What is a Federal Background Check?

Background check Useful Information Michael Rosman

What is a Federal Background Check? A Federal and Government Background Check is usually conducted when people are seeking jobs in law...

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What is a Federal Background Check?

A Federal and Government Background Check is usually conducted when people are seeking jobs in law enforcement, schools, federal agencies, or as an independent contractor (not limited to these jobs). It’s required by law to look into a person’s employment and criminal history of federal job applicants.

What’s Included in a Federal Background Check?

A Federal Background Check usually consists of a person’s employment history, criminal history, credit report, and an FBI Fingerprint Check.

A Federal Employment Check may contain the person’s:

Past places of work (title, salary, duties)
High schools and colleges they attended
Degree(s) they earned

A Federal Criminal Background Check will look to see if the person has a past of:

Fraud
Kidnapping
Robbery
Child Pornography
White-Collar Crime
Capital Punishment
Other Criminal Offenses

For the FBI Fingerprint Check, the purpose is to verify the identity of the person applying. Also, checking a person’s credit report is usually optional, but can reveal whether or not they’re qualified for a certain job or security clearance.

How Long Does A Federal Background Check Take?

A generic Background Check can take anywhere from 3-7 days to come back. A Federal and Government Background Check roughly takes 20-30 days.

How Much Does A Federal Background Check Cost?

There’s no set price as to how much a Federal Background Check costs. Typically, the price is $30 or more.

How Does Someone Get a Federal Background Check?

As stated before, a Federal Background Check is performed on someone who has applied for a job in a federal agency, school, or in law enforcement. You cannot request to have a one performed on yourself. Instead, so there are no surprises, it’s suggested you just run an instant personal background check to learn what information is currently available. One service we’ve found to be reliable for this is Kiwi Searches.

To run a personal background check, type your name in the box below and click ‘search’.

That’s everything there is to know about what a Federal Background Check is as well as what it entails. To learn more about background checks, view our Background Check 101 Guide!