Guide for processing FBI and U.S. Dept. of Justice fingerprint cards in the Philippines

For FBI and U.S. Dept. of Justice cards, only the National Bureau of Investigation or NBI is allowed to do the actual finger printing on the cards. The local Police cannot do this and even in the NBI, only a few can do the procedure.

Actually, the NBI does not process the cards. What they only do is to just literally do the proper fingerprinting on behalf of the FBI or the U.S. DOJ or a private company that the US State BON you are applying to prefers. The one who actually process the background checking is the FBI, the U.S. DOJ or the private company, respectively.

Also, note that not all U.S. State Board of Nursing require background checking when applying initial licensure to them and a few commissions private companies to do the background check but majority uses the FBI and/or their own State U.S. DOJ so always check with your State BON's website first for instructions.

The fee for the background check is also paid for by the applicant and is usually included as an additional fee on top of the actual application fee to the State BON. Sometimes, the State BON may prefer that the applicant make the payments themselves directly to the private company that was commissioned. Which is which ?? The applicant would have to check with their respective State BON for it. The instructions are included in the application packet and/or posted on their websites.


** Now, for the actual procedure:

The applicant has to go to NBI Carreido (Main Branch in Metro Manila) or their Regional NBI centers if in the provinces. Your local NBI kiosks found in malls does not handle this, it has to be the Regional Centers.

NBI Carreido:

Go directly to the line for the Entrance Fee. Do not just line up on any queue you see that sometimes already starts at the mouth of the building. Those lines are usually for the usual NBI card for employment purposes. Just proceed going up and line up on the queue for the Entrance fee. Pay 20 pesos as Entrance Fee then proceed directly to the 6th Floor and go to Room 604. Sign the Logbook and wait for the slip before proceeding to the 5th Floor. After signing, in the logbook, a routine slip will be given to you w/c in turn you will give to the one who wil do the fingerprinting for you.

There are only about 1-2 persons qualified to take your fingerprints so look for them first, do not line up in any other queues as there are dozens of technicians that are doing fingerprinting lfrom eft to right but they are not qualified to do the fingerprinting for cards bound outside the Philippines. They only do the local NBI cards. Once you find the 1 to 2 persons that handles foreign fingerprint cards, give the gingerprint card/s and the slip. Pay 5 pesos for the alchohol swab.

You are responsible on what to write on the card and not the one doing the fingerprinting.