Michigan LARA Professional License Lookup Scraper

Scrape Michigan LARA / MiPLUS professional license lookup records from the public Accela portal. Use it to verify license numbers, monitor license status, and build Michigan licensed-professional lead lists.

What does Michigan LARA Professional License Lookup Scraper do?

This Apify Actor searches the public Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) license lookup page and returns structured license records.

It submits bounded search queries to the Accela Citizen Access portal and extracts the visible result table.

Use it for repeatable checks instead of copying rows from the web interface by hand.

Who is it for?

• ✅ Compliance teams verifying professional licenses before onboarding vendors or employees.
• ✅ Background-check providers enriching candidate review workflows.
• ✅ Recruiters sourcing licensed professionals in Michigan.
• ✅ B2B sales teams building regulated-industry lead lists.
• ✅ Data teams that need scheduled license-status monitoring.

Why use this actor?

Manual lookups are slow and hard to audit.

The actor gives you consistent JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or API output from the same public source.

You can schedule it, call it from your backend, or connect it to automation tools.

Data source

The actor uses the public Michigan LARA / MiPLUS Accela licensee search page.

Source URL: https://aca-prod.accela.com/MILARA/GeneralProperty/PropertyLookUp.aspx?isLicensee=Y

No login is required for the public search result fields.

What data can I extract?

Field	Description
licenseType	LARA license type or profession label
licenseNumber	Public license number
firstName	Licensee first name when present
middleInitial	Middle initial when present
lastName	Licensee last name when present
fullName	Combined person name or organization fallback
organizationName	Organization/business name
dbaTradeName	DBA or trade name
licenseStatus	Public status text from the lookup table
expirationDate	Expiration date when listed
detailPostbackTarget	Accela detail postback target for traceability
sourceUrl	Public lookup page URL
query	Search query that produced the row
scrapedAt	ISO timestamp of extraction

How much does it cost to scrape Michigan LARA license records?

The actor uses pay-per-event pricing.

You pay a small start fee per run plus a per-record charge for each saved license row.

Use narrow queries first, then scale up after validating the output.

Input overview

Provide one or more search queries.

Each query can include a license number, former license number, first name, last name, organization name, DBA/trade name, or license type.

The default example searches two common last names and saves up to 100 records.

Example input

{
  "queries": [
    { "lastName": "Smith" },
    { "lastName": "Johnson" },
    { "licenseNumber": "1101001085" }
  ],
  "maxItems": 100
}

Search tips

• Use licenseNumber when you need verification for one known credential.
• Use lastName and firstName for person searches.
• Use organizationName for business license checks.
• Use licenseType to reduce noisy broad surname searches.
• Add multiple queries when you need more than one page of leads.

Output example

{
  "licenseType": "Accountant - Licensed",
  "licenseNumber": "1101004665",
  "firstName": "Melvyn",
  "middleInitial": "L",
  "lastName": "Smith",
  "fullName": "Melvyn L Smith",
  "organizationName": null,
  "dbaTradeName": null,
  "licenseStatus": "Superseded",
  "expirationDate": null,
  "sourceUrl": "https://aca-prod.accela.com/MILARA/GeneralProperty/PropertyLookUp.aspx?isLicensee=Y"
}

How to run the scraper

1. Open the actor on Apify.
2. Add one or more license lookup queries.
3. Set maxItems to the number of records you need.
4. Click Start.
5. Export the dataset in JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, RSS, or HTML.

Integrations

Use this actor with:

• CRM enrichment workflows for licensed Michigan contacts.
• Compliance dashboards that flag expired or inactive licenses.
• Applicant tracking systems for credential verification.
• Data warehouses that store periodic license snapshots.
• Lead-scoring pipelines for professional services outreach.

API usage with Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('automation-lab/michigan-lara-professional-license-lookup-scraper').call({
  queries: [{ lastName: 'Smith' }],
  maxItems: 50,
});
console.log(run.defaultDatasetId);

API usage with Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient('YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN')
run = client.actor('automation-lab/michigan-lara-professional-license-lookup-scraper').call(run_input={
    'queries': [{'lastName': 'Smith'}],
    'maxItems': 50,
})
print(run['defaultDatasetId'])

API usage with cURL

curl -X POST 'https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/automation-lab~michigan-lara-professional-license-lookup-scraper/runs?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"queries":[{"lastName":"Smith"}],"maxItems":50}'

MCP integration

Connect the actor to Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or other MCP clients through Apify MCP.

MCP URL:

https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=automation-lab/michigan-lara-professional-license-lookup-scraper

Claude Code MCP setup

$claude mcp add apify-michigan-lara --url "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=automation-lab/michigan-lara-professional-license-lookup-scraper"

Claude Desktop MCP JSON config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify-michigan-lara": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=automation-lab/michigan-lara-professional-license-lookup-scraper"
    }
  }
}

Example prompts:

• "Check whether this Michigan license number appears in LARA."
• "Create a CSV of Michigan professional licenses for these surnames."
• "Monitor these organization names weekly and alert me if status changes."

Scheduling

Schedule the actor daily, weekly, or monthly to monitor license status changes.

Save each run dataset for audit history.

Compare licenseNumber, licenseStatus, and expirationDate across snapshots.

Limitations

The MVP extracts the first visible results page for each query.

The Accela portal may show 50 rows per query page.

For larger lead lists, split your search into multiple targeted queries.

Reliability notes

The actor preserves session cookies and ASP.NET hidden form state for each submitted search.

It uses HTTP requests instead of a full browser to keep runs fast and affordable.

If the portal changes its form names or table layout, contact support with a failed run URL.

Legality and ethical use

This actor extracts publicly accessible lookup results.

You are responsible for using the data in compliance with applicable laws, LARA terms, privacy rules, and professional licensing regulations.

Do not use extracted data for spam, harassment, or unlawful discrimination.

FAQ

Does this require a Michigan LARA account?

No. The actor uses the public licensee lookup page.

Can I search by exact license number?

Yes. Use the licenseNumber field for direct verification.

Why did I get fewer rows than expected?

The public site returns a limited visible result page. Use narrower or additional queries to collect more records.

Does the actor open detail pages?

The current version extracts result-table fields and includes the Accela postback target for traceability. Detail-page enrichment can be added later if needed.

Related scrapers

• https://apify.com/automation-lab/ohio-elicense-professional-license-lookup-scraper
• https://apify.com/automation-lab/florida-dbpr-license-verification-scraper
• https://apify.com/automation-lab/cslb-california-contractor-license-scraper
• https://apify.com/automation-lab/contractor-license-verification-scraper

Support

Open an Apify issue with your run URL, input, expected records, and any missing fields.

Changelog

Initial private build for Michigan LARA professional license lookup extraction.

Appendix: query design

For high-volume workflows, prefer many precise queries over one broad query.

Good examples:

• Last name plus license type.
• Organization name prefix.
• Exact license number.
• Common surnames split across several scheduled runs.

Appendix: export formats

Apify datasets can be downloaded as JSON, JSONL, CSV, Excel, XML, RSS, or HTML.

Use CSV/Excel for spreadsheet review and JSON/JSONL for data pipelines.