To fill out an FD-258 fingerprint card correctly, print or type every personal field in black or blue ink on an official 8-by-8-inch cardstock version of the form, use the FBI’s standardized one- and three-letter codes for physical descriptors, leave the signature blank until you’re in front of the technician, and have a trained fingerprinter capture ten rolled impressions plus flat impressions of both hands. Errors in any of those steps are the most common reason the FBI sends cards back.
Start With an Official Card on the Right Stock
The FD-258 must be on heavy cardstock measuring 8 by 8 inches. A copy printed on regular paper will be rejected on sight, no matter how neat your entries are.
There are four reliable ways to get a proper card:
- Ask the agency requesting your background check. Employers, licensing boards, and government offices often mail out pre-printed cards with their ORI and address already filled in, which removes a major source of error.
- Buy them from the Government Publishing Office. GPO sells the official card in packs of 25 for $10.00.1U.S. Government Bookstore. Applicants Fingerprint Card Form FD-258 Revised 11/01/20
- Download the FBI’s PDF and print it yourself, but only on 8-by-8-inch cardstock.2Federal Bureau of Investigation. Applicant Fingerprint Form FD-258
- Get one at your fingerprinting appointment. Many police departments, UPS Store locations, and private vendors like IdentoGO keep blank cards on hand.
Complete the Personal Information Fields
Every field must be filled in with black or blue ink, printed legibly or typewritten, and no entry can extend past the boundaries of its field box.3Federal Bureau of Investigation. Guidelines for Preparation of Fingerprint Cards and Associated Criminal History Information Incomplete or unreadable entries are one of the top reasons cards are returned unprocessed.
The required entries are:
- Name, in Last, First, Middle, Suffix order.
- Date of birth, in MM/DD/YYYY format.
- Place of birth. City and state, or country if born outside the United States.
- Sex, race, height, and weight, using the codes below.
- Eye color and hair color, using the three-letter codes below.
- Current residential address.
- Citizenship status.
The Social Security Number field is voluntary in most cases, but some requesting agencies specifically require it for identity verification.3Federal Bureau of Investigation. Guidelines for Preparation of Fingerprint Cards and Associated Criminal History Information Check with whoever asked you to submit prints before deciding whether to include it.
Do not sign the card at home. Your signature has to be witnessed by the official who takes your prints, and signing early is treated as a defect.
The Originating Agency Identifier (ORI)
The ORI is a nine-character code that tells the FBI which agency is requesting the check and where to send the results.4Utah.gov. NCIC Operating Manual – Originating Agency Identifier (ORI) File Introduction If your card came pre-printed from the requesting agency, the ORI is already there. Otherwise, get the exact code directly from that agency and copy it carefully. A wrong ORI sends your results to the wrong destination or gets the card rejected outright.
Use the FBI’s Standardized Descriptor Codes
Several fields require coded abbreviations rather than written-out words. Enter these exactly.
Race (single letter)
- W — White (includes Hispanic or Latino origin)
- B — Black
- A — Asian or Pacific Islander
- I — American Indian or Alaskan Native
- U — Unknown
Sex (single letter)
- M — Male
- F — Female
- X — Unknown
Eye Color (three letters)
- BLK — Black
- BLU — Blue
- BRO — Brown
- GRN — Green
- GRY — Gray
- HAZ — Hazel
- MAR — Maroon
- PNK — Pink
- XXX — Unknown
Hair Color (three letters)
- BLD — Bald
- BLK — Black
- BLN — Blonde or strawberry blonde
- BRO — Brown
- GRY — Gray or partially gray
- RED — Red or auburn
- SDY — Sandy
- WHI — White
- XXX — Unknown
Fixing a Mistake on the Card
The FBI’s guidelines do not list white-out or correction tape as acceptable ways to fix errors on the personal information side of the card. Given how strict processing is, the safe move when you slip in a personal field is to start fresh with a clean card. That’s why buying the GPO 25-pack, or having your fingerprinter supply extras, is worth it.
Fingerprint blocks have their own rule. The FBI allows approved “retabs,” correction labels placed over a finger block so the print can be redone, with a maximum of two retabs per block.3Federal Bureau of Investigation. Guidelines for Preparation of Fingerprint Cards and Associated Criminal History Information Anything more than that and the card should be replaced.
