California Home Care Aide Registration Application (HCS 100): LIC 508 and Live Scan

To get on California’s Home Care Aide Registry, you file the California Home Care Aide registration application, Form HCS 100, with the Department of Social Services, along with a signed Criminal Record Statement (LIC 508), completed Live Scan fingerprints, and a $35 nonrefundable fee. The form itself is two pages and takes only minutes. The surrounding paperwork is where applications stall, so pull everything together before you sit down to fill it in.

Who Has to Register

Anyone providing non-medical in-home care in California has to appear on the Home Care Aide Registry before working with a client. That includes affiliated aides employed by a licensed home care organization and independent aides who contract directly with clients. You must be at least 18.¹ Home care organizations cannot place an unregistered aide with a client, so most employers will not finalize your hire until the registry shows you as “Registered.”²

What to Have Ready Before You Start

The HCS 100 is short, but it travels with other documents. Gather these first:

A California driver’s license or state identification card. The name and ID number must match what you write on the form exactly. A single wrong digit or spelling difference can bounce the application.
Your Social Security Number. The HCS 100 marks the SSN field as voluntary, but your fingerprints and background check run through the DOJ and FBI, where the SSN helps return accurate results. Providing it is strongly recommended.
The legal name and HCO identification number of your home care organization, if you are applying as an affiliated aide. Your employer can supply this. Independent aides leave the affiliation section blank.
A signed Criminal Record Statement (Form LIC 508). This one-page disclosure form goes in the same packet as the HCS 100, and the name on it must match the HCS 100.
Completed Live Scan fingerprints. You need these done before you submit the application, using the Request for Live Scan Service form (BCIA 8016).³
The $35 registration fee. It is the same amount for new applications and renewals, and it is nonrefundable. Online applicants pay by debit or credit card; mail applicants send a check or money order.⁴

Tuberculosis Test (Affiliated Aides)

If you are working for a home care organization, you have to show proof that you are free of active tuberculosis. You can be tested up to 90 days before your start date or within seven days after you begin work. The test must be one recommended by the CDC and licensed by the FDA, which includes the standard TB skin test and the IGRA blood draw. A positive result means a chest X-ray and medical documentation that you pose no risk of spreading the disease. After the first negative result, the exam has to be repeated at least every two years.⁵ Your employer keeps the certificate on file. It does not go in with the HCS 100.

Filling Out Page One of the HCS 100

The form is available on the CDSS website or through your home care organization.⁴ At the top, mark whether this is a new application or a renewal. Then work through the numbered fields:

Fields 1 and 2: your full legal name (last, first, middle) exactly as it appears on your government ID, plus any other names you have used, including maiden names and aliases. Do not skip the aliases. Background checks run against every known name, and an omission here causes mismatches that delay clearance.
Fields 3 and 4: residential address and, if different, mailing address. Include the county for both.
Field 5: email address. Voluntary, but useful for status updates.
Fields 6 and 7: date of birth and sex.
Field 8: Social Security Number (voluntary on the form).
Field 9: California driver’s license or state ID number.
Field 10: daytime and evening phone numbers.
Fields 11 and 12: whether you are already on the TrustLine Registry or working in a Community Care Licensing facility. If you are, enter your Personnel ID (PER ID) or TrustLine number so your existing background clearance can transfer. That often speeds things up because the DOJ already has your fingerprints.
Field 13: home care organization affiliation. Mark “Yes” and enter the organization’s name and HCO number if you have one. Independent aides mark “No.”

Sign and date the bottom. An unsigned form is returned without processing.

Page Two: the Completeness Checklist

The second page is a self-check. Before you seal the envelope or submit online, confirm each item: your name matches across the HCS 100 and LIC 508, your ID number is entered, your Live Scan prints have been submitted, the form is signed and dated, your fee is enclosed, and the Criminal Record Statement is completed and signed.

