Virginia will not review your license application until someone passes a proctored exam.

The gate before the gate

DBHDS Office of Licensing put it plainly in an October 23, 2025 memo: "Applications submitted for Priority 1 or 2 services without prior completion of the Initial Applicant Orientation and Comprehensive Knowledge Exam will not be reviewed under the priority timeline."

Effective November 7, 2025, an applicant must complete a 16-module orientation and pass a proctored Comprehensive Knowledge Exam with a score of 85 percent or better, before submitting. Not during review. Before.

And if the service you want to license is not on the priority list, the same office has said non-priority applications go on a waitlist reviewed in order received, with significant delays. Virginia has effectively rationed which services can be licensed and how fast.

This brief is part of our seven state series. The underlying evidence, including every quote and figure with its primary source, is published on our Virginia workforce page and in the state regulations hub.

The staffing plan rule that reprices your model

12VAC35-105-590, amended effective June 19, 2025, states: "The provider staffing plan shall not include volunteers or students and shall not rely on students or volunteers to supplant direct care positions."

If your staffing model leans on practicum students or volunteers to cover direct care, the regulation says you cannot count them. That is a budget problem disguised as a documentation requirement.

What DBHDS is actually finding

In fiscal year 2025 DBHDS issued 1,899 human rights citations to licensed providers. Sixty-five percent of them went to developmental disability providers, and 57 percent were abuse or neglect related. The department reviewed 23,716 serious incidents in the same year.

Against that, the Virginia DD waiver waiting list stood at 14,258 people as of November 25, 2025, with 2,727 in Priority One. Demand is not the constraint. Licensed, documented capacity is.

And the rulebook itself is being replaced

DBHDS is repealing 12VAC35-105 and the children residential regulations and replacing them with one general chapter plus five service-specific chapters. The comment period closed in September 2025 and the action remains under development.

Build to the current rule. But do not build anything so rigid that a chapter replacement forces you to start over.

Four things to change this month

1. Identify who will sit the exam before you plan any new service. It is a person and a calendar item, not a checkbox.

2. Pull volunteers and students out of the staffing plan. Then find out what that actually costs you and price it.

3. Audit personnel records against the three-year retention rule. 12VAC35-105-430 requires each employee or contractor record be retained in its entirety for at least three years after termination.

4. Read your own human rights citation history the way DBHDS reads it. Sixty-five percent of citations landed on DD providers. If that is you, assume you are in the sample.

Questions Virginia operators ask

Does Virginia require an exam before a DBHDS license application?
Yes. Since November 7, 2025, applicants for Priority 1 or Priority 2 services must complete the DBHDS Initial Applicant Orientation and pass a proctored Comprehensive Knowledge Exam with a score of 85 percent or better. Applications submitted without it are not reviewed under the priority timeline.

Can Virginia providers count volunteers or students in the staffing plan?
No. 12VAC35-105-590, amended effective June 19, 2025, states the provider staffing plan shall not include volunteers or students and shall not rely on them to supplant direct care positions.

How many human rights citations did DBHDS issue in FY2025?
DBHDS issued 1,899 human rights citations to licensed providers in fiscal year 2025, with 65 percent going to developmental disability providers and 57 percent related to abuse or neglect.

See the full Virginia workforce page →  ·  All seven states →