Getting the Prints Themselves
The fingerprint impressions are the half of the card you can’t fill in yourself. A trained technician either rolls ink onto each finger and presses it into the designated block, or uses a Live Scan digital scanner. Both methods are accepted by the FBI.5Federal Bureau of Investigation. Recording Legible Fingerprints
With ink, each finger is rolled nail-to-nail in a single smooth motion. Thumbs roll toward the person being printed; the other fingers roll away. After the ten rolled impressions, the technician takes flat (plain) impressions of all four fingers on each hand and both thumbs in the bottom section of the card. The technician then signs the card to certify the prints were taken correctly.
Live Scan captures the same impressions digitally. The scanner lets the operator check quality on screen before finalizing, and the images can either be printed onto a physical FD-258 or transmitted electronically through a state repository. For agency-directed checks, electronic submission is faster than mailing paper.
Preparing Your Hands
Poor image quality is the biggest headache in this process, and it starts with skin. Dry, cracked, worn, or overly sweaty fingertips don’t take ink cleanly and don’t scan well either. A few days of preparation makes a real difference:
- Moisturize heavily for several days before your appointment, then stop a couple of hours before so your hands aren’t slick. For very dry skin, use petroleum jelly or Aquaphor at night with cotton gloves.
- Avoid harsh chemicals, dish soap, bleach, and alcohol-based hand sanitizers in the days beforehand. Sanitizer is especially damaging to ridge detail.
- Drink water. Dehydrated skin prints lighter.
- Protect your fingertips from abrasive work like yardwork or masonry, and wear gloves for rough tasks.
- Wash your hands right before printing so they’re clean, dry, and oil-free.
- If your fingers sweat, ask the technician to wipe them with rubbing alcohol before rolling.
Missing, Amputated, or Bandaged Fingers
Never leave a fingerprint block blank without a written explanation. If a finger cannot be printed, the technician should write the reason directly in that block, using notations such as “amputated,” “tip amputated,” “bandaged,” or “missing at birth.”3Federal Bureau of Investigation. Guidelines for Preparation of Fingerprint Cards and Associated Criminal History Information An unexplained blank is a rejection trigger; a notated blank is not.
What Gets Cards Rejected
The FBI’s automated systems screen every submission for technical quality before a human ever reviews it. Watch for these common defects, because any one of them means starting over:6Federal Bureau of Investigation. Quick Tips for Reducing Fingerprint Rejects
- Prints that are too light, too dark, or blurred.
- Smudges or shadowing around the impressions.
- The same finger printed in two different blocks.
- The same hand printed in both the left and right rows.
- Fingers placed in the wrong blocks.
- Prints that overlap into adjacent blocks.
- Missing-finger blocks left blank without notation.
- Personal fields left incomplete or written outside the field boundaries.
Before you leave the appointment, look the card over yourself. Check that every personal field is filled in, every code is correct, the ORI matches what the requesting agency gave you, all ten rolled blocks are populated (or notated), the plain impressions at the bottom are legible, and the technician has signed and dated the card. It is much easier to fix something in the room than to redo the whole appointment.
Handling and Submitting the Finished Card
Once the card is complete, don’t fold, bend, staple, or bind it. A creased card can be rejected on arrival. Mail it flat in a rigid cardboard mailer to the address the requesting agency specified. Depending on the type of check, that address might be the agency itself, a state identification bureau, or the FBI’s CJIS Division in Clarksburg, West Virginia.7Federal Bureau of Investigation. Requesting FBI Records Follow the requesting agency’s instructions exactly; they control the ORI, the destination, and any accompanying application forms or fees.
If you are requesting your own FBI Identity History Summary rather than responding to an agency request, the completed FD-258 goes to the FBI along with the FBI’s application form, contact information, and payment of $18.00 by credit card, certified check, or money order.8Federal Bureau of Investigation. Identity History Summary Request Checklist Personal checks, business checks, and cash are not accepted and will be destroyed rather than returned. The card itself must show your name, date of birth, all descriptive data, all ten rolled impressions, and plain impressions of both hands including thumbs.