An ESA Letter Usually Takes a Few Days

Getting an ESA letter usually takes a few days. The time goes on the one step a website cannot skip: a licensed clinician has to evaluate you before signing anything, and a letter written without that step is exactly what a landlord's verification call catches. How long it takes for you depends on which of three routes you take, and on the state you live in.

Your own clinician is usually the quickest route

If a therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, counselor or physician already treats you, ask them at your next appointment. They already know the condition the letter documents, so there is often nothing new to evaluate, and many write one at no charge beyond a normal session. The 30-day rules below never slow this route down, because the relationship already exists. Our guide to who can write an ESA letter lists every license that counts.

A telehealth evaluation usually takes a few days from booking to letter

With no clinician of your own, the route is a live video evaluation with a clinician licensed in your state. In New Jersey and New York, ESA Card's live video evaluation with a licensed therapist is $120; elsewhere, telehealth services typically charge $139–$199. The steps are the same everywhere: book a slot, have the call, and if the clinician finds a disability-related need for the animal, receive a signed letter on their letterhead.

Ours is a call with an independent therapist licensed in your state, and in October 2026 our calendars usually had an opening within a day; in a slow week the wait ran to three or four days. A therapist who approves you sends the signed letter within two business days of the call; one who can't approve you writes no letter, and your payment is refunded in full. You can book in New Jersey or book in New York.

Four states add about a month when the clinician is new to you

California and Arkansas require a 30-day relationship with the clinician before a letter for an emotional support dog, and Louisiana and Montana require it for any animal. If you live in one of those states and the clinician is new to you, plan on about a month, and start before the lease date rather than in the week it is due. Iowa sets no wait, but its letter must state the date it was issued and when it expires. Our ESA laws by state page has all fifty.

A few things slow a letter down, and most can be sorted before the call

A letter that arrives within minutes fails the check a landlord actually runs

Landlords look up the license number on the letter, and the screening services many of them use go further: PetScreening contacts the provider who signed it and marks the request not recommended if the provider says the letter isn't theirs (our PetScreening guide shows each step). A site that issues a letter with no live evaluation is selling a document no clinician will stand behind when that call comes.

Some states write this into law. Florida's statute asks for documentation from a practitioner with personal knowledge of your disability, and a companion law makes fraudulent ESA documentation a misdemeanor there. A few days for a real evaluation is the price of a letter that holds up.

In short: ask your own clinician first, expect a few days for a telehealth evaluation, give yourself a month with a new clinician in the four 30-day states, and be wary of any letter that skips the call. Our guide to getting an ESA letter without a therapist compares the routes in full.