes

Active changes: Yes

CHCC EHDP fee schedule (Feb 2026, filenamed 'Proposed') — the document NAMING Cosmetic Tattoo — formal Commonwealth Register adoption unconfirmed: the DB's PMU-recognition finding rides on it; watch for adoption (HIGH for this entry). 24th Legislature: PL 24-01 through 24-30 reviewed (official index) — none touch body art; introduced-bill sweep infeasible (no keyword index) — limited-confidence negative.

What this means before you book

The Northern Mariana Islands permit the shop, not the artist: a tattoo or PMU studio needs a CHCC sanitary permit — the health agency's current fee schedule lists 'Cosmetic Tattoo' as its own $140 category — with a pre-opening inspection and letter-grade system, plus a $100 annual business license; but there is no artist license, exam, or training requirement, and no public register of practitioners. Minors need a parent present during the procedure who signs written permission. Ask the shop for its sanitary permit and current letter grade, and ask the artist directly about training and single-use equipment.

Statutes & sources cited

3 CMC §§2121-2147 (Environmental Health and Sanitation Act, PL 12-48/2000; official at cnmilaw.org): §2121(v) verbatim: "'Tattoo and/or Body Piercing Shop' means any premises where patrons can have the human epidermis punctured and stained with ink or other pigment leaving a permanent design or picture, or pierced for adornment..."; §2122(f): sanitary permit unlawful-to-operate-without
NMIAC tit. 140 subch. 20.1 (CHCC sanitation standards; 2019 LRC compilation): -101(f) permit; -115/-201 pre-operation inspection (checks business license + DPW certificate of occupancy); -301 to -320 demerit A/B/C grading (6-month or annual re-inspection by grade); -135 permits non-transferable (person OR location); -915 blood-borne-illness worker-exclusion duty; -020(ll) Health Certificate definition (communicable-disease screen; text truncated in retrieval — applicability to tattoo workers UNRESOLVED); Appendix A (2017/2019 compilation) has NO tattoo fee line — the live CHCC schedule fills the gap (adoption status unresolved)
6 CMC §3117 (Unlawful Tattooing of Minors, PL 19-38, signed 2016-02-25; RENUMBERED from §3116 by the Law Revision Commission after PL 19-33 took that number — renumbering verified at cnmilaw.org): consent = parent/guardian PRESENCE during the procedure + identity/relationship proof + WRITTEN signed permission; 'minor' = under 18; tattoo = indelible mark by pigment insertion or scarring; penalty: fine ≤$1,000 (enacted version DROPPED the draft's imprisonment option). SECONDARY-ERROR CORRECTION: web summaries conflating the bill's Army AR 670-1 FINDINGS with an operative placement restriction are WRONG — consent is the only operative rule