The FD-258 fingerprint card is the FBI’s standard form for collecting fingerprints and biographical information for a federal background check. You’ll run into it if you’re applying for a job, professional license, immigration benefit, or if you’re requesting your own criminal history record from the FBI. The completed card is processed through the FBI’s Next Generation Identification system, which searches national databases for any matching records and returns the results either to you or to the agency that requested the check.
Who Uses the FD-258
The card appears in a wide range of situations. Employers in national security, law enforcement, education, and healthcare commonly require one as part of a Criminal History Record Information check. State licensing boards for professions like nursing, law, and accounting often require an FBI background check before issuing credentials.
Immigration is another common context. Naturalization applicants abroad can have their prints taken at a U.S. embassy or consulate on an FD-258 and mail the card directly to USCIS.1U.S. Department of State. Ink Fingerprinting Overseas for Naturalization Military service members stationed at U.S. installations can also use the card to satisfy the fingerprint requirement for citizenship applications.2U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 12 Part I Chapter 6 – Required Background Checks
Private citizens who want to review their own records can request what the FBI calls an Identity History Summary Check, often before international travel, adoption proceedings, or to correct suspected errors.3Federal Bureau of Investigation. Identity History Summary Checks Frequently Asked Questions
One boundary worth flagging: FINRA does not accept the standard FD-258. Broker-dealer employees have to use FINRA-specific fingerprint cards purchased through an approved vendor.4FINRA. Frequently Asked Questions About Fingerprint Processing If your employer hands you a form that isn’t an FD-258, confirm with them that it’s the right one for your purpose.
Where to Get a Blank Card
The FBI hosts a downloadable version of the FD-258 on its website, and agencies that need cards in bulk can order them through the FBI’s CJIS fingerprinting supply requisition process.5Federal Bureau of Investigation. Applicant Fingerprint Form FD-258 The official card is printed on blue stock. In many cases the agency requesting your background check will send you a card with some fields already filled in, including their Originating Agency Identifier. If you’re submitting a personal Identity History Summary request, the fingerprinting location usually has blank cards on hand.
What Goes on the Card
The FD-258 collects biographical information about you and administrative information about who ordered the check and why. Errors in required fields cause the card to come back unprocessed, so it’s worth filling out carefully.
Administrative Fields
The Originating Agency Identifier, or ORI, is a code assigned to every agency authorized to submit fingerprints. It tells the FBI who requested the check and where to send the results. The ORI is required. If the field is blank, the FBI rejects the card without processing it.6Federal Bureau of Investigation. Guidelines for Preparation of Fingerprint Cards and Associated Criminal History Information If your check is being run through an employer or licensing board, they should give you the number.
The “Reason Fingerprinted” field must state the specific purpose of the check: a job title, license type, or “personal review” for an Identity History Summary request. Vague entries cause delays.
Personal Information Fields
You’ll need your full legal name, date of birth, Social Security number, place of birth, and citizenship status. Any known aliases go in a separate field. Height, weight, eye color, and hair color are all mandatory. Every entry must be in black ink and stay within the printed boxes.6Federal Bureau of Investigation. Guidelines for Preparation of Fingerprint Cards and Associated Criminal History Information
Check every field against your government-issued ID before the card is finalized. A misspelled name or a transposed digit in your Social Security number can send the card back for corrections and add weeks to your timeline.
Getting Your Fingerprints Taken
You can’t fingerprint yourself. A trained technician has to do it. Local law enforcement agencies, private fingerprinting companies, and some UPS or shipping stores offer the service.3Federal Bureau of Investigation. Identity History Summary Checks Frequently Asked Questions The fingerprinting fee is separate from the FBI’s processing fee and varies by location, from free at some law enforcement offices to around $35 at private vendors.
The card requires two types of impressions. The technician first rolls each finger from nail to nail across the card to capture a full ridge pattern. Then all four fingers of each hand are pressed flat at once to create plain impressions used for comparison. Some sites use ink; others use digital scanners that print the images onto the card.
Both you and the technician have to sign the card. The technician’s signature certifies that the prints belong to the person named on the form, and yours confirms the biographical information is accurate.7Federal Bureau of Investigation. Standard Fingerprint Form FD-258 Bring a valid government-issued photo ID. The technician needs to verify your identity before printing you.
