FBI-Approved Channelers › Complete Directory
All 12 FBI-Approved Channelers: The Complete 2026 Directory
Every company the FBI authorizes to submit Departmental Order fingerprint requests on your behalf, what each one actually delivers, and which of them produce a report you can get apostilled. Verified against first-party sources on August 26, 2026.
There are twelve FBI-approved channelers for Departmental Order submissions, not thirteen and not thirty. Any list showing a different number is either out of date or is quoting the separate FBI Compact Council list, which serves a different purpose and currently names nineteen companies. All twelve return your FBI Identity History Summary quickly, though the FBI’s own electronic route is faster than several of them. None of them attaches the apostille to a standard report order — one sells it as a separate add-on, and every other one leaves it to you. The apostille is a separate step at the U.S. Department of State Office of Authentications, and it is what we do: $120 flat, 7 business days.
Already have your FBI report?
Mail the original to our Washington, D.C. office. $120 flat per document including the government fee. Documents that meet the requirements are apostilled and back to you in 7 business days.
Start my federal apostille — $120 flat Call (760) 469-2997The twelve FBI-approved channelers, compared
Sorted as the FBI lists them. Prices and turnaround times are as published by each company on August 26, 2026 and change without notice. The column that matters most for an apostille is “Mails a physical copy”.
| Channeler | Published price | Turnaround | Mails a physical copy | Fingerprint card route |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accurate Biometrics Itasca, Illinois | $55 portal · $70 +USPS · $120 +2-Day | Portal within ~24 hrs | Yes | FD-1164 |
| Biometrics4ALL Irvine, California | Not published | 24–48 hrs | No | Not applicable — live scan only |
| DTIS (Digital Trusted Identity Services) Fairfax, Virginia | $50 flat | <24 hrs live scan; 3–5 bd allowance | No | FD-1164 (DTIS states the FBI no longer accepts FD-258 cards for Departmental Order submissions) |
| Fieldprint Mt. Laurel, New Jersey | $50 flat | 3–5 business days | No | Not applicable — no consumer mail-in-your-own-card program |
| IdentoGO by IDEMIA Brentwood, Tennessee (card scanning dept.) | $48.75 | Not published | No | FD-258 available via Print-n-GO at select centers; mail-in hardcard workflow enabled on service code 111VVQ |
| ScreenID Easton, Maryland | $47.50 email · $77 +USPS · $121 +FedEx | As little as 48 hrs | Yes | FD-1164, two sets |
| National Background Check, Inc. (FastFingerprints) Westerville, Ohio | $20 capture + $10 mailed copy; all-in total not published | 2–3 business days | Yes | Fingerprint cards accepted by U.S. Mail; card scanning available in Ohio and Florida |
| National Credit Reporting (National Background Information) San Jose, California | $39.95 + $5–$40 collection fee | 24–48 hrs online; 5–7 days printed | Yes | FD-258 ink cards accepted by mail |
| First Advantage Biometrics (PrintScan) HQ not published | Not published | Often <1 hr by email | Yes | Fingerprint card conversions and card scanning offered through PrintScan |
| Telos ID / IDVetting Ashburn, Virginia | Not published | Not published | Yes | Signed form plus prints mailed to Telos |
| TRP Associates Warwick, Rhode Island | Not published | “Almost immediately”; no SLA | No | Fingerprint card plus FBI Client Applicant form plus two government-issued IDs, mailed to Warwick, RI |
| VetConnex McLean, Virginia · ops in Minnesota | $75 electronic · $120 +mailed copy | As little as 24 hrs | Yes | Two separately rolled FD-258 cards plus signed application plus two ID copies |
Which channelers mail a physical copy — and why it decides everything
If you are ordering an FBI background check so that it can be apostilled, this is the only distinction that really matters. The U.S. Department of State authenticates documents bearing original seals and signatures. A PDF you downloaded and sent to your own printer is a photocopy for these purposes, no matter how official it looks.
These channelers will put a physical copy in the mail:
- Accurate Biometrics — Accurate Biometrics prints the result in full color on watermarked stock bearing the FBI authentication and the signature of the CJIS Section Chief, and mails it to a U.S. address.
