Helping Animals Help People Since 1995
ESA & Service Dog Letters,
written by licensed therapists.
Become approved for an ESA or psychiatric service dog with a letter written by a therapist licensed in your state, after a brief mental-health evaluation. Receive a registration kit to help you identify and present your service dog, emotional support animal, or therapy animal in public. The nation’s oldest ESA and service-dog agency.
Not sure where to start?
Tell us what kind of animal-handler relationship you’re asking about.
Three pages, three short reads. Pick the one that fits your situation and we’ll walk you through the rights, the process, and what to do next.
Emotional Support
Emotional Support Animal (ESA)
A companion animal for someone with a qualifying mental- health condition. Housing protection now depends on your state after HUD’s 2026 enforcement change. Limited travel. No public-access rights.
Read about ESAs →Task-Trained Partner
Service Dog (including Psychiatric)
A dog trained to perform tasks tied to a disability. ADA public-access rights. Self-training is legal. Includes psychiatric service dogs (PSDs).
Read about service dogs →Visit Comfort
Therapy Animal
Visits hospitals, schools, courts to comfort many people. Different from an ESA. No individual handler-rights — but we’ll explain the difference and where they fit.
Read about therapy animals →Why handlers trust us
Three decades. Real therapists. Honest paperwork.
NSAR has been a service-animal registry since 1995 — long before the “online ESA letter” industry existed. Every letter we issue is signed by a state-licensed therapist after a thorough clinical review of your intake. You can verify their state license number on your state’s public license registry before you pay.
Real licensed therapists
LCSW, LPC, LMFT, licensed psychologist — all in your state, all license-verifiable. Names + credentials published before you pay.
Meet the therapists →
HIPAA-grade privacy
Your intake is encrypted at rest, every PHI access is audit-logged, and our letter discloses that you qualify — not your diagnosis. Built for compliance, not just appearance.
Reviews from real customers
Every review is tied to a verified paid order. We don't write our own reviews — and we don't hide the bad ones.
Read reviews →
Emotional Support Animals
Your home, your peace, your animal at your side.
An ESA is a companion animal that a licensed clinician determines provides therapeutic benefit for a qualifying mental-health condition. ESA housing protection changed in 2026 — HUD now enforces the Fair Housing Act only for trained service animals, so whether an untrained ESA is protected depends largely on your state’s law.
- Housing: Depends on your state after HUD’s 2026 change.
- Travel: Limited. Most U.S. airlines treat ESAs as pets after the 2021 DOT rule.
- Public access: No — ESAs aren’t covered by the ADA.
Common questions
- Does my landlord have to accept it?
No one can guarantee it. The letter is supporting documentation that aids a reasonable-accommodation request — it doesn’t force a landlord. Trained service animals stay FHA-protected; for an ESA it now depends on your state. - Can my landlord charge a pet deposit?
For a trained assistance animal, no. For an untrained ESA it now depends on your state law after HUD’s 2026 change. - Is an ESA the same as a service dog?
No — different roles, different rights. See the comparison →
Service Dogs
A working partner. Trained for your disability.
A service dog is a dog individually trained to perform tasks that mitigate a specific disability — physical or psychiatric. The ADA protects them in restaurants, stores, hotels, planes, and your apartment. The ADA also lets you train the dog yourself.
- Public access: Yes — under the ADA’s two-question rule.
- Housing: Yes — trained service animals remain FHA-protected.
- Travel: Yes — fly free in the cabin under the ACAA.
Want to self-train?
The ADA explicitly permits it. We’ve assembled the foundation curriculum, the public-access self-test, and six task-category playbooks (psychiatric · mobility · guide · seizure alert · hearing alert · medical assist) so you can do it right.
Open the training hub →Rights & Laws
Three federal laws. Your state on top.
We translate the regulations into plain English so you can actually use them. Each topic links into a deep-dive with citations, the “in plain English” version, and scripts for the disputes that come up.
Housing
Fair Housing Act
What the FHA covers, how HUD's 2026 enforcement change affects untrained ESAs, your state's protections, and the reasonable-accommodation request walkthrough.
Read the deep-dive →
Public access
Americans with Disabilities Act
The two-question rule for service dogs in restaurants, stores, taxis, and hotels. ESAs are not covered — that's the line.
Read the deep-dive →
Travel
Air Carrier Access Act
Service dogs fly free in the cabin. ESAs are pets on most U.S. airlines after the 2021 DOT rule. The DOT form walkthrough + airline notes.
Read the deep-dive →
Training
Self-train your service dog.
The ADA permits it.
The ADA does not require professional training — you can train the dog yourself, and many handlers do. We’ll show you the order of operations: foundation manners first, public-access proofing second, task work last. Or if self-training isn’t the right fit, we’ll point you to vetted trainers in your state.
Verify a letter or registration
Got a letter from a tenant? An employee? A passenger?
Look up the registration number on any NSAR-issued letter or ID and we’ll confirm whether it’s authentic and currently active. Free. No login. No data shared back to the customer.
Pick your letter
Licensed clinician consultations
ESA and psychiatric service dog letters, signed by a mental health professional licensed where you live.
Registration Kits
Pick your service type
Physical ID kits & certificates organized by animal role. Jump straight to the type that fits — or scroll for the full lineup.
ESA Registration
ESA Kits
Emotional support animal kits — pairs with your ESA letter for cleaner conversations with housing providers and college residences.
Service Dog Registration
Service Dog Kits
For task-trained service dogs. Adds visible identification and a registry record so public-access interactions move faster.
Therapy Animal Registration
Therapy Animal Kits
For animals visiting hospitals, schools, libraries, and assisted-living facilities as a team with their handler.
Accessories
Vests, patches, ID cards, dog tags
Quality identification items — pick by service type, or jump to the universal & specialty rail at the bottom.
ESA
8 items
Service Dog
8 items
-3%Service Dog Harness
Service Dog Vests
-25%Service Dog Leash
Service Dog Collar
Customized Dog Tag - Service Dog
Dog Tag - Service Dog
Service Dog Information Cards
-67%Service Dog Rocker Patch
Therapy Animal
9 items
NSAR Therapy Animal Team Membership Renewal
Therapy Animal Vest
Therapy Animal ID Cards
-25%Therapy Animal Leash
Therapy Animal Collar
Customized Dog Tag - Therapy Dog
Dog Tag - Therapy Dog
Therapy Animal Information Cards
Therapy Animal Rocker Patch
Universal & specialty
18 items
-67%Ask To Pet Me Round Patch
-67%Certified Round Patch
Disabled Veteran Purple Rocker Patch
Disabled Veteran Red Rocker Patch
Guide Rocker Patch
Hearing Alert Rocker Patch
ID Card Holder
Medical Assist Rocker Patch
Mobility Rocker Patch
Plain Vests (No Patches)
-67%Please Don't Pet Me Round Patch
PSD Rocker Patch
Replacement Certificates
Replacement ID Cards
Seizure Alert Rocker Patch
-3%Service Harness - Grey
-3%Service Harness - Red
-67%Therapy Round Patch
Ready when you are.
Pick a letter, meet with a licensed clinician, and receive your signed letter once the review is complete. If you’re not sure which letter fits, take the qualifier quiz first.