Missing, Deformed, or Unprintable Fingers
Not everyone has ten printable fingers, and the FBI has clear procedures for this. If a finger has been amputated, the technician writes “AMP” or a similar notation in that finger’s block and also records the amputation in the Scars, Marks, Tattoos, and Amputations field.6Federal Bureau of Investigation. Guidelines for Preparation of Fingerprint Cards and Associated Criminal History Information
For deformed or webbed fingers, the technician should still try to capture whatever ridge detail exists, sometimes using a curved “spoon” tool designed for difficult prints. If a finger truly can’t be printed, the block gets a notation like “deformed” or “webbed.” Temporarily unprintable fingers, from bandages, injuries, or paralysis, are noted the same way. Every finger block has to contain either a print or an explanation. Blank blocks trigger rejection.8Federal Bureau of Investigation. Recording Legible Fingerprints
Submitting the Card
How you submit depends on whether you’re requesting your own Identity History Summary or going through an employer or agency.
Personal Identity History Summary Requests
For a personal records check, mail the completed FD-258 along with a filled-out FD-1164 request form to the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division in Clarksburg, West Virginia.9Federal Bureau of Investigation. Identity History Summary Request FD-1164 The processing fee is $18 whether you submit by mail or electronically through an approved channeler.3Federal Bureau of Investigation. Identity History Summary Checks Frequently Asked Questions The FBI does not accept personal checks, business checks, or cash. Payment has to be a money order or certified check made payable to the Treasury of the United States.
Agency-Directed Submissions
When an employer or licensing board initiates the check, they typically handle routing the card to the FBI or use an electronic submission system. The agency will tell you where to get printed and what to do with the finished card. Many now submit electronically, which cuts processing time significantly.
FBI-Approved Channelers
Channelers are private contractors authorized by the FBI to receive your fingerprints, forward them electronically to CJIS, and return results faster than the mail-in route. The FBI currently lists twelve approved channelers, including Accurate Biometrics, Fieldprint, Idemia, and First Advantage Biometrics.10Federal Bureau of Investigation. List of FBI-Approved Channelers for Departmental Order Submissions Channelers charge their own service fee on top of the FBI’s $18, but the speed helps if you’re working against a deadline. Many operate walk-in locations where you can get printed and have results submitted in a single visit.
Processing Times and Results
Electronic submissions, whether through a channeler or an agency’s direct link to CJIS, are usually processed within a few business days. Paper cards mailed to the FBI take considerably longer, often several weeks depending on volume. The final report goes to you or to the requesting agency, depending on who initiated the check. Personal Identity History Summary requests come back either with a record or with confirmation that no record exists. If the record contains errors, the FBI has a separate process for challenging and correcting inaccurate information.
If Your Prints Are Rejected
Smudged, overlapping, or faint prints are the most common reason for rejection. Dry skin, manual labor, and age can all degrade ridge quality. A card that comes back as unclassifiable means you’ll need to be reprinted and resubmit.
If your prints are rejected a second time for image quality, an alternative path opens. The FBI offers a process now called CJIS Biographic Verification, essentially a name-based search that substitutes for the fingerprint match. To qualify, you must have received two fingerprint rejections, with at least one carrying a specific “L0008” quality code indicating that candidates were found but couldn’t be confirmed, and you must submit the biographic verification request within 90 days of the second rejection.11Federal Bureau of Investigation. CJIS Biographic Verification Request Instructions The request must include the Transaction Control Numbers from both prior rejections. This path is limited to agencies with legal authority to submit fingerprints for noncriminal justice purposes; it isn’t available for personal Identity History Summary requests.
Penalties for False Information
The FD-258 is a federal document. Knowingly providing false biographical information falls under 18 U.S.C. ยง 1001, which makes it a federal crime to submit materially false statements to any branch of the federal government. The penalty is up to five years in prison, a fine, or both.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1001 – Statements or Entries Generally For terrorism-related offenses, the ceiling rises to eight years. Some regulated industries make this explicit: airport security fingerprint applications, for instance, require applicants to acknowledge in writing that false statements can result in criminal prosecution.13eCFR. 49 CFR 1542.209 – Fingerprint-Based Criminal History Records Checks