Since 1995
A 30-year partnership with handlers and their animals.
NSAR predates the internet as we know it, predates WooCommerce, predates the 2008 HUD housing guidance, predates the 2021 DOT ESA rule. We’ve watched the industry change many times over — and we’re still here, still honest about what our letters do, still small enough to care.
What we do
Help the right handlers get the right documentation — not everyone, and not the wrong kind.
Legitimate letters, carefully reviewed
Our therapists are licensed in the states where they sign letters. They read each intake carefully before issuing a letter — symptoms, history, daily impact, the role of the animal — not form-only approvals.When a case doesn’t qualify, they say so directly.
Honest guidance about rights
We tell you what a letter can do before you buy: Fair Housing Act accommodation in most rentals, no ADA public-access rights for ESAs, no airline cabin rights for ESAs under the 2021 DOT rule. No surprises at your landlord or a restaurant host stand.
Identification accessories, if you want them
Registration kits, vests, patches, tags — optional physical identification that makes day-to-day interactions easier. These aren’t legal protection; the letter is. We never pretend otherwise.
Support that lasts past the sale
If your landlord pushes back, your therapist’s letter is on file; we can reissue, update, or add state context. We’ll be here at renewal — the same business, same team, same email inbox.
Timeline
Three decades, one mission.
1995
NSAR founded
National Service Animal Registry opens its doors — a small registry helping handlers identify their service animals with certificates and ID cards. Before FHA guidance explicitly addressed ESAs. Before most people had an email address.
2008
HUD formalizes FHA accommodation for assistance animals
The federal government clarifies that landlords must grant reasonable accommodation for documented assistance animals. Demand for legitimate letters explodes. We add our first clinician partners.
2013
Live-interaction requirement
The mental-health community tightens clinical standards for ESA letters. We rebuild our intake process around live interviews, not form-only reviews — long before most of our competitors do.
2020
Florida SB 1084; other states follow
Florida passes the first state ESA statute, mandating clinician personal knowledge of the patient's disability. We add state-specific intake flows. California, Illinois, Washington, and others follow.
2021
DOT removes ESA airline access
The Department of Transportation's final rule ends blanket cabin access for emotional-support animals. We update every product page and customer email to reflect the change — honestly, even when the honest answer isn't the one a customer wants to hear.
2026
Platform rebuild
We rebuild the NSAR platform from the ground up around HIPAA compliance, a live-interaction clinician workflow, and a faster, mobile-first customer experience. Same team, same business, new software.
How we operate
Our principles.
Tell the truth about the law
We'd rather lose a sale than mislead someone into thinking their ESA will get them on a flight or into a restaurant.
Honor the therapist's judgment
Our therapists aren't paid per approval. If a case doesn't qualify, that's a valid outcome — not a failure of the sales funnel.
Keep PHI sacred
Protected health information is encrypted at rest, audit-logged on every access, and shared only with the people who need it to do their job.
Be here for the renewal
Many of our customers have renewed with us five, ten, fifteen times. That's the test — still being the right choice a decade later.
Build instead of borrow
We built our platform ourselves so we could prioritize handler experience and patient privacy over what a generic SaaS happens to support.
Stay small enough to care
A real person reads your support emails. A real therapist reviews your intake. You can look them up in your state's public license registry before paying a dime.
The team
Real names, real credentials.
Every NSAR therapist is published with their credentials, practice, and the states they’re licensed in — so you can verify their license number on your state’s public registry before you pay. This isn’t marketing fluff; it’s the transparency every registry should have.
Thinking about a letter?
Two minutes, no email required. The qualifier quiz tells you honestly which letter fits your situation — and whether one makes sense at all.