- ScreenID — ScreenID mails a physical result copy printed on tamper-proof paper, by USPS Priority or FedEx with tracking. Additional copies are $16.50 each.
- National Background Check, Inc. (FastFingerprints) — For an additional $10, National Background Check mails a hard copy described as an FBI-authenticated document bearing the FBI seal and signature. Note their warning that the FBI copy is never released a second time.
- National Credit Reporting (National Background Information) — The mailed hard copy is the default product here rather than an upsell. National Credit Reporting describes the mailed copies as the official FBI Criminal Report.
- First Advantage Biometrics (PrintScan) — For U.S. citizens and permanent residents, PrintScan’s physical option is the FedEx Overnight tamper-proof paper copy. The separate USPS “official hard copy straight from the FBI” option sits under its non-U.S.-individuals tier, and PrintScan stopped submitting for non-U.S. citizens on July 1, 2026, so U.S. applicants should plan on the FedEx tier.
- Telos ID / IDVetting — Telos offers a mailed delivery option with expedited shipping choices at checkout.
- VetConnex — VetConnex publishes a priced mailed hard copy printed on tamper-proof paper and shipped FedEx 2-Day. Its affiliate site quotes mail-only options at $60 for 2 to 3 day and $95 for overnight.
These deliver electronically to the applicant only:
- Biometrics4ALL — Biometrics4ALL does not offer a mailed hard copy of the FBI result. Delivery is electronic only.
- DTIS (Digital Trusted Identity Services) — DTIS mails a hard copy only as an accessibility fallback for applicants who cannot receive a multi-factor code. It is not offered as a standard apostille-oriented product.
- Fieldprint — Fieldprint does not mail a hard copy. Results live in the Report Management Portal for 30 days and are then purged; after you view them you may retain access for seven more days.
- IdentoGO by IDEMIA — No mailed official hard copy is offered on the consumer FBI History Check workflow. Delivery is an emailed, time-limited, 2FA-protected link.
- TRP Associates — TRP delivers electronically to the applicant. Its FAQ states reports may be mailed to a designated attorney only, so there is no ordinary consumer mailed hard copy.
If you used one of these, you are not stuck. Place a direct request with the FBI at edo.cjis.gov for $18, select the mailed hard copy response, and send that original to us.
What an FBI-approved channeler is, and what it is not
What it is: a private company the FBI has authorized under 28 CFR 16.30–16.34 to submit fingerprint-based Departmental Order requests on an individual’s behalf and to return the result. It exists to collapse the FBI’s own queue into days.
What it is not: a source of records. A channeler cannot see, hold, edit, expunge, dispute or annotate your record. It cannot issue anything the FBI did not issue. It cannot certify its own output as anything more than a delivery of the FBI’s output. And it cannot issue an apostille: only the U.S. Department of State can do that, and only for a document it accepts as an original. One channeler, PrintScan, sells an apostille add-on, but it is buying the same Department of State certificate you would — it is a service on top, not a power the channeler holds.
A note on the two FBI lists. The FBI maintains a List of FBI-Approved Channelers for Departmental Order Submissions, which is the twelve companies on this page and the one relevant to an individual requesting their own record. It separately maintains a Compact Council List of Approved Channelers, currently nineteen companies, which covers noncriminal-justice channeling for authorized agencies. Third-party articles routinely conflate the two, which is where the phantom “13 channelers” and “30 channelers” figures come from. Always check the FBI’s own page.
Channeler or straight to the FBI? An honest comparison
| Direct to the FBI | Through a channeler | |
|---|---|---|
| Fee | $18 | About $39.95 to $121 where published, plus a separate collection fee at some companies. Four of the twelve publish no price for individuals at all |
| Turnaround | Within 48 hours for an electronic request with electronic prints taken at a U.S. Post Office; about 10 days if you mail a card; up to 15 days for a mailed request | Commonly 24 hours to 5 business days, though several publish no figure at all |
| Mailed hard copy | Yes — the FBI states it will provide one sealed response by mail if that option is selected at request time. “Sealed” here means the envelope; the FBI no longer places its seal on the document itself | Only from some channelers, usually as a paid upgrade |
| Mails internationally | Yes. The FBI returns all results, both foreign and domestic, by U.S. First-Class Mail | No. Every channeler we checked that addresses the question says it will not send results outside the United States |
| Non-U.S. citizens | Accepted | Generally not; most channelers limit service to citizens and lawful permanent residents |
| Apostille included | No. The FBI says documents it authenticates may then be sent to the Department of State by the requestor | No, with one partial exception |
The short version: if you are in the United States, are not near a Post Office offering electronic fingerprinting, and want a mailed copy in one transaction, use a channeler that mails one. If you are abroad, are not a citizen or permanent resident, or simply want the cheapest apostille-eligible original, go direct to the FBI at edo.cjis.gov and select the mailed response. Either way the apostille is a separate job, and it is ours.
