How to Get Out-of-State Fingerprinting for Illinois

If you need an Illinois professional license but live in another state, you can still complete the required fingerprint background check by mail. Out-of-state fingerprinting for an Illinois license works through a “card scan” process: a local agency rolls ink fingerprints onto a physical FBI card, you mail that card to a licensed Illinois vendor along with an Illinois identity verification form and a fee, and the vendor digitizes the prints and transmits them electronically to the Illinois State Police.¹ You cannot mail a card directly to the Illinois State Police; everything has to come in electronically through a vendor.²

Who This Process Covers

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) requires a fingerprint-based criminal background check for many of the professions it licenses, including nurses, physicians, security guards, locksmiths, private detectives, massage therapists, and behavior analysts.¹ If you live in Illinois, you visit a Live Scan vendor who captures and transmits your prints electronically on the spot. Living out of state means you don’t have that option, so the card scan workflow exists as the substitute.

One boundary worth flagging: healthcare workers at long-term care facilities fall under a separate mandate, the Health Care Worker Background Check Act, and those results route to the Illinois Health Care Worker Registry rather than IDFPR.³ If you’re applying for a position at a long-term care facility, confirm with your employer which track your background check needs to follow.

What to Gather Before Your Fingerprint Appointment

Three things need to be in hand before anyone touches your fingers to an ink pad: an FBI fingerprint card (Form FD-258), the Illinois Identity Verification Certifying Statement (Form OOS-FP), and the correct ORI number and purpose code for the license you’re applying for. Showing up without these means a wasted appointment.

The FD-258 Fingerprint Card

The FD-258 is the standard ink fingerprint card used nationwide for civil background checks.⁴ Many local agencies that take prints will provide the card themselves, or you can download it from the FBI’s site. Fill in your name, date of birth, height, and weight ahead of time, and put your license type in the “Reason Fingerprinted” field (for example, “Nurse” or “Security Guard”). The ORI number also goes on the card before the technician starts rolling.

The OOS-FP Identity Verification Form

This Illinois-specific form exists precisely because an out-of-state agency is taking your prints. It has three sections. Section 1 is yours: personal information and the reason for fingerprinting. Section 2 is for the technician who takes your prints, who signs an attestation confirming they checked your government-issued photo ID and fingerprinted the right person. Section 3 is completed later by the Illinois vendor who receives the card.²

The form technically describes itself as voluntary, but skipping it leads to denial of your application. The form says so directly.²

Your ORI Number and Purpose Code

Every Illinois licensing board has its own Originating Agency Identifier. Putting the wrong one on your card sends your results to the wrong place and forces you to start over. Common IDFPR codes include:

Registered Professional Nurse (RPN): ORI IL920630Z
Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN): ORI IL920630Z
Physician (PHY): ORI IL920704Z
Security Guard (SEC): ORI IL920020Z
Locksmith (LOC): ORI IL920020Z
Private Detective (PSA): ORI IL920020Z
Massage Therapist (MTH): ORI IL920680Z

If your profession isn’t on that list, check with IDFPR before your appointment.

Getting Your Prints Taken Locally

Find a law enforcement agency or licensed fingerprint technician near you that will roll ink prints onto a physical card. Most local police departments offer this for roughly $20 to $30. Call first; not every agency fingerprints civilians, and some only do it by appointment.

Bring the FD-258 card, your OOS-FP form with Section 1 already filled in, and a valid government-issued photo ID. The OOS-FP specifically calls for a government-issued driver’s license or state ID.¹

Print quality matters more than most people expect. Smudged, overlapping, or faint impressions can be rejected downstream, which means repeating everything. If you have dry skin, cuts, or heavy calluses, mention it before the technician starts; experienced ones can often adjust their technique to get usable prints. After rolling, the technician signs both the fingerprint card and Section 2 of the OOS-FP to certify identity verification.²

Do not fold, bend, or staple the card. It needs to reach the Illinois vendor flat and undamaged.

