How Indiana Fingerprint Background Checks Work

An Indiana fingerprint background check is a state and national criminal history search run by the Indiana State Police after your fingerprints are captured electronically by IdentoGo, the state’s authorized vendor. You schedule an appointment, pay a fee of roughly $23 to $38 depending on your category, and ISP returns results to the requesting employer or licensing board — usually within 72 to 96 hours if you live in Indiana, or seven to ten days if you’re out of state.¹²

Who Has to Get One

Indiana law lets a wide range of employers and agencies require fingerprinting, and in several sectors it is mandatory. If you fall into one of the groups below, expect a fingerprint-based check rather than a simpler name-based one.

Professional license applicants. If you are applying for an initial license, certificate, registration, or permit in a profession covered by IC 25-0.5-1, you must submit fingerprints for a state and national check and pay for it yourself. Licensing boards can also order random checks at renewal, so an initial clearance is not permanent.³

Childcare providers and their households. Under IC 12-17.2-3.5-12, licensed providers must fingerprint every employee and volunteer who may be present during operating hours, plus the provider’s spouse and any household member age 18 or older. The check happens before the person starts and is repeated every three years. Certain felony or misdemeanor convictions related to child safety or sex offenses make a provider ineligible for voucher payments.⁴

School employees. School corporations, charter schools, and nonpublic schools may require applicants and current employees to submit fingerprints for an expanded criminal history check and an expanded child protection index check, particularly for roles with student contact. The applicant pays.⁵

State employees and contractors in sensitive positions. IC 10-13-3-38.5 authorizes fingerprint checks for state employees and state contractor employees whose work brings them into contact with minors, endangered adults, juvenile detention facilities, or state institutions run by the Family and Social Services Administration or the Department of Health.⁶

Foster and adoptive placements. National fingerprint checks are required or permitted for anyone involved in placing a child in a foster home, prospective adoptive home, or the home of a relative or other caretaker, and for reunification decisions when a child returns to a parent or guardian.⁷

Beyond these mandatory categories, IC 10-13-3-39 lets any “qualified entity” request a national fingerprint-based check for a prospective or current employee or volunteer, and the request must go in within three months of the person starting.⁷

One boundary worth knowing: Indiana also offers a cheaper, faster “limited criminal history” check under IC 10-13-3-27, which is name-based and searches only state records. It will not satisfy any statute that specifically requires a fingerprint-based national check, so if your employer or board asked for fingerprints, a name-based report is not a substitute.⁸

How to Get Fingerprinted

Indiana contracts with IdentoGo, operated by IDEMIA, to capture fingerprints electronically for ISP. The process has three steps.

First, get your service code or “reason fingerprinted” from the employer, agency, or licensing board that is asking for the check. The code tells IdentoGo where to route the results and which fee schedule applies.

Second, book an appointment through the IdentoGo Indiana portal and pick one of the enrollment centers located throughout the state.⁹ Bring valid identification.

Third, show up and have your prints scanned. A technician captures the images digitally and transmits them to the Indiana State Police. IDEMIA handles only the capture and transmission; it never sees your criminal history results.¹⁰

ISP then runs your prints against Indiana records and forwards them to the FBI, which checks them against the Next Generation Identification system, the national fingerprint and criminal history database that replaced IAFIS in 2014.¹¹ The resulting report covers reported arrests, charges, and dispositions from every state and federal jurisdiction.

What It Costs

Every fingerprint-based check has three fee components: a federal FBI fee, a state ISP fee, and the IdentoGo service fee. Your category determines the total.

Private-sector employee: $38.20 ($11.25 federal + $15.00 state + $11.95 fingerprinting)
Volunteer: $36.20 ($9.25 federal + $15.00 state + $11.95 fingerprinting)
State agency employee: $23.20 ($11.25 federal + no state fee + $11.95 fingerprinting)

These figures come from the ISP fee schedule.² For professional licensing checks, Indiana law places the cost on the applicant.³ Employers sometimes cover the fee voluntarily, but they are not required to. You can pay at the fingerprinting center by credit card, debit card, cashier’s check, or money order. No cash or personal checks.¹²

How Long Results Take and Who Sees Them

Indiana residents usually get results back within 72 to 96 hours. Out-of-state applicants should expect seven to ten days.¹

ISP sends the report directly to the requesting agency, employer, or licensing board. You do not automatically receive a copy. If you want to see your own record, you can request it separately through the same fingerprinting process, selecting the appropriate personal-review service code when you book with IdentoGo.p>

Your results are not public. Under the federal Privacy Act, agencies generally cannot disclose records from a system of records without your written consent, subject to limited exceptions.¹³ ISP’s handling of results follows federal requirements under 42 U.S.C. 5119a and regulations prescribed by the U.S. Attorney General.⁷

Your Rights Before and After the Check

Two layers of law protect you: Indiana’s consent framework and the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act.

