Fingerprinting

Read the Privacy Act Statement that explains the principal purpose of submitting fingerprints and your rights to review the record if you believe that criminal history records is incomplete or inaccurate.

You must submit your fingerprints using a Livescan Service Provider registered with FDLE immediately after submitting your application for licensure.  It may take up to five days for your fingerprint results to be received by the Department after they are submitted to the Florida Department of Law enforcement (FDLE). Please note that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement requires that an application for licensure should precede the submission of your fingerprints.

The Department of Business and Professional Regulation accepts electronic fingerprinting service offered by Livescan Service Providers that are approved by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and listed at their website. You can view the Provider options and contact information at Livescan Service Provider List.

If you are an applicant seeking a license for any profession regulated by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which requires a criminal background search as a condition of licensure, you must provide accurate demographic information at the time your fingerprints are taken.

Please make sure that you clearly identify the profession for which you are seeking to be licensed or select “Temporary License for Military Spouse” and submit your fingerprints payment to the Provider. Any inaccurate information that you provide could cause a delay in processing your request.

You must provide the correct ORI number.

The following professions require submission of electronic fingerprints as a part of the licensure application. The ORI number identifies the correct profession and the agency that is responsible for processing your request.  The ORI numbers are indicated next to each profession.

FDLE will only retain the criminal results from applicants for a period of six months from the date the fingerprints were rolled. Applicants should submit their applications soon after submitting their fingerprints in order to afford themselves an opportunity to resolve any application deficiencies prior to the expiration of the criminal history results.

In the traditional method of fingerprinting, ink is applied to each of your fingers which are then “rolled “across a fingerprint card to obtain your prints. With electronic fingerprinting, there is no ink or card. Your fingerprints are “rolled” across a glass plate and scanned. It is faster and cleaner than the traditional method. Electronic fingerprinting reduces the likelihood of illegible fingerprints and will reduce the overall application processing time.

It should only take approximately 5-10 minutes.

The total fee charged by each Provider varies. Please contact the Provider to obtain this information. The fingerprint results are usually received by the department two to four days after your fingerprints are scanned.

You can view the Provider options and contact information at Livescan Service Providers List.

All applicants will be required to bring two (2) forms of identification to the electronic fingerprinting site on the day of scheduled fingerprinting. One of the two types of identification must bear your picture and signature such as a driver’s license, state identification card or passport. Applicants cannot be permitted to be fingerprinted without proper identification.

As of the date of the mailing of the deficiency letter, your electronic fingerprinting results have not been transmitted to the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.  We will not be able to process your application until we have received this information. You should contact your fingerprint Provider to determine if they have submitted the prints to the FDLE for processing.

Provider contact information can be viewed at Livescan Service Providers List.

The electronic fingerprint scanning machines are equipped to determine if your fingerprints scanned successfully; however, if it is determined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that your prints were not legible, we will send you a notification letter asking you to go back to the same Provider that did your initial prints and schedule a re-roll of your prints. You will be required to bring the notification letter with you as information such as the TCN (Transaction Control Number) and TCR (Transaction Control Reference) must be identified and used at the time of the reroll.

DBPR will retain results of the prints for 12 months from the date your digital fingerprints were electronically received by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. FDLE retain the prints for 180 days only. If your prints have expired at the time your application is submitted to the department, you will be required to submit new prints again.

Per FBI regulation, your prints cannot be shared between professions or with other agencies. You are required to have separate prints for each license you are applying for, using the correct ORI.

As an applicant, you have the choice to select a Provider approved by the FDLE. Since DBPR does not approve or regulate Livescan Providers, you will be fully responsible for the fingerprint submission and for ensuring that the prints have been timely submitted to the FDLE.  The DBPR retrieves the fingerprint results from the Department of Law Enforcement through a secure web site. We suggest that you ask the Provider for a receipt showing payment date and other pertinent information in case you need to go back to them for assistance.

Go to the FDLE Livescan Service Provider List and choose a Livescan Service Provider that is certified as “hard card scanning capable”. These Providers have the ability to process fingerprints through additional methods, including the use of hard copy fingerprint cards. If the Provider requests that you provide a fingerprint card, you may call the Department of Business and Professional Regulation at 850.487.1395 to obtain one. When requesting a card, please specify the profession for which you are seeking licensure.

Out of State Alcoholic Beverage and Tobacco Applicants only:
Your fingerprint card can be obtained from the Department of Business and Professional Regulation by contacting the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco at 850.488.8284, or one of the division’s district offices. A listing of the district offices can be found on the web here. Once the fingerprint card is received, you may then go to a local law enforcement office in your area to have your fingerprints rolled onto the card. Information specific to the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco will be preprinted on the fingerprint card. Other information will be completed at the local law enforcement agency. The instructions for submitting your fingerprint card are outlined above.

The Livescan Provider will send your scanned fingerprint images to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) using the ORI number you provide to the Provider. The FDLE/FBI will process the fingerprints and provide the results to the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, usually within three to five business days from the scan date. You do not have to do anything with your fingerprint results unless the department contacts you for additional information.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) has developed a new feature that will allow an individual or organization to perform a search to determine the status of an applicant Livescan transaction. The Civil Workflow Control System (CWCS) serves as the FDLE automated applicant criminal history request system. The status of a CWCS transaction can now be provided from a search within the newly developed “Civil Workflow Control System Transaction Status Search”. The only identifier needed to perform the search is the Transaction Control Number (TCN) which is generated at the time the applicant information and fingerprints are captured.

The “Civil Workflow Control System Transaction Status Search” is available to the public at: https://web.fdle.state.fl.us/search/app/tcnlookup

If you have a criminal history, your application will be reviewed by the department to ensure that your criminal history will not statutorily disqualify you from becoming licensed in that particular profession. Depending on the type of criminal offense(s), your application might require board review or require your personal appearance before the board. You will be notified in writing of any required appearance before the board.