LIC 9182: how to transfer your fingerprint clearance to a new care home in California.

I own ten small licensed care homes in Clovis and Fresno, and this is the form a care home like ours files when a caregiver joins from another licensed facility. It's simple once you know who does what. Most of the confusion comes from old instructions that are still floating around online.

What LIC 9182 is for

Anyone who works in a licensed Residential Care Facility for the Elderly (an RCFE) needs a fingerprint-based criminal record clearance from the Department of Social Services before employment or "initial presence" in the facility (Health & Safety Code §1569.17(c)). That clearance is attached to the facility you work for. It doesn't follow you automatically when you change jobs.

The law does let the Department move a current clearance from one state-licensed facility to another (H&S Code §1569.17(g)). The request goes in one of two ways: on the paper form, LIC 9182, or through Guardian, the Department's online background-check portal. Either one is allowed.

Who fills it out

The facility you are going to. The form is completed by the licensee or license applicant of your new workplace, and the licensee, administrator or director signs it to certify that they verified your identity. You don't send it in yourself, and your old employer doesn't have to sign anything.

What you can do is make it easy. Bring your new employer:

• Your full legal name, exactly as it appears on your ID
• Your California driver's license or ID number (or permanent resident card number) and your date of birth
• The name and facility number of the licensed facility you're currently associated with
• Your background check number or Licensing Information System ID, if you have it

The form also has a space for your Social Security number. It's marked voluntary, though the form warns that leaving it blank can slow things down. Your new employer adds its own name, facility number and address, your date of employment, and your role (for a caregiver, "Employee/Volunteer").

How the transfer works, step by step

1. Make sure your clearance is still active. The Department keeps a clearance in its active files for at least two years after you stop working at a licensed facility (H&S Code §1569.17(g)(2)). If it has been longer than that, plan on a new Live Scan.
2. Give your new employer the information above. They check it against your ID.
3. The employer completes one LIC 9182 for each facility number. This matters with a company like ours: each of our ten homes has its own license, so a caregiver who will work in two homes needs a request for each.
4. The employer submits it to its local Community Care Licensing regional office, or makes the request in Guardian.
5. Start work after the request is in, not before. The form says the request must be submitted before you have initial presence in the facility. If it isn't, the facility is in violation and can be charged a $100 civil penalty. The careful approach is to wait until the transfer is confirmed before your first shift.

What changed in 2023

A lot of the instructions you'll find online are out of date. Since January 1, 2023, two things are no longer required (CDSS Provider Information Notice 23-08-CCLD):

• No copy of your photo ID attached to the request. The employer still has to verify who you are, but the copy doesn't go in with the form.
• No LIC 508. The Criminal Record Statement that used to go with every transfer has been discontinued.

The form itself has been revised more than once since then. As I write this, the current version is dated 12/25. Always download it fresh from the state's site instead of using a copy saved somewhere else. That includes an old copy this website used to host.

When a transfer won't work

• Your clearance is no longer active. You'll need new fingerprints through Live Scan.
• Your background check was done for a different agency. LIC 9182 only moves a clearance between facilities licensed by the Department of Social Services. A check done for another department, such as the one behind a CNA certificate, generally isn't a clearance this form can move. Going between a county-licensed and a state-licensed facility is handled by the licensing agencies themselves, not on this form.
• You have an exemption, not a clearance. If the Department granted you a criminal record exemption, the transfer uses a different form, LIC 9188.
• You're moving to a facility that serves children. A Child Abuse Central Index check has to be on file as well.

What the transfer doesn't cover

LIC 9182 moves your background check and nothing else. A new RCFE employer still has to complete the rest of your file: a health screening and TB test (Title 22 §87411), the required caregiver training hours (H&S Code §1569.625), and your signed acknowledgment that you're a mandated reporter of elder abuse, which is form SOC 341A. Bring your training certificates and TB results anyway; your new employer will tell you what carries over.

If you or your employer get stuck, the Department's Care Provider Management Branch handles background checks: 888-422-5669 or Guardian@dss.ca.gov.

If you're cleared and looking for your next home

An active clearance means you can start sooner, and it tells me you've done this work before. At A Place Called Home we care for six residents per home with two caregivers on every day shift, in small, loving homes where care is nurse-directed and the same team works in the same house. Right now we're hiring caregiver couples, with live-in housing, and our careers page lists what else is open. We file the transfer paperwork ourselves.

This article is general information from a registered nurse and care-home owner. It is not legal advice. Background-check laws, forms and Department procedures change; for the current requirements that apply to you or your facility, check with the California Department of Social Services, Community Care Licensing Division, or a qualified attorney. A Place Called Home is licensed by the California Department of Social Services.

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