On the state side, IC 10-13-3-39 requires that your fingerprints and the required fees be submitted in a form prescribed by ISP. You physically attend the appointment and provide your prints, which is the affirmative act of participation.⁷

On the federal side, when an employer uses a third-party consumer reporting agency to pull your background, the FCRA requires a clear and conspicuous written disclosure in a standalone document before the report is ordered, and your written authorization. Burying that disclosure inside an employment application violates federal law.¹⁴

If the employer decides not to hire you, to fire you, or to take any other adverse action based in whole or in part on the report, they must give you notice of the adverse action, the name and contact information of the reporting agency, and a statement that the agency did not make the decision. You can request a free copy of the report and dispute inaccurate information within 60 days.¹⁵ Employers who skip these steps face statutory damages of $100 to $1,000 per violation, regulatory fines, and class-action exposure.

How employers weigh what they find is also regulated. EEOC guidance under Title VII asks employers to consider the nature and gravity of the offense, the time elapsed since the offense or completion of sentence, and the nature of the job before rejecting an applicant based on a criminal record, and generally to conduct an individualized assessment that lets you explain the circumstances.¹⁶

Expunged and Sealed Records

If you have had a record expunged in Indiana, how it appears on a background check depends on the category under IC 35-38-9.

Arrests without conviction (Category 1): removed entirely from the state central repository and any other law enforcement criminal history system.
Misdemeanors and lower-level felonies (Categories 2 and 3): permanently sealed. Only a limited group of people can access them, generally with court permission. Schools can access sealed records when deciding whether to employ someone who will have contact with students.¹⁷
Major felonies (Categories 4 and 5): records remain public but are marked “expunged,” with limits on how the information can be used.

Once a record is expunged or sealed, it is unlawful discrimination to refuse to hire you, deny a license, or otherwise penalize you because of it. On an employment application, you can only be asked about convictions that have not been expunged. A violation is a Class C infraction, and you can seek injunctive relief and hold the violator in contempt of court.¹⁸ Criminal history providers who include expunged convictions in a report face penalties under IC 24-4-18-8.¹⁹

The main exception: law enforcement agencies and probation or community corrections departments can ask about expunged records and consider them in hiring. Professional licensing boards cannot refuse a license solely because of an expunged conviction, but prior disciplinary proceedings based on the same conduct stay on the record.¹⁹

Fixing a Mistake on Your Record

Criminal history records are only as accurate as the agencies that submit them. Missing dispositions, dismissed charges still showing as pending, and records that belong to someone else all turn up. There are two correction paths, depending on where the error sits.

Indiana Records

To challenge your Indiana State Police criminal history, email CriminalHistory@isp.IN.gov or call 317-232-8262. You will need court documentation from the court where you were tried. ISP will have you book an IdentoGo appointment and select “Criminal Record Review Challenge” as the service type so your identity can be confirmed before any changes.¹²

FBI Records

If the error is on your FBI Identity History Summary, submit a challenge through the FBI’s CJIS Division portal at edo.cjis.gov, or by mail to FBI CJIS Division, Attn: Criminal History Analysis Team, 1000 Custer Hollow Road, Clarksburg, WV 26306. Identify the inaccurate information clearly and attach supporting documentation such as court or prosecutorial records. The FBI contacts the originating agency to verify or correct the entry and then notifies you. No timeline is guaranteed, and this process generally takes longer than the initial check.

If you want your own FBI Identity History Summary for personal review and cannot afford the $18 fee, the FBI offers a waiver. Contact 304-625-5590 or identity@fbi.gov for instructions before submitting the request.²⁰

1
Indiana Professional Licensing Agency. Criminal Background Checks
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Indiana State Police. Fees
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Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 25-1-1.1-4 – National Criminal History Background Check
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Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 12-17.2-3.5-12
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Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 20-26-5-10
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Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 10-13-3-38.5 – Use of Fingerprints for Employment or License
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Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 10-13-3-39 – National Criminal History Background Checks
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Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 10-13-3-27
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IdentoGo. Indiana Services
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Indiana State Police. Get National Criminal History
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Federal Bureau of Investigation. NGI Officially Replaces IAFIS
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Indiana State Police. Challenge My Record
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United States Department of Justice. Overview of the Privacy Act – Disclosures to Third Parties
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681b – Permissible Purposes of Consumer Reports
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681m – Requirements on Users of Consumer Reports
16
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions Under Title VII
17
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-38-9-6 – Effect of Expunging Misdemeanor and Class D Felony Convictions
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Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-38-9-10
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Indiana Courts. Detailed Information on Criminal Case Expungement
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Federal Bureau of Investigation. Identity History Summary Checks Frequently Asked Questions