Not sure which route fits your situation?
Tell us the destination country, whether you are in the U.S., and what you are holding. We will tell you the fastest legitimate path — even when that path does not involve us.
Start my federal apostille — $120 flat See document requirementsThe twelve channelers, one by one
Each name links to a full page covering that channeler’s delivery formats, eligibility rules, published pricing, and the exact steps to get its report apostilled.
Accurate Biometrics
Walk-in live scan in Illinois, a nationwide collection network of 700+ partner sites, and mail-in FD-1164 fingerprint cards.
Based: Itasca, Illinois
Order at: accuratebiometrics.com/nationwide/services/fbi-personal-background
Phone: 1-866-361-9944
Apostille angle: Accurate Biometrics does not sell an apostille service and does not mention apostilles on its site. It does sell the mailed hard copy that the apostille step needs.
Biometrics4ALL
Live scan collection network plus biometric software and hardware. Consumer orders run through the ApplicantServices.com portal.
Based: Irvine, California
Order at: www.applicantservices.com/fbi-channeler/departmental-order-556-73
Phone: No public phone line; support@biometrics4all.com
Apostille angle: Biometrics4ALL does not sell an apostille service. Its own blog describes the apostille as a step the applicant handles separately.
DTIS (Digital Trusted Identity Services)
Roughly 50 live scan collection sites in Florida through participating UPS Store locations, plus a nationwide mail-in hard card service. Also runs TSA aviation channeling.
Based: Fairfax, Virginia
Order at: dtis.com/fbi-mail-your-hard-card
Phone: (703) 797-2562
Apostille angle: DTIS states in writing that applicants who need an apostille must request a signed and sealed copy of their criminal history record information directly from the FBI. It is one of the clearest published positions on this point.
Fieldprint
A live scan collection network that Fieldprint describes as the largest in the country, with coverage in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Appointments required; no walk-ins. Where no live scan site is nearby, the scheduler offers a print-card location for an additional fee.
Based: Mt. Laurel, New Jersey
Order at: fieldprintusa.com/
Phone: (888) 472-8918
Apostille angle: Fieldprint states explicitly that all requests for a sealed or apostille copy of FBI criminal history record information must be requested directly through the FBI, and that FBI-approved channelers are not able to provide results in that form.
IdentoGO by IDEMIA
IdentoGO Centers nationwide by appointment, many inside UPS Store locations, plus a mail-in hard card workflow. Select centers will roll an FD-258 card for you through the Print-n-GO service.
Based: No U.S. corporate headquarters address is published for the consumer service; the card scanning department is at 340 Seven Springs Way, Suite 250, Brentwood, TN 37027
Order at: uenroll.identogo.com/workflows/111VVQ
Phone: (844) 539-5541
Apostille angle: IdentoGO does not mention apostilles anywhere on its consumer FBI History Check pages and does not offer an apostille add-on.
ScreenID
For the consumer Departmental Order product, mail-in fingerprint cards only. ScreenID requires two separately rolled sets of cards, captured by law enforcement or by ScreenID, not printed at home.
Based: Easton, Maryland
Order at: www.inquirieschanneling.com/DepartmentalOrder/Step01
Phone: (877) 702-7107
Apostille angle: ScreenID does not mention apostilles and does not sell an apostille service, but it is one of the minority of channelers that will put a physical copy in the mail.
National Background Check, Inc. (FastFingerprints)
About 800 live scan locations nationwide, mobile fingerprinting, card scanning services, and fingerprint cards accepted by U.S. Mail. State-specific programs in Ohio and Florida.
