New Orleans, Louisiana: door-to-door solicitor permit

• The answer: Yes. Anyone who wants to “canvass or solicit on city streets, sidewalks or house to house for commercial purposes” must first get a permit from the department of finance, and each agent using it needs a city identification card (110-222(a)). “Commercial” means proposing a commercial transaction (110-222(c)).
• Where it comes from: The department of finance (110-222). The city’s Mayoralty Permit page lists canvassing and sends applications to the Bureau of Revenue, City Hall, 1300 Perdido St., Room 1W15.
• Fee: $50.00 for each separate solicitor or canvasser, plus $5.00 for each agent’s or employee’s identification card (110-222(a)). Every permit in the chapter also carries a $0.25 police pension fund charge (110-3). The code does not say how long the permit lasts.
• Hours you may knock: The solicitor article sets no knocking hours. Nothing in Articles I or III of Chapter 110 gives clock times.
• What the rep carries: The identification card from the department of finance. The permit itself may be passed among the agents or employees of the company that got it, but each one using it must have an ID card (110-222(a)).
• What takes the time: The code gives no processing time, background check or bond for this permit. The city page says to file the Schedule A form with the Bureau of Revenue. A mayoralty permit must be in hand before the activity starts, or interest and a penalty are added to the fee (110-5).
• Code: New Orleans Code of Ordinances, Chapter 110, Peddlers, Solicitors and Itinerant Vendors: 110-3, 110-5, 110-222. Municode shows the version as Sep 11, 2026 (current).
• Worth knowing: The permit is not valid in the Vieux Carré (French Quarter), the Convention Center zone, the Riverfront Zone or the Lower Riverfront Zone; no commercial canvassing on the streets and sidewalks there at all (110-222(b)). Holders of a mayoralty permit under section 30-69 are exempt from this section (110-222(d)).
• Read it yourself: New Orleans Code Chapter 110, Article III, Solicitors · New Orleans Code Chapter 110, Article I, In General · City of New Orleans, Mayoralty Permit · checked 18 September 2026

Ask the clerk, and write the answer down: How long the solicitor permit lasts and whether it renews yearly; Whether the Bureau of Revenue also requires an occupational license or sales tax registration before it issues the permit; Any limit on the hours a rep may knock; How long the Bureau takes to issue the permit and ID cards. Clerk’s name ______________   Direct line ______________   Date called ______________