LosAngelesFingerprint.com is an educational publication owned and operated by Anshin Mobile Notary & Livescan. We explain what happens during fingerprint collection and why the process works the way it does. If your application requires physical cards, our overview of professional fingerprint card services explains how those cards are prepared.
We have fingerprinted thousands of applicants, including many people with faint, worn, scarred, or otherwise difficult fingerprints. This article comes from the questions we hear during those appointments and what we see when applicants return after a rejection.
One of the most frustrating things an applicant can hear is, “Your fingerprints were rejected.”
The next question is almost always the same: “How many times am I going to have to do this?”
Most people are relieved when we explain that many agency-based background checks are not designed to make them submit fingerprints forever. In California, two quality rejections will often move the application into a different kind of search. But there is an important exception for people ordering their own FBI background check directly from the FBI.
Why Do We Talk About Two Fingerprint Submissions?
The first set of fingerprints is the agency’s first attempt to identify the applicant by the ridge detail on the fingers. If the images are too faint, smudged, incomplete, or otherwise unusable, the agency may reject them and ask for a new set.
The second submission is a real second attempt. A technician can look at what happened the first time and make adjustments. We may use less pressure, add a little moisture to dry hands, clean excess moisture from the fingers, change the angle of the roll, or spend more time on the fingers that are hardest to capture.
Sometimes that works. Sometimes the problem is not the technique. The ridges themselves may be worn from age, manual work, scarring, a skin condition, medication, or years of exposure to chemicals. We can work carefully with what is there, but we cannot put ridge detail back onto a finger. This is also why no fingerprint provider can guarantee that every set will be accepted.
That is why some systems change course after the second quality rejection. If two properly collected submissions cannot produce usable images, a third attempt may simply produce the same result.
What Happens After Two California DOJ Rejections?
For a California DOJ applicant background check, the answer is fairly clear. When the California DOJ rejects an applicant’s fingerprints twice because of poor print quality, it processes the state record inquiry using the applicant’s name and the identifying information submitted with the application. People sometimes call this a name check or name-index search.
That does not mean the fingerprint technician decides to switch the search. It happens within the DOJ process. It also has to be a true resubmission connected to the original transaction. If you are completing California Live Scan fingerprinting, keep your original form, ATI number, and rejection notice. Those details connect the second set to the first submission.
If your California application also includes an FBI-level check, the procedure is a little different. After two FBI quality rejections, the applicant agency can request an FBI name check through the California DOJ. The agency—not the applicant and not the fingerprint technician—has to submit that request. California gives the agency a limited amount of time to do it, so this is not a notice to put aside for a few months.
After the second rejection, call the agency that asked you to be fingerprinted. Make sure it received the notice and ask what it needs from you. In many cases, your part of the fingerprint collection is finished and the next step belongs to the agency.
A Direct FBI Background Check Is Different
This is the part that causes the most confusion. People use “FBI background check” to describe several different processes, but the rejection rules are not all the same.
If an authorized California agency requested the FBI portion of your employment or licensing check, the agency may be able to request the name-check procedure described above.
If you personally ordered an FBI Identity History Summary directly from the FBI, there is no name-check substitute. The FBI requires current fingerprints before it will release that personal record. When prints are repeatedly rejected, the FBI recommends having multiple sets taken, preferably by a fingerprint technician.
So when someone tells you, “They use your name after two rejections,” the first question should be: Which background-check process are we talking about?
Applicants requesting a personal FBI background check for immigration, travel, or international use should not assume that the California two-rejection procedure applies to them. With a direct FBI request, the fingerprints still have to establish the applicant’s identity.
Two Cards and Two Submissions Are Not Always the Same
We also see confusion between the number of fingerprint cards collected and the number of times an agency submits them.
For card-based work, two cards per applicant for each state, territory, or other jurisdiction is a common practice. The second card is there in case the first card is rejected, damaged, or lost. Before either card is submitted, an experienced technician should check the FD-258 card for common quality problems. When an organization is fingerprinting a full roster, it may collect additional spares because it is much easier to roll another card while the applicant is sitting in front of us than to find that person again three months later.
But every receiving agency has its own instructions. One agency may want both cards in the original envelope. Another may want one card first and the second only if the first is rejected. A board may require its own card or specific information in the ORI and employer fields.
This is why sending only one card can be a false economy, but sending two without reading the instructions can also create a problem. Have the backup card prepared when it makes sense, then submit the cards exactly the way the receiving agency requests.
For a multi-state or multi-territory project, the cards are not automatically interchangeable. Each jurisdiction may use different routing information, signatures, card formats, or application numbers. Professional fingerprint-card preparation for multiple jurisdictions should begin with the instructions from every receiving agency.
What We Tell Applicants After a Rejection
First, read the rejection notice. Make sure the fingerprints were rejected for image quality. A form rejected because of missing information, an incorrect code, or the wrong type of card is a paperwork problem, not a fingerprint-quality problem.
Second, bring the notice and the original paperwork to the new appointment. Tell the technician which fingers were difficult and whether this has happened before. That gives us something useful to work with.
Third, keep the new submission connected to the original one. This is especially important with California Live Scan. A new transaction submitted without the original ATI information may be treated as a new application instead of a no-fee DOJ resubmission.
Finally, if the second set is rejected, contact the requesting agency. Do not keep ordering new fingerprint appointments until you know whether the agency is supposed to move the inquiry to a name-based search.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can my fingerprints keep getting rejected forever?
Not usually in a California DOJ applicant process. After two rejections for poor quality, the state inquiry is generally processed using the applicant’s name and identifying information. Other processes may have different rules.
Does the name check begin automatically after the second rejection?
The California DOJ handles the state portion within its process. If the FBI portion of a California agency check was also rejected twice, the applicant agency must request the FBI name check. Contact that agency after receiving the second notice.
Should I have two fingerprint cards prepared?
Often, yes. A second card can save another appointment if the first is rejected or lost. The agency’s instructions still control whether you mail both cards together or hold the second one as a backup.
What if I am requesting my own FBI Identity History Summary?
The FBI does not offer a name-check replacement for a personal Identity History Summary request. You must provide current fingerprints, and multiple professionally prepared sets may help when your ridge detail is difficult to capture.
The Practical Answer
For most California applicants, a fingerprint rejection does not mean the start of an endless series of appointments. The system gets another genuine fingerprint-based attempt. If the second set still cannot be used, the process may move forward with the identifying information already provided.
The exception is important: a direct personal FBI Identity History Summary still requires fingerprints. Know which process you are completing, keep the paperwork from the first submission, and let the requesting agency tell you what happens after the second rejection.