Based: Westerville, Ohio
Order at: edo.nationalbackgroundcheck.com/privacy-act-statement
Phone: 614-457-8900 or 877-932-2435
Apostille angle: National Background Check publishes an apostille services page, but states the apostille cannot be provided through NBCI as an FBI channeler. The work is referred to a third-party partner, Apostille Courier Express.
National Credit Reporting (National Background Information)
A nationwide network of preferred live scan locations for electronic capture, plus ink-rolled FD-258 fingerprint cards submitted by mail.
Based: San Jose, California
Order at: www.nbinformation.com/order.php
Phone: 800-441-1661 or 408-993-1000
Apostille angle: National Credit Reporting does not mention apostilles and does not offer an apostille service, but it is the channeler whose standard product is closest to what the apostille step requires.
First Advantage Biometrics (PrintScan)
More than 700 live scan collection locations across the United States, using a kiosk and QR-code preregistration model. PrintScan additionally offers on-site and mobile fingerprinting and fingerprint card conversions.
Based: No headquarters address is published on the company's own sites
Order at: printscan.com/Appointment/Start
Phone: 844-787-3431 (FA Biometrics) or (631) 782-1700 (PrintScan)
Apostille angle: PrintScan is the only FBI-approved channeler that sells an apostille add-on in house, and it is offered solely for an individual's FBI criminal history summary report. As of August 26, 2026 the expedited apostille option is listed as temporarily unavailable, and the regular apostille is quoted at 10 to 12 business days with FBI authentication at 15 to 20 business days.
Telos ID / IDVetting
You order online, print and sign the form, get fingerprinted at a local live scan or fingerprinting site found through the site's location search, then mail the signed form and prints to Telos.
Based: Ashburn, Virginia
Order at: enroll.idvetting.com/
Phone: 1-800-444-9628
Apostille angle: Telos addresses apostilles in a single clear sentence on its own site: it does not supply an end-to-end apostille service, but it does supply an apostille-ready report. That is exactly the division of labor we are built for.
TRP Associates
Both ink and live scan capture through a nationwide network of collection specialists, plus mail-in fingerprint cards received at its Warwick headquarters. Mail in your card with the completed FBI Client Applicant form and two forms of government-issued identification.
Based: Warwick, Rhode Island
Order at: appoint.trpassociates.net/services
Phone: (877) 885-1511
Apostille angle: TRP does not mention apostilles anywhere on its site and offers no apostille add-on.
VetConnex
Retail live scan storefronts in Minnesota, mobile fingerprinting, and a nationwide mail-in service. Mail-in requires two separately rolled FD-258 cards, a signed application, and copies of two IDs, sent to Elkins, West Virginia.
Based: Corporate contact in McLean, Virginia, with retail and mobile operations in Bloomington, Eagan and Rochester, Minnesota
Order at: vetcdirect.com/
Phone: 952-595-5800
Apostille angle: VetConnex does not offer an apostille add-on. Its affiliate site acknowledges that FBI reports may be apostille-authenticated for Hague Convention countries and sells expedited tamper-proof mail for international use, but the apostille itself is left to you.
Getting from an FBI report to an apostille
- Order the report in a mailable format. Pick a channeler above that mails a physical copy, or order directly from the FBI for $18 with the mailed response selected.
- Leave it exactly as it arrives. No lamination, no notarization, no staples removed, no highlighting. The Department of State states that notarizing a federal document renders it invalid for authentication.
- Confirm your destination country’s route. Hague Convention country means an apostille. Non-Hague means federal authentication plus embassy legalization. Check the Country Guide.
- Mail the original to us. Federal Apostille and Notary Processing, 1050 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20036, naming the destination country and your return shipping preference. Order at our secure order page.
- We handle the Office of Authentications. Documents that meet the requirements are apostilled and back to you in 7 business days, excluding Fridays and federal holidays, at $120 flat per document.
