An FBI fingerprint background check typically takes a few business days to about two weeks when submitted electronically through a U.S. Post Office or an FBI-approved channeler, and several weeks — commonly up to 12 — when submitted by mail on a paper fingerprint card. The FBI itself does not publish exact turnaround times, but it confirms that electronic requests “should be received faster” than mailed ones and that every request is handled in the order received.
Turnaround by Submission Method
How you send your fingerprints in is the single biggest factor in how long you wait. The FBI offers three paths, and they don’t move at the same speed.
Electronic Submission Through the FBI
You start on the FBI’s website, then visit a participating U.S. Post Office to have your fingerprints captured electronically. The Post Office transmits your prints digitally to the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division, which removes the postal delay on the front end. Results are delivered electronically, and you can also opt in to email status notifications and request a sealed hard copy by First-Class Mail.
In practice, results from this path commonly arrive within a few business days to two weeks after your fingerprints are captured.
FBI-Approved Channelers
Channelers are private companies authorized by the FBI to collect your fingerprints electronically and submit them to CJIS on your behalf. The FBI maintains a list of 19 approved channelers, including Fieldprint, IDEMIA, and Accurate Biometrics. They handle noncriminal justice requests — personal review, employment, or licensing — rather than law enforcement investigations.
Because channelers submit electronically and receive results directly from the FBI, this route is generally the fastest of the three. Many advertise results within a few business days. You pay the channeler’s own service fee on top of the FBI’s $18, and fees vary by company and service level.
Mail-In Submission
For the mail option, you send a completed FD-258 fingerprint card, the $18 fee, and your identifying information to the CJIS Division at 1000 Custer Hollow Road, Clarksburg, WV 26306. Payment must be a certified check or money order payable to the Treasury of the United States. Results come back by First-Class Mail.
Expect several weeks. Turnaround times of up to 12 weeks are frequently reported, and the mail itself accounts for a real chunk of that. The FBI no longer returns your original fingerprint card, whether or not it finds a matching record.
Why the FBI Won’t Give You an Exact Date
The FBI processes requests in strict date order received. It does not expedite. There is no priority queue, and there is no way to pay the FBI itself for faster handling. Submission volume at any given time affects everyone’s wait, which is part of why the agency avoids publishing firm day counts.
What the FBI does commit to is the relative ordering: electronic requests should be processed faster than mailed ones. The rest is a function of when your request lands in the queue and whether anything goes wrong with it.
What Slows a Request Down
Fingerprint quality is the most common reason for delays. Smudged, faint, or incomplete prints get rejected, and you have to start over. This is especially common with ink-rolled cards submitted by mail, where no technician is checking quality in real time. If your prints are rejected, the FBI sends a notice explaining the issue.
People whose fingerprints are hard to capture because of skin condition, scarring, or age-related ridge deterioration face a particular problem. After three rejected submissions within one year, with at least one in the last 30 days, you can email Identity@fbi.gov to request a Formal Rejection Letter. The FBI takes up to 45 days to process that request, and the letter arrives by mail only. It is not a background check result and carries no FBI seal or watermark; it simply states that a classifiable result could not be obtained.
Errors in your personal information also cost time. A misspelled name or wrong date of birth can prevent the system from matching your prints correctly, and fixing a mistake after the fact means starting from scratch. Check every field before you submit.
How to Check the Status of Your Request
Your tracking options depend on how you filed.
If you submitted electronically through the FBI, you can opt into email status notifications during the request process, and those messages update you as your request moves through the system.
If you used a channeler, contact the channeler. They receive results directly from the FBI and typically have their own tracking systems. The FBI will not provide status information to the individual on channeler-submitted requests.
If you mailed in an FD-258 card, there is no online tracking portal. Your realistic options are to wait or to contact the FBI directly at (304) 625-5590 or identity@fbi.gov.
One Boundary Worth Knowing Before You Wait
If you’re timing this against an employer or licensing deadline, be aware that the Identity History Summary you get through the personal review process is, per the FBI’s guidance under 28 CFR 16.30–16.34, provided solely for personal review or to obtain corrections. Employers and licensing boards that require an FBI check generally must submit through their own authorized channel and will not accept your personal copy. Waiting for your personal-review results won’t satisfy their requirement, no matter how quickly the copy arrives.
If your results come back with errors, you can challenge them at no cost, and the FBI processes challenges in date order with an average turnaround of about 45 days. That’s a separate clock from the one on your original request, and it starts only after you have your Identity History Summary in hand.