The Criminal Record Statement (LIC 508)

Form LIC 508 is where you disclose prior convictions and, depending on the instructions, certain arrests. It travels with the HCS 100. Leaving something off that later surfaces in the DOJ or FBI background check is one of the fastest ways to be denied, because CDSS can refuse registration when the disclosure does not match the record.⁶

A record does not automatically bar you. California distinguishes between exemptible and non-exemptible offenses. Roughly 60 offenses are non-exemptible, including murder, kidnapping, rape, torture, and crimes requiring sex offender registration; those permanently disqualify an applicant with no path to an exemption.⁷ For other convictions, CDSS may offer you the chance to request a criminal record exemption. The right move on the form itself is simple: be complete and honest.

Live Scan Fingerprinting

Live Scan is the electronic fingerprint system California uses to run your prints through DOJ and FBI criminal databases. Fill out the Request for Live Scan Service form (BCIA 8016) and bring it to an authorized Live Scan location. Most local police departments, sheriff’s offices, and private fingerprinting businesses offer the service.⁸ The BCIA 8016 asks for physical descriptors like height, weight, hair color, and eye color along with your identification information.

Live Scan has its own fees, separate from the $35 registration fee, typically a DOJ processing fee, an FBI processing fee, and the site’s rolling fee. Your home care organization may pre-fill parts of the BCIA 8016 for you and point you to a specific location, sometimes covering the cost. Complete this step before you submit the HCS 100. The application checklist asks you to confirm your prints have already been submitted.

Submitting the Application

You can apply online or by mail. Online is faster and lets you pay by debit or credit card. If your home care organization is coordinating your registration, they may walk you through the online submission.⁴

If you mail it, send the completed HCS 100, the signed LIC 508, and your $35 check or money order to:

California Department of Social Services
Home Care Services Branch
744 P Street, M.S. 9-14-90
Sacramento, CA 95814⁴

Make the check payable to the entity named on the current CDSS application page, and use a trackable mailing method so you have proof of delivery. A missing fee or an unsigned form will stall the application without notice.

After You Submit

Once CDSS receives your complete packet and fee, your fingerprints are run through DOJ and FBI databases. DOJ checks California records; the FBI handles federal and out-of-state records. A clean return moves quickly. If a record surfaces, staff pull the transcript and evaluate whether the convictions are exemptible or not, which adds time.⁹

CDSS does not publish a guaranteed timeline, and turnaround depends on volume and complexity. Plan for several weeks and do not assume you can start work before the registry updates. You cannot legally provide home care services until your status shows “Registered.”

Checking Your Status

You can search the California Home Care Aide Registry online at any time using your first name, last name, and Personnel ID number (PER ID or HCA ID). If the search returns nothing, double-check spelling and the ID number, and confirm your application was received as complete. For help, call the Home Care Services Branch at 1-877-424-5778 (Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) or email HCSB@dss.ca.gov.¹⁰

If the Background Check Turns Up a Record

When the DOJ transcript shows exemptible offenses, the CDSS Caregiver Background Check Bureau sends you a notification letter explaining how to request a criminal record exemption and listing the documents you need to submit.⁹ You cannot work with clients while the request is pending. The statute keeps aides with unresolved criminal records away from client contact until the exemption is granted.⁷

For the roughly 60 non-exemptible crimes, CDSS has no discretion to grant an exemption no matter how old the offense or how much rehabilitation you can show. Registration will be denied.⁶

Renewing Your Registration

Registration is not permanent. When it expires, submit a renewal using the same HCS 100 (mark “Renewal Application” at the top) and pay the same $35 fee.⁴ Affiliated aides also need a current TB test certificate on file with the employer, repeated at least every two years.⁵ If your registration lapses, you are not legally eligible to work as a home care aide in California until the renewal goes through. Track your expiration date and file early.

1
California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code HSC 1796.12
2
California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code HSC 1796.43
3
State of California – Department of Justice – Office of the Attorney General. Forms for Applicant Agencies
4
California Department of Social Services. Home Care Aide Application Process
5
California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code HSC 1796.45
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California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code HSC 1796.18
7
California Department of Social Services. Exemptions
8
California Department of Justice. Request for Live Scan Service
9
California Department of Social Services. Resources for Home Care Aides
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California Department of Social Services. California Home Care Aide Registry