What is an FD-258 fingerprint card?

The FD-258 is the FBI's standard applicant fingerprint card. It holds rolled and plain impressions of all ten fingers plus personal data blocks such as name, date of birth, and ORI when required. Agencies still ask for ink FD-258 cards when electronic Livescan is not accepted, when you are out of state and a hard-card scan is needed, or when a process such as ATF eForms allows paper cards by mail. Official blank cards can be ordered through FBI CJIS supply channels. Many applicants also have a trained technician roll the prints onto stock cards. Poor quality, wrong demographics, or the wrong ORI on a card can delay a background check, so legible prints and accurate blocks matter as much as the ink itself.