NDSP Visiting Hours and Schedule: When You Can Visit

The NDSP lobby is open 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Central Time. This is when you can arrive and check in at the front gate.

Tuesday visits run from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Central Time. Arrive early enough to get processed before your visit starts - that two-hour window goes fast.

Each resident gets 20 hours of in-person visiting time per month. Here's what catches families off guard: any visit over 10 minutes counts as a full hour. Video visits don't count toward this limit - only in-person visits do.

• ✓ If you only need a quick check-in, keep the visit to 10 minutes or less so it doesn’t count as an hour
• ✓ If you’re traveling a long distance, plan the visit with the 20-hour limit in mind so you don’t burn through the monthly allotment early
• ✓ Track how many in-person hours have been used so you can space visits out across the month
• ✓ Remember the 20-hour cap is for in-person visits; video visits don’t come out of that total

Before you make the trip, confirm you're approved to visit. NDSP requires visitors to complete a visitation application, get pre-approved, and be added to the resident's visitation list. Show up without approval, and you'll likely be turned away - even during visiting hours.

• ✓ Bring official photo identification if you’re entering NDSP
• ✓ If you’re bringing someone under 16, they can enter without photo ID only if they’re supervised by a parent or guardian
• ✓ Don’t assume you can “work it out” at the door - failure to produce ID can be grounds to deny admittance

Schedules change, and finding out after you've driven there is frustrating. Before you leave, double-check that lobby hours are still 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Central Time and confirm the visiting schedule for your day. Remember: no visiting on Monday, and Tuesday visits are 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.