Apostille or embassy legalization? It depends on the destination country
An apostille is the single-certificate route created by the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention. If your destination country is a contracting party, a federal apostille from the U.S. Department of State is the last U.S. step — the receiving authority abroad accepts the document without further certification by a consulate. There are more than 130 contracting parties, including Spain, Italy, Germany, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Portugal, Brazil, Australia, India, the Philippines, Colombia, Chile, Poland, the United Kingdom, China (effective 7 November 2023) and Canada (effective 11 January 2024).
If your destination country is not a party, an apostille does nothing for you. Those countries require the longer legalization chain: federal authentication first, then attestation at that country’s embassy or consulate in Washington, D.C., and in many cases a further step at the destination country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Cuba and Taiwan each have their own chain.
Two countries are mid-transition, so check the date. Vietnam’s accession takes effect 11 September 2026 and Thailand’s takes effect 28 February 2027. Before those dates they still require embassy legalization; after them an apostille is correct. If your filing straddles one of those dates, call us before you order anything.
Check yours before you send anything. We maintain a Country Guide that tells you which route applies, and Hague vs. Non-Hague: Federal Apostille and Authentication explains the difference in plain terms. If your country needs the embassy route, our Embassy Legalization for Non-Hague Countries service runs the whole chain from the same D.C. office.
One clarification worth making, because it is the single most common misunderstanding we hear: an apostille certifies the authenticity of the signature and the capacity of the official who signed the document. It does not certify the document’s contents, and it does not oblige a foreign authority to accept your filing. Many receiving authorities add their own conditions on top — a maximum document age, a certified translation, a particular form. Confirm those with the authority that is actually asking.
Why FBI reports get rejected at the Department of State
Almost every rejection we see comes from one of six causes. None of them are about the content of your record — a report showing no criminal history is rejected for exactly the same reasons as one showing a record.
| Cause | What it looks like | How to avoid it |
|---|---|---|
| A printout, not an original | You printed the channeler’s PDF on your home printer. | Order the mailed hard copy from a channeler that offers one, or order directly from the FBI and select the mailed response. |
| A notarized copy | A notary certified your copy of the report, believing that would help. | Never notarize a federal document. The Department of State states that a notarized federal document is no longer valid for authentication. |
| Missing the destination country | The order form does not name the country the document is going to. | Name the exact country on the order. The apostille is issued for a specific country and cannot be reissued for free. |
| Wrong authority | The report was sent to a Secretary of State office instead of the federal Office of Authentications. | FBI reports are federal documents and are always authenticated federally. See Federal Apostille vs. State Apostille. |
| Stale document | Some consulates and receiving authorities will not accept a report older than three or six months. | Check the receiving authority’s age limit before you order the report, not after. |
| Damage or alteration | Lamination, staples through the seal, highlighting, folding through the signature block. | Leave the document exactly as it arrived. Do not laminate, do not annotate, do not remove staples the FBI placed. |
What Federal Apostille does once your report arrives
We are a Washington, D.C. apostille and notary processing office. Our entire job on this document is the step channelers generally leave to you: presenting your authenticated FBI Identity History Summary at the U.S. Department of State Office of Authentications and returning it to you with the apostille attached. One channeler, PrintScan, sells an apostille add-on of its own; every other one stops at the report.
| Price | $120 flat rate per document, which includes the U.S. Department of State fee and our processing. No separate government-fee line item. |
|---|---|
| Turnaround | Ready in 7 business days, excluding Fridays and federal holidays, from the day your document reaches our office. |
| Where to send it | Federal Apostille and Notary Processing, 1050 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20036 |
| What we need | The original mailed FBI report, the destination country, and return shipping instructions. Full list on our requirements page. |
| Tracking | Every order is trackable at Track Your Order. |
| Also handled here | Certificates of Naturalization, CRBAs, DD-214s, SSA benefit letters, USPTO patents, federal court records, FDA and USDA export certificates. See all federal document types. |
What you would pay and wait doing it yourself
We think you should know the alternative before you hire us. The U.S. Department of State charges a $20 nonrefundable fee per document and offers two routes:
- By mail to the Office of Authentications, 44132 Mercure Circle, PO Box 1206, Sterling, VA 20166-1206. The Department states it will process a mailed request within five weeks of receiving it, before shipping in either direction.
