Australian fingerprints in the age of COVID19

April 6, 2020 6:34 AM

I'm in Melbourne, Australia. I need to get a set of fingerprints for an FBI criminal check for immigration purposes. Our state police aren't doing fingerprints due to COVID19. What are my other options?

Specifically, I'm working on applying for Australian citizenship starting next month (assuming nothing else goes haywire, which who knows). The application requires police checks from every country I've lived in for more than 12 months, and the US is one of them, hence the FBI check.

After a hectic runaround with Victorian Police (both the main agency and various local police stations), it turns out that because of COVID19 they are not doing fingerprints indefinitely. The FBI suggests getting fingerprints from law enforcement but I don't think that's a requirement. (When I had to do this to finalise my Aussie PR application while I was finishing off study in San Francisco I went to a bonds bailsman) However, Googling isn't showing me anyone else doing fingerprints - the US consulate certainly doesn't.

Where else can I get fingerprints done that would satisfy the FBI? I don't think they'd accept a DIY effort.

(The Department of Home Affairs in Australia didn't really have answers, they just said that there's no deadline to send all the paperwork in cos of COVID19, though I don't want my citizenship held up forever because of this. I'm also hearing rumours that the FBI have stopped issuing criminal checks too. But assume that the rumours aren't true and I can still get FBI checks as normal.)

posted by divabat to Law & Government (9 answers total)

I don't know if this helps but I had to do something similar here in the Netherlands. I found a security company that advertised they do fingerprints and knew about international standards. The exact format was FD-258. I found them by googling 'fingerprints netherlands fbi' and it all worked out perfectly.
posted by vacapinta at 7:22 AM on April 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

Where else can I get fingerprints done that would satisfy the FBI? I don't think they'd accept a DIY effort.

I think they would accept DIY fingerprints. Figure out your risk here if it gets rejected (you lose your $18 and a few weeks of waiting?) but the FBI makes it pretty easy to know what they're looking for.

https://www.fbi.gov/services/cjis/identity-history-summary-checks/ has links to all the forms and requirements, including the FD-258 form and instructions for "Recording Legible Fingerprints."
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 8:46 AM on April 6, 2020

When I needed fingerprints in the US a few years ago, I found a little shop near the Immigration offices that did passport photos and fingerprints. The FBI had no problems with that.
posted by monotreme at 10:37 AM on April 6, 2020

Unfortunately whether you can get the fingerprints done now or later, there are likely to be extensive delays in all other areas of the process. Last I heard they weren't even finalising citizenship for people who have completed every other step of the process, because they can't currently hold the ceremony and haven't come up with an alternative.
posted by kinddieserzeit at 12:51 PM on April 6, 2020

Ran into the exact same situation in Canada getting people fingerprinted for security clearance submissions.

IDK for immigration purposes in Aus, but you also have to sign a consent of release for the police to share the fingerprint (and associated background checks) with whatever agency is requesting them.

You probably want to search for "accredited agency" or "accredited broker" for a 3rd party fingerprinting, but around here, they've all also suspended fingerprinting indefinitely.
posted by porpoise at 2:18 PM on April 6, 2020

They make kits so you can fingerprint your kid. Or get an ink pad and some copy paper. Maybe find a notary who can meet you on the other side of a glass door, witness the printing, notarize? If you do the ink pad, bring soap, water, a rag.
posted by theora55 at 5:01 PM on April 6, 2020

Response by poster: kinddieserzeit: they're doing online ceremonies now!
posted by divabat at 7:02 PM on April 6, 2020

I did my own fingerprints for a background check in the US following instructions I found online (the FBI link above) and it worked fine. You might need a few cards though, in case you make a mistake. I ordered a stack of 'em and got through about 5 or 6 before I was happy with the result I was getting.
posted by gloriouslyincandescent at 9:05 PM on April 6, 2020

I was in Canada when I needed to get fingerprints for the FBI, and I found there were a lot of private companies that did them. It was a bit expensive (about $40 CAD I think) but the government offices where I lived were just as expensive.
posted by clarissajoy at 3:54 AM on April 7, 2020