What Is an ORI Number? Meaning, Structure, and How It Works

An ORI number, short for Originating Agency Identifier, is a nine-character code the FBI assigns to every agency authorized to access criminal justice information systems. When you are fingerprinted for a background check, the ORI on your submission tells the FBI’s systems which agency requested the check and where to send the results.¹ Think of it as the mailing address for your criminal history report. Use the wrong one and your results go to the wrong place.

What the ORI Does on Your Background Check

The ORI does two jobs at once. It routes your background check results to the correct agency, and it controls what level of criminal history that agency is allowed to see.¹

A law enforcement agency running a criminal investigation is entitled to more detailed records than a state licensing board checking whether a nurse applicant has a disqualifying conviction. The ORI encodes those access permissions, so the system automatically delivers the right scope of information to the right recipient without anyone deciding case by case what to include or withhold.

You will run into ORIs most often in employment screening, professional licensing, volunteer applications, immigration paperwork, foster care approvals, and concealed carry permits. If your job or license application involves fingerprints, an ORI is almost certainly involved too.

How the Nine Characters Are Structured

An ORI is not random. Every position in the code means something, and the layout differs slightly for law enforcement agencies compared with other criminal justice agencies.¹

Positions 1 and 2 are two letters for the state or country where the agency is located, such as WV for West Virginia or TX for Texas. Some federal agencies use an abbreviation here.
Positions 3, 4, and 5 usually identify the county with three numbers. State-level and federal agencies sometimes use an agency abbreviation instead, such as FBI or DPD for the Dallas Police Department.
Positions 6 and 7 are assigned by the FBI to distinguish agencies within the same county, in alphabetic or numeric order.
Positions 8 and 9 diverge by agency type. Law enforcement ORIs always end in 00. For other criminal justice agencies, position 8 shows the level of government and position 9 is a letter identifying the type of agency.

That last letter is the most telling. A J means a court or magistrate’s office. A C means a correctional institution. A G means probation or parole. An A means a prosecutor’s office.² So WV002015J is a West Virginia court, while WV0030100 is a law enforcement agency.¹

You do not need to decode your own ORI. You need to enter it exactly as the requesting agency gave it to you, character for character. Understanding the structure just helps explain why a single wrong character can send your results to a different agency in a different county.

Where Your ORI Comes From

You almost never need to look up an ORI yourself. The agency requiring your background check provides it. It might arrive on a pre-filled fingerprinting form, in an instruction packet, in an email with your application materials, or on the agency’s website under its background check or fingerprinting instructions.

For a professional license, the licensing board’s application instructions typically list the ORI. For a job, your prospective employer or HR contact provides it. For school or nonprofit volunteering, the organization’s coordinator gives you the code along with instructions on where to be fingerprinted.

If your instructions seem to require an ORI and you have not received one, contact the requesting agency directly. Do not pull one off a general internet search. ORIs are agency-specific, and picking the wrong one means your results are routed to a stranger.

What Goes Wrong If You Use the Wrong ORI

This is where most problems happen, and it is entirely preventable. If you submit fingerprints under the wrong ORI, your results go to whichever agency owns that ORI. The agency that actually needs your report never receives it, and the recipient has no idea who you are or why they got your criminal history.

The consequences are practical and annoying. Your application stalls while everyone tries to trace what happened. You almost always need to be fingerprinted again with the correct ORI, which means paying the fingerprinting fee a second time along with any state or FBI processing fees. In time-sensitive situations, like a job offer contingent on a clean background check, the delay can cost you the opportunity.

Common mistakes are simple ones. Transposing two characters. Reusing an ORI from an older application. Copying an ORI meant for a different type of check. Before you sit down at a fingerprinting station, check every character against the instructions from the requesting agency. If anything looks off, or you are working from paperwork more than a few months old, call and confirm.

State Checks, FBI Checks, and Why You May See Two ORIs

Background checks generally split into two levels, and both use ORIs.

A state-level check searches only the criminal records held by that state’s repository. Offenses from other states usually will not appear. State checks are common for state-issued professional licenses, in-state employment, and volunteer positions.

An FBI check searches the national database maintained by the Criminal Justice Information Services Division, which compiles records contributed by law enforcement agencies across all 50 states through the Interstate Identification Index.¹ This is the check required for federal employment, immigration, and any situation where a nationwide criminal history is what matters.

Many licensing and employment processes require both. When that is the case, you will often see two ORI numbers on your paperwork, or the fingerprinting system will submit to both levels automatically. The ORI is what determines which database gets queried and which agency receives the answer.

How the ORI Travels With Your Fingerprints

Once the agency has given you an ORI, the fingerprinting appointment is what actually attaches it to your prints. At an electronic fingerprinting location, commonly called LiveScan, a technician verifies your identity, captures your prints, and transmits them along with the ORI to the state repository, the FBI, or both.

If electronic capture is not available where you live, the FBI accepts ink-on-card fingerprints by mail, and your local law enforcement agency can typically take your prints for a small fee.³ Some U.S. Post Office locations offer electronic capture for FBI submissions, and FBI-approved channelers, which are private contractors with direct electronic links to the FBI, are a third option.

Whatever the method, the ORI is what connects your fingerprints to the right background check request. Without it, the system has no way to know who asked or where to deliver the results.

What It Costs and How Long It Takes

Background check costs have two parts: the fingerprinting service fee and the processing fee charged by the state repository or the FBI. Fingerprinting fees vary by provider, ranging from free at some law enforcement agencies to $50 or more at private LiveScan operators. State processing fees typically run from about $15 to $87. The FBI charges $18 for an electronic national check.

Turnaround depends on submission method. Electronic fingerprint submissions to the FBI generally return results in three to five business days, and channeler submissions run similarly fast. Mailed fingerprint cards take substantially longer, with the FBI estimating up to 12 weeks because of postal transit and manual processing.³ State-level checks generally land somewhere between the two.

None of these fees or timelines change because of the ORI itself. What the ORI changes is whether the paid, completed check arrives at the agency waiting for it.

1
State of Utah Department of Public Safety. NCIC Operating Manual: Originating Agency Identifier (ORI) File
2
FBI. N-DEx Data Sharing Form
3
FBI. Identity History Summary Checks Frequently Asked Questions