How to Get Your Emotional Support Animal Certification
in Virginia

Virginia’s service animal law applies to all public places like public buildings, faciilties, streets, and sidewalks. It also applies to restaurants, hotels/lodging places, places of amusement, public transportation, and any other place where the general public is invited.

Under the ADA, a public accommodation may not ask questions about a handler’s disability or request documentation of the service animal’s training or status. Establishments may only ask whether or not the animal is a service animal and what tasks it performs.

Virginia law requires that service dogs must be identified in particular ways. Guide dogs must be in a harness, hearing dogs must be on a blaze orange leash, and service dogs must be in a backpack, harness, or vest identifying them as trained service dogs.

Service animals are allowed on public transportation due to both the ADA’s rules and Virginia law, which classifies transportation as a type of public accommodation.

Both the ADA and Virginia law prohibits public accommodations from charging extra for service animals. However, if a service animal causes damage, you may be liable for any charges. Service animals can also be removed or barred from entry if they are out of control or cause a direct threat to the health and safety of others.

Generally yes, service animals must be allowed in patient rooms and anywhere else the public or patients are allowed to go. If a patient is not able to care for their service dog, the hospital should give the opportunity for the patient to make arrangements with a friend or family member for alternative care. If alternative care arrangements cannot be made, the hospital may board the dog until the patient is able to care for it or make other arrangements. Service dogs may also ride in ambulances with their handlers unless it is too crowded or the dog’s presence would interfere with the emergency medical staff’s ability to treat the patient. In this case, the hospital should make arrangements to transport the dog to the hospital.

Public accommodations may be subject to paying “compensatory damages” if a discrimination complaint is brought against them under Virginia law and the ADA.

Virginia follows the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA), which defines a service animal as a dog (regardless of breed or size) trained to do work or perform tasks to assist a qualified individual with a diability, and may include psychiatric service dogs. Minature horses are excluded in this definition.

Airlines can require a passenger to provide a U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) form attesting to the animal’s health, behavior, and training and a U.S. DOT form attesting that the animal can either not relieve itself or can relieve itself in a sanitary manner (if the animal will be on a flight that is 8 or more hours).

The ACAA does not address service animals in-training, so airlines are not required to carry them as they do not meet the requirements of an ACAA-defined service animal. However, airlines can make their own individual policies.