Door-to-Door Permit Rules in Virginia: 7 Cities Checked

Alexandria

Permit: Yes. Anyone traveling house to house taking or attempting to take orders for goods, subscriptions or "services to be furnished or performed in the future" is a "canvasser or solicitor" and needs a certificate of registration before working (9-10-21, 9-10-22).
Fee: $10, paid to the director of finance before the application is even considered, to cover the cost of the police investigation (9-10-24). No separate fee for the certificate itself is stated.
Hours you may knock: Not published. Article B sets no clock-time or sunset limit on when a canvasser or solicitor may work.
Checked: 19 September 2026

Permit: Yes: a door-to-door vendor permit from the Police Department, and every rep needs their own.
Fee: $20.00 per applicant, payable to the city police department when the application is filed. It covers administrative and investigation costs and the photograph, and it is not returned if the permit is refused (58-2 c 8). Replacement identification cards are $5.00 (58-2 c 9).
Hours you may knock: 8:00 a.m. to sunset (58-2 e).
Checked: 18 September 2026

Permit: Yes. Anyone who goes house to house or place to place selling or taking orders for goods, merchandise or future services needs a solicitor's permit before working, if payment is demanded, accepted or received in advance of final delivery (31-16, 31-17).
Fee: $20.00 for the permit (31-39). A renewal, for the same 30-day term, costs $4.50 (31-43).
Hours you may knock: Not published. Chapter 31 sets no clock-time or sunset limit for commercial solicitors.
Checked: 19 September 2026

Permit: No solicitor permit.
Fee: If the peddler/itinerant merchant category applies: $325.00 per year (23-50(a)). If the direct-seller category applies and the rep's own sales exceed $4,000.00 a year and the rep lives in the city: $0.20 per $100.00 of retail sales (23-45). No fee for a door-to-door service-sales rep who fits neither category is published.
Hours you may knock: The code sets no knocking hours. A full-text search of the City Code for solicitor, peddler, canvasser and itinerant found no hours rule, and the chapter that once regulated solicitors (Chapter 36) is repealed.
Checked: 19 September 2026

Permit: No commercial solicitor permit is in the City Code.
Fee: The license tax for "itinerant merchants or nonfood peddlers" is $500.00 per year (24-25.9(c)(7)), and the city's Vendor Regulations sheet lists the same figure, "General Vendor - $500.00". State law defines a peddler as someone who carries goods from place to place and sells them (Va. Code 58.1-3717), so whether a rep who only takes orders for a service falls in that class is a question for the Commissioner of the Revenue. There is no solicitor permit fee because there is no solicitor permit.
Hours you may knock: The code sets no knocking hours for commercial door-to-door sales. A full-text search of the City Code for solicitor, peddler, canvasser, door to door and itinerant found none. The hours on the city's Vendor Regulations sheet are for street vendors.
Checked: 19 September 2026

Permit: No general door-to-door solicitor permit was found in the Richmond City Code.
Fee: Canvassers, $75.00 flat license tax (26-975 a 1). A solicitor of orders for books, magazines or periodicals, $75.00 plus a $35.00 Chief of Police permit (26-975, 26-875 c). A peddler, hawker or huckster on foot, $300.00, paid in one sum and not prorated (26-986 b). A direct seller with total sales over $5,000.00 pays a $30.00 license fee or a tax on sales (26-971). The Department of Finance's BPOL tax page lists the same flat fee, Peddlers $300, and has no canvasser or solicitor line.
Hours you may knock: Not set for door-to-door sales. The only business hours in the Peddlers article are 7:00 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. (6-423), and that article defines a peddler as someone carrying goods in a vehicle (6-418).
Checked: 19 September 2026

Permit: Yes: a solicitor permit from the Police Department before anyone sells uninvited at a residence (26-26).
Fee: $40 per the Police Department's form, which says the fee covers the permit, the required background check and the identification card, and is non-refundable. The code builds it from a $20.00 application fee (26-32), a local record check at $ 15.00 (26-33, 27-3) and $5.00 for each identification card (26-35): 20 + 15 + 5 = 40. The department's fee table lists the identification card form PD401-ID at $5.
Hours you may knock: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. for solicitors, per the Police Department's permit application. Chapter 26 itself sets no hours.
Checked: 18 September 2026

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