Top Choice
Instant Checkmate
Criminal-record and social-profile search option.
View RecordsBackground Checks
New York Background Check
New York DCJS allows a person to request their own fingerprint-based criminal-history record. A business cannot obtain that confidential state record through a public name search.
Choose between a public search and your own state history
New York has several distinct background-check routes. DCJS Personal Record Review provides your own fingerprint-based state criminal history. OCA Criminal History Record Search (CHRS) provides a public statewide name-and-birth-date court search. A specific court supplies its own case documents and certified dispositions. An employment or licensing fingerprint submission follows the authorized agency’s procedure. Buying one does not automatically satisfy a requirement for another.
DCJS records are nonpublic and unavailable through a Freedom of Information Law request or ordinary third-party background-check business. An employer or licensing body needs a law authorizing the fingerprint check. A commercial name search does not become the confidential DCJS record simply because the company calls it a New York background check.
Choose suppressed or unsuppressed personal review
DCJS offers a suppressed response that omits specified sealed or suppressed information and an unsuppressed response that includes it. The unsuppressed version can include sealed dismissals, eligible sealed convictions, youthful-offender adjudications and certain dismissed charges. If you need both versions, make separate requests. Different contents in these two responses do not by themselves demonstrate a record error.
Use service code 15464Z for a suppressed record or 15465F for an unsuppressed record. For an international-purpose request, select the travel/other-country or other international reason so DCJS supplies the signed document needed for the separate apostille process. Confirm what the foreign recipient requires; a public OCA search is not the same signed product.
Arrange fingerprints and pay the correct 2026 fee
New York residents schedule through IdentoGo or call 877-472-6915, bring an accepted form of identification, and use the chosen service code. DCJS lists $17.50 effective February 2, 2026. Credit cards, checks and money orders are accepted; checks and money orders are payable to Idemia. A minor aged 11–17 without accepted identification needs the specified photo-ID waiver completed by a parent or guardian.
For someone living outside New York, DCJS lists an IdentoGo enrollment-center payment of $57.45. If no center is nearby, have fingerprints placed on an FD-258 card, enroll for Cardscan using the same suppressed/unsuppressed codes, and pay the published $17.50 Cardscan charge. Print and sign the barcode confirmation and mail it with the completed card to Prints, Inc., IdentoGO NY Card Scan Operations, 100 Salem Ct., Tallahassee, FL 32301. Local fingerprint collection can involve a separate charge.
Allow for delivery and use the fee-waiver route if needed
DCJS states that after receiving the request it processes the response and returns it by U.S. mail within three to four weeks. There is no in-person pickup. The response can contain a history, employment/licensing fingerprint-submission information or a no-record result, and includes instructions for challenging inaccurate information. Keep your enrollment confirmation and mailing details for follow-up.
If you cannot pay the $17.50 processing fee, request a fee-waiver application packet from [email protected] or the Records Review Unit, NYS DCJS, 80 South Swan Street, 5th Floor, Albany, NY 12210. Include your complete current mailing address so DCJS can send the packet. Obtain the waiver instructions before assuming a paid appointment will be refunded.
Order OCA CHRS when a public statewide search is appropriate
OCA charges $95 for a statewide CHRS search using the exact full name and date of birth entered. Each alias or additional date of birth is another search. Use the online Direct Access application or mail the CHRS application to the Criminal History Record Search Unit, 25 Beaver Street, Room 940, New York, NY 10004. There is no walk-in service at that address.
For mail, enclose a check or money order payable to the N.Y.S. Office of Court Administration; cash is not accepted and a returned check adds $20. Include an email address for emailed results or a stamped self-addressed envelope for mail. OCA states next-business-day processing after receipt; online no-results responses can return in real time, while results needing review are generally emailed the following business day.
Read the exclusions before interpreting a no-result report
CHRS covers public pending cases and convictions from the criminal courts of all 62 counties, but it is neither nationwide nor an FBI check. It omits sealed matters, civil/family/federal cases, noncriminal violations and infractions, youthful-offender-eligible pending cases and cases transferred to Family Court. Its stated policies also omit a sole misdemeanor conviction older than ten years and cases receiving a Governor’s Pardon.
Town and village disposition data is absent for May 1991–2002 and limited for 2002–2007. Other limitations include non-fingerprinted charges and cases without a final disposition or activity for five years, unless there is an open arrest warrant. Exact-match spelling, electronic reporting errors and applicable sealing or expungement rules also affect results. A CHRS no-hit is not proof that every possible New York record is empty.
Get certified proof and correct the right record
CHRS results are not certified. If a recipient needs official proof of a case outcome, contact the deciding court for a Certificate of Disposition; the statewide guide lists $5–$10 per certificate and asks for photo ID and the docket number. For a CHRS data issue, contact its unit at 212-428-2943 and identify the case; the underlying court record is important supporting evidence.
For your DCJS history, follow the challenge instructions in the mailed response. DCJS also provides specific seal-verification forms for CPL 160.50, 160.55 and 160.59: mail the required court order or prosecutor’s notice with the form. Its posted verification response time is two weeks after receipt, by mail. This is separate from requesting a new personal-history response.
Do not assume a future sealing change has already reached every record
DCJS’s current Clean Slate guidance says OCA has up to three years from November 16, 2024 to implement the required automatic-sealing processes, and DCJS cannot seal a record before receiving the court’s order. If a conviction appears that you expected to be sealed, verify the actual order and record status with the court and DCJS instead of assuming that the law’s effective date alone proves an error.
For an employment report supplied by a screening company, use that company’s dispute process as well as any needed court or repository correction. FTC guidance requires the employer’s written disclosure and permission and specifies report-copy and adverse-action notices. Resolving a state record does not automatically correct a private report already sent to an employer.
Related Record Guides
Sources
Sources and record services
Official source
Suppressed/unsuppressed selection, 2026 fees, codes, delivery and fee waiver. Reviewed October 2, 2026.
Official source
Exact-match public statewide search, $95 fee, delivery and exclusions. Reviewed October 2, 2026.
Official source
Certified outcome, fee range, identification and sealed access. Reviewed October 2, 2026.
Official source
Permission, advance report, adverse-action notice and disputes. Reviewed October 2, 2026.