- In person at 600 19th Street NW, Washington, D.C. Drop off and pick up run 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., Monday through Thursday, no appointment required, and the Department states it will process requests within 7 business days.
So if you live in or near Washington, D.C. and can make two early-morning trips to 19th Street inside a 90-minute window, doing it yourself costs $20 and takes about a week. That is a real option and we will not pretend otherwise. What our $120 buys is that we are the ones making those trips: we are a D.C. office, we go to the counter, and you never leave home. For the large majority of our clients — who are in California, Texas, Florida or overseas — the honest comparison is against the five-week mail queue, not the counter.
Frequently asked questions about FBI-approved channelers
How many FBI-approved channelers are there?
Twelve. The FBI's List of FBI-Approved Channelers for Departmental Order Submissions, last updated May 27, 2026, names twelve companies: Accurate Biometrics, Biometrics4All, Digital Trusted Identity Services, Fieldprint, Idemia Identity & Security USA, Inquiries Acquisition doing business as ScreenID, National Background Check, National Credit Reporting, STS SID doing business as First Advantage Biometrics, Telos Identity Management Solutions, TRP Associates, and VetConnex. A separate and longer FBI Compact Council list of approved channelers exists for a different purpose and currently names nineteen companies. If you want a personal FBI background check for an apostille, the Departmental Order list of twelve is the one that applies to you.
What is an FBI-approved channeler, exactly?
A private company the FBI has authorized to submit fingerprint-based Departmental Order requests on an individual's behalf and to return the result. The channeler is a courier and a submitter. It has no access to your record beyond what the FBI sends back, it cannot change what the record says, and it cannot issue anything the FBI did not issue. What you buy from a channeler is speed.
Which channeler is best if I need an apostille?
The ones that mail you a physical copy. National Credit Reporting mails the official FBI report as its standard product. ScreenID, VetConnex, Accurate Biometrics, National Background Check and PrintScan all sell a mailed copy as a priced option, and Telos offers a mailed delivery option and advertises what it calls an apostille-ready report. Biometrics4ALL, DTIS, Fieldprint, IdentoGO and TRP Associates deliver electronically to the applicant, and Fieldprint and DTIS both state in writing that a sealed or apostille copy has to come from the FBI directly.
Can any channeler issue the apostille itself?
One offers it: PrintScan, the consumer brand of First Advantage Biometrics, sells an apostille add-on for FBI reports specifically. As of August 26, 2026 its expedited option is listed as temporarily unavailable and its regular apostille is quoted at 10 to 12 business days. National Background Check publishes an apostille page but refers the work to an outside partner and states the apostille cannot be provided through it as a channeler. Every other channeler leaves the apostille entirely to you.
Is it cheaper to skip the channeler and go straight to the FBI?
For the report itself, yes, and by a lot. The FBI charges $18 for a direct Departmental Order request. Channeler pricing, where it is published at all, runs from about $39.95 to $121 depending on the company and the delivery tier, plus a separate fingerprint collection fee at some of them. Four of the twelve publish no price for individuals at all. The FBI states turnaround of within 48 hours for an electronic request with electronic fingerprints taken at a U.S. Post Office, approximately 10 days if you mail a fingerprint card, and up to 15 days for a mailed request. The FBI also mails results internationally, which most channelers will not do. The case for a channeler is speed at a live scan site near you and, in a few cases, a mailed copy you can order in the same transaction.
I live outside the United States. Which channeler can help me?
Realistically, none of them. Every channeler we checked that addresses the question says it will not send FBI record information outside the United States, and several cite an FBI restriction as the reason. VetConnex states in capitals that you must currently be in the United States. National Background Check states that results are prohibited from being shipped overseas. National Credit Reporting cites the FBI prohibition directly. PrintScan stopped submitting on behalf of non-U.S. citizens on July 1, 2026. The workable route from abroad is a direct FBI request at edo.cjis.gov, which the FBI returns by U.S. First-Class Mail both foreign and domestic, and then our federal apostille service with international return shipping.
Does the FBI still put its seal on the report?
No, and this catches people out. The FBI states that it will no longer place the FBI seal on Department of Justice Order 556-73 fingerprint search results. It authenticates results instead by placing the FBI watermark and the signature of a division official on them at the time of submission. That watermark and signature are what the Office of Authentications is looking at.
