Fingerprints and the FD-258 Card

This step is out of proportion to its size. The search itself is indexed by fingerprints, which means everything downstream depends on a legible set. [3] A poor card does not produce a poor result; it produces a rejection, and you start again — with an international post leg in each direction if you are abroad.

FD-258

The FBI's standard applicant fingerprint card: a printed federal form with fields for your identifying details and ruled blocks for rolled and flat impressions of each finger. [1] It is a specific form, published by the FBI, and the physical card is the artefact the FBI works from.

Also called fingerprint card · standard fingerprint form

• It is a form, not a template. Print quality, card stock and the exact layout matter, because the impressions are read from the card. A home printout on ordinary paper is not the same object.
• Fill in the identifying fields exactly as they appear on your passport, and identically to the request you submit. Mismatches between the card and the request are a preventable cause of failure.
• Keep it flat. Do not fold it, do not laminate it, and post it in a rigid envelope. Creases run through impressions.
• Payment is separate from the card. A mailed request needs a certified check or money order, or the FBI's credit card payment form FD-1164. [4] [5]

The single question worth asking a prospective location is how often they do this. Rolling a legible set is a practised skill, and the failure mode of an out-of-practice hand is not obvious to you at the time — the card looks fine and comes back rejected weeks later.

• A police department or law enforcement agency. The most common answer inside the United States, and in many countries the only body that will do it at all.
• A commercial fingerprinting service. Common in U.S. cities, and often the operator of electronic capture equipment.
• An electronic capture site. Where available, this removes the outbound post leg entirely, which is usually the largest single saving available in the whole timeline. How Long Does an FBI Background Check Take?
• A U.S. embassy or consulate, in some countries. Provision varies by post and changes; check the individual post's own services page rather than assuming. No post issues the summary itself.

Electronic capture that transmits to the FBI is overwhelmingly a United States facility. Outside it, expect ink on an FD-258 and expect the card to travel. That single fact reshapes the timeline more than any other choice in the process, which is why the timing guide treats the post as the dominant term. How Long Does an FBI Background Check Take?

1. Find who does it locally — commonly the national or municipal police, sometimes a designated forensic office, occasionally the U.S. embassy. Provision varies by country and this site does not maintain a directory of it.
2. Take the FD-258 with you. Print it from the FBI's own file rather than a copy found elsewhere. [1]
3. Post it with tracking. USPS publishes transit standards of 6–10 business days for Priority Mail International and 3–5 business days for Priority Mail Express International, both qualified as applying to many major markets and subject to customs delay. [6] Neither is a guarantee on most routes.
4. Consider applying online and mailing only the card. The FBI puts that at approximately 10 days from receipt of the card, against up to 15 days for a request sent entirely by post — and it starts the clock at the card's arrival either way, so the online route removes one direction of the delay. [3]

The rest of what changes when you apply from abroad — eligibility, delivery, authentication — is in Getting an FBI Background Check From Outside the United States.