Any applicant 18 years or older applying for a position in a DHS or DCF program requiring a criminal history background check.

Applicants receive a Fingerprint Service Code Form from the program requesting the background check. They schedule an appointment with an authorized vendor and provide the identifying information from the form. A government-issued ID is required.

The authorized state vendor scans the fingerprints electronically. They are then transmitted to the Division of State Police for processing of state and federal criminal history.

In most cases, the Department of Human Services covers the fingerprinting fees.

No. Fingerprint requirements and statutes vary by agency, and regulations prohibit sharing of criminal history record information.

• If the fingerprints are not clear or a transmission error occurs.
• If a fingerprint result request is lost or misplaced and more than 90 days have passed since the initial print date.
• If an employee separates for 6 months or more (i.e. leave of absence) they must be reprinted before returning to duty.

Results are forwarded within ten (10) business days to ECCU. Providers can access results through FARA (Fingerprint Approval Retrieval Application) at https://fara.dhs.state.nj.us.

The agency must contact ECCU as soon as possible before the 90-day deadline.