What does the apostille itself cost and take?
Through us, $120 flat per document including the U.S. Department of State fee, ready in 7 business days, excluding Fridays and federal holidays. Handling it yourself means a $20 nonrefundable fee per document and a published Department of State processing time of five weeks from the day it receives your mail at its Sterling, Virginia address, before shipping in either direction.
Does an apostille change what my FBI background check says?
No. An apostille is a certificate attached to the document that verifies the authenticity of the signature and the capacity of the official who signed it. It says nothing about the content of your record. A report showing no criminal history and a report showing a record are apostilled identically and at the same price.
Can a 'No Record' FBI report be apostilled?
Yes. The vast majority of FBI Identity History Summaries we handle come back with no criminal history, and that is exactly what most foreign authorities are asking for. The apostille process treats a no-record result the same as any other.
How long is an apostilled FBI background check valid?
The United States places no expiration on an apostille. The limit comes from the receiving authority. Many immigration authorities, employers and universities abroad will not accept an FBI report more than three or six months old, counted from the FBI's issue date rather than the apostille date. Check the requirement in your destination country before you order the report, because that clock starts the day the FBI issues it.
Do I have to be in Washington, D.C. to get a federal apostille?
No. Nearly all of our clients mail their documents in from elsewhere in the United States or from abroad. You send the original report to our D.C. office, we handle the Department of State step in person, and we ship the apostilled document wherever you need it.
Can you apostille more than one document at a time?
Yes, and it is usually the sensible thing to do. Many applicants need the FBI report apostilled alongside a Certificate of Naturalization, a birth certificate, a diploma or a marriage certificate. Each document takes its own apostille at the same flat rate, and sending them together saves shipping. Note that federal and state documents follow different routes, which we sort out for you.
What if my destination country is not in the Hague Convention?
Then you need embassy legalization rather than an apostille. The document goes through federal authentication first, then to that country's embassy or consulate in Washington, D.C., and often on to its Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We run that whole chain from the same office for countries including the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Taiwan and Cuba. Vietnam and Thailand are mid-transition — Vietnam joins the Apostille Convention effective 11 September 2026 and Thailand effective 28 February 2027 — so which route applies to those two depends on your filing date.
Do I need a translation of my FBI report?
Often, yes. Many receiving authorities want a certified translation of both the report and the apostille into the local language. The correct order matters: apostille first, then translate the apostilled document, because the translation must cover the apostille certificate too. We provide certified and sworn translation from the same office.
Ready to move?
$120 flat per document. Ready in 7 business days. Mailed anywhere in the world. Questions first? Call (760) 469-2997 or email submissions@federalapostille.org.
Start my federal apostille — $120 flat Call (760) 469-2997Related guides on Federal Apostille
- FBI Background Check Apostille
- How to Federally Apostille an FBI Background Check: The Complete Guide
- Federal Apostille Requirements
- Submit Your Order
- Federal Apostille Service
- FBI Identity History Summary Fingerprint Submission Kit
- Apostille vs. Authentication
- Hague vs. Non-Hague: Federal Apostille and Authentication
- Federal Apostille vs. State Apostille: Which Do You Need?
- Country Guide
- Processing Time Estimator
- Document Checklist
- Sample Apostilled Documents
- Apostille Glossary
- Embassy Legalization for Non-Hague Countries
- Certified & Sworn Translation
- Shipping & Delivery
- Track Your Order
- What Is the Federal Apostille Process?
- Do I Need to Be in Washington, D.C. to Get a Federal Apostille?
- Federal Document Types We Authenticate
- General FAQs
- Contact Federal Apostille
Official sources
- FBI — List of FBI-Approved Channelers for Departmental Order Submissions
- FBI — Identity History Summary Checks
- FBI — Identity History Summary Checks Frequently Asked Questions
- FBI eDO — Electronic Departmental Order submission portal
- U.S. Department of State — Requesting Authentication Services
- U.S. Department of State — Apostille Certificate
- HCCH — Apostille Section of the Hague Conference on Private International Law
- FBI Compact Council — List of Approved Channelers (the separate, longer list)
