How to Perform and Verify California Nursing License

Manual Reviewer User Guide to California Nursing Licenses

How to perform a California Nursing License Lookup - This guide supplies everything you need to verify Nursing licenses in California using authoritative state sources. Please share whether this guide was helpful! success@meshverify.com.

California Board of Registered Nursing

Quick Links and Contact Information

Use for: RN: Registered Nurse, NP: Nurse Practitioner, NA: Nurse Anesthetist, NM: Nursing Midwife, PHN: Public Health Nurse

• Mailing Address:
  PO Box 944210

  Sacramento, CA 94244-2100

•  

California Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians (BVNPT)

Use for: LVN: Vocational Nurse, Psychiatric Technician

• Mailing Address:
  2535 Capitol Oaks Drive, Suite 205

  Sacramento, CA 95833

When to use

The California Nursing License Lookup confirms whether an individual is legally authorized to practice nursing in California. It is considered primary source verification when pulled directly from the California Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) system.

You are validating:

Which board should you use?

Before searching, determine the correct board.

If unsure, use Advanced Search in the California Nursing License Lookup and test both boards.

California Nursing License Lookup – Manual steps

Step 1: Open the official portal

Go to: https://search.dca.ca.gov/

This is the only authoritative public lookup for California Nursing licenses. 

Step 2: Use Advanced Search (recommended)

Go to: https://search.dca.ca.gov/advanced

Select:

Board (BRN or BVNPT)

This step matters. Many failed verifications are caused by using the wrong board or license type.

Step 3: Search by license number (preferred)

• Enter the license number exactly as provided

• If no number is available, search by last name + first name

Run the search.

Step 4: Open the individual license record

Click into the record. Do not rely on summary rows alone.

Confirm the following fields:

This record view is the California Nursing License Lookup result you rely on for manual license verification.

How to interpret license status (important)

Active
License is valid and eligible to practice.

Expired / Inactive
Individual is not authorized to practice unless reinstated.

Disciplinary Action Noted
Click through any linked documents. If documents are missing, contact the board directly using the contact information above.

Example license number formats (reference only)

These are common formats you will see during California Nursing License Lookup reviews.

RN: 123456

NP: 98765

PHN: 24680

LVN: 765432

Psychiatric Technician: 112233

Examples

Unique Nursing license types you may encounter

Board of Registered Nursing

BVNPT

If the license type does not match the claimed role, flag it.

Common manual review mistakes

Searching under the wrong board
Skipping Advanced Search
Assuming “exists” equals “active”
Not opening the full record
Missing expiration dates
Ignoring disciplinary indicators

All are avoidable with proper California Nursing License Lookup discipline.

CTA: streamline manual review with Professional License Verify

Manual California Nursing License Lookup works. It just does not easily scale.

Mesh Professional License Verify turns this manual process into a structured Primary License Verification with consistent outputs, evidence capture, and monitoring.