Mailing Everything to an Illinois Card Scan Vendor

Not every Illinois Live Scan vendor processes mailed cards. You need one that specifically offers “Card Scan” service. IDFPR keeps a searchable vendor list identifying which ones do.¹ Contact the vendor before you mail anything to confirm their current fee and how they want payment delivered. Fees vary from vendor to vendor, so if cost matters, call a few.

Your envelope needs to contain three things:

The original OOS-FP form with Sections 1 and 2 completed and signed
Your FD-258 fingerprint card with ink prints and every required field filled in
The vendor’s processing fee in whatever form they accept

Use a rigid mailer or cardboard insert so the card stays flat. A damaged card means rejection and starting over. Tracking is worth the small extra cost so you know when the package arrives.

Timing and Checking Your Results

Once the vendor scans and transmits your card, the Illinois State Police runs the prints against the state criminal history database and the FBI’s national database. Turnaround times are not published and shift with volume, so plan in weeks rather than days when you count back from any licensing deadline. Build in mailing time, vendor processing, and the background check itself.

For licensing checks, results go to the requesting agency, not to you.⁵ IDFPR has an online lookup where you can see whether your fingerprint results have been received; you enter your last name, first initial, and Social Security number.⁶

If results don’t appear after a reasonable wait, contact the vendor first to confirm they actually transmitted the data. If that checks out, reach the Illinois State Police Bureau of Identification customer support at ISP.BOI.Customer.Support@illinois.gov or 815-740-5160.⁷

If Your Fingerprints Get Rejected

Rejection for poor image quality is not uncommon with ink-on-card submissions. Worn ridges, scars, calluses, and naturally faint prints are the usual culprits. If your card is rejected, you repeat the process: get reprinted locally, have the OOS-FP re-signed, and mail everything to the vendor again.

If the FBI rejects your prints twice for image quality, you can request a name-based check as an alternative. The request has to go in within 90 days of the last rejection, and it requires the Transaction Control Numbers from both rejected submissions along with your name, date of birth, and Social Security number.⁸ The vendor or the requesting agency typically submits this rather than you.

Challenging an Inaccurate Record

If your background check returns records you believe are wrong or belong to someone else, you can challenge them. For state-level results, the Illinois State Police sends a Record Challenge form with the criminal history transcript. You complete and return it, ISP investigates, and the agency sends back a written response describing any corrections made. ISP does not charge for the challenge itself, though the agency taking any new fingerprints for the review may charge its own fee.⁹ Errors on the FBI portion are handled separately through the FBI’s own process. If you’re working against a hard deadline, mention it in your challenge correspondence.

The Biometric Consent You’ll Be Asked to Sign

Illinois has strong biometric privacy law. The Biometric Information Privacy Act requires private entities that collect your fingerprints to tell you in writing that your biometric data is being collected, explain how long it will be stored, and obtain your written consent before proceeding.¹⁰ That applies to the Illinois card scan vendor processing your prints.

Vendors also have to maintain a publicly available retention schedule and destroy your biometric data once the original purpose is fulfilled or within three years of your last interaction with them, whichever comes first. They cannot sell, lease, or profit from your fingerprint data.¹⁰ If a vendor includes a biometric consent form with your paperwork, that’s standard compliance, not an unusual request.

1
Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Fingerprint Background Check Guide
2
Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. OOS-FP Identity Verification Certifying Statement
3
Illinois General Assembly. 225 ILCS 46 – Health Care Worker Background Check Act
4
Federal Bureau of Investigation. Standard Fingerprint Form FD-258
5
Illinois Department of Human Services. Required Criminal Background Check and Registry Clearances
6
Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Fingerprint Results
7
Illinois State Police. Bureau of Identification
8
Federal Bureau of Investigation. FBI Name Checks for Fingerprint Submissions Rejected Twice
9
Illinois State Police. Bureau of Identification – Viewing My Record
10
Illinois General Assembly. 740 ILCS 14 – Biometric Information Privacy Act