Criminal Background Check Form

Get the form named by the organization requesting the check

There is no single criminal background check form accepted for every job, license, volunteer role or personal record review. First identify the requester, required repository, purpose and delivery recipient. Ask for the agency’s form number or official invitation if those details are missing. A filled-in generic consent template may not order any search at all.

The FBI’s personal Identity History Summary route is for reviewing, correcting or updating your own record. Its guidance directs employment and licensing questions to the relevant state identification bureau or other authorized channel. Do not replace a required agency screening process with a personal FBI request simply because both involve fingerprints.

Complete the applicant form as a separate document

The FBI Applicant Information form asks for legal names, date and place of birth, citizenship and residence details, identifying information, a complete mailing address, and the subject’s signature and date. Read the required-field marks and privacy statement on the current PDF. Make the return address legible and provide a reliable contact method for questions.

Use consistent identifying details across the application and fingerprint card. Do not guess at another person’s information or sign for the subject without authority. For family members applying separately, the FBI’s current instructions require each person to complete and sign a form. A request form identifies the applicant and destination; it is not a result certificate.

FD-1164 collects fingerprints; it does not replace the application

Use the FBI’s FD-1164 fingerprint form and a current set of prints. FBI instructions call for all ten rolled impressions and all ten plain impressions, plus name, date of birth and signature on the card. A previously processed card is not acceptable. A fingerprinting technician can help avoid illegible prints that delay or defeat processing.

If fingerprints are captured on a Live Scan device for a mailed FBI request, obtain the hard-copy card that must be sent. Paying a technician to take fingerprints is a different step from submitting the application package. Confirm who actually sends the prints and where the report will go before leaving the appointment.

Assemble the FBI mailing package and payment

Mail the signed applicant form, completed fingerprint card and $18 payment to FBI CJIS Division – Summary Request, 1000 Custer Hollow Road, Clarksburg, WV 26306. The FBI checklist allows a completed credit-card payment form, certified check or money order payable to Treasury of the United States. It does not accept cash or personal/business checks.

Before sealing the envelope, check the signature, return address, all required fingerprint impressions and exact payment. Keep your own submission record. The FBI also offers an online application through its official instructions; applicants using participating USPS electronic fingerprint locations must complete the online application and payment before visiting. Fingerprint-provider charges can be additional.

Virginia SP-167 has its own notarization rules

Virginia’s SP-167 process requires the subject’s Section 1 release signature to be notarized. When results are mailed to that same subject, the specific completion instructions say only Section 1 needs notarization. If another person or agency receives the result, that recipient’s Section 2 signature must also be notarized. This is not a universal rule for every state’s form.

Start from Virginia State Police’s criminal-history page to generate SP-167, confirm the entries, print it, obtain the required notarization and submit payment. VSP limits SP-230 to an employer or prospective employer in Virginia; confirm that your business or agency is an approved user before selecting it. SP-230 requires the recipient’s signature but no notarization. Use the fee generated for your selected request; the FAQ distinguishes $15 and $20 requests, so do not choose an amount from an unrelated application example.

The linked SP-167 completion PDF describes the standard search as Virginia convictions only and says to attach a completed fingerprint card if you also need charges, dismissals and pending charges. The current service FAQ instead describes SP-167 as returning a complete Virginia criminal history. These descriptions conflict. When those additional events matter, plan to include fingerprints and confirm the required package for your purpose with [email protected] before mailing. Do not assume the name-only route supplies that broader record, or interpret a conviction-only response as proof that no arrest occurred.

Resolve Virginia delivery and timing before mailing

The current Virginia service page gives CARE, 7700 Midlothian Turnpike, N. Chesterfield, VA 23235. An older completion PDF still shows P.O. Box 85076 in Richmond. Use the current service instructions or verify with [email protected] before mailing if your generated form differs. This address difference is a reason to avoid a saved, undated form.

Virginia publishes about 15 business days after receipt, while its FAQ also says 15–20 business days; neither is a guaranteed delivery date. It offers no same-day or expedited processing. Retain the submitted form and payment confirmation. For an overdue request, the published support inbox asks for identifying request details and the submission date.

For a mailed Virginia request, the completion instructions accept a business check, certified check or money order payable to Virginia State Police; date and sign the check. Personal checks are not accepted. For Visa or MasterCard, complete the designated payment fields, including the expiration date and cardholder signature. A VSP charge-account number is only for existing NCJI account holders. Virginia’s business-check option differs from the FBI’s rejection of business checks, and each agency has its own payee.

The VSP FAQ separately allows an in-person headquarters drop-off with two forms of ID and the exact payment in cash or money order. That cash option applies to drop-off; do not mail cash based on it. Dropping off the form does not provide same-day processing, and paying by card may take longer.

Check the recipient and attachments one last time

Before submitting any criminal-history form, verify the required product, subject, recipient, consent, signatures, fingerprints if needed, payment and submission address against that agency’s instructions. A request can be complete on paper yet unsuitable for the organization that asked for it. If two routes appear possible, resolve that acceptance question before ordering twice. For Virginia, resolve the stated record-scope conflict and fingerprint requirement before treating the selected form as sufficient.