Originally Posted by
parpalhou
The point of the channeler is that they have much faster turnaround than going through the FBI directly (but you pay a price for this, obviously).
I would add: Your more advanced states (dare I say California) have not done ink fingerprints for anything in over 10 years. This presents a couple of problems: 1) There are fewer and fewer people that know how to do them (or are so out of practice that they cannot do them without some practice) and 2) The places you would think would do them (e.g. police stations) have either stopped doing them, or will do them between the hours of 10 am and 2 pm every other Wednesday as a service to crazy people who want to request copies of their FBI record.
We had ours done in 2009; at the time, mailing in ink fingerprints was the only way you could request a copy of said FBI record. I would hazard that the FBI was the only entity left in the US that was still requiring non electronic versions (even a copy of an electronic version was not adequate).
Shortly thereafter, they began taking Livescan (I'm not sure if that's the name they use; it is what the California Board of Pharmacy called it in 1999). The only drawback I see is that it is more expensive than ink (which you can get done anywhere between free and $10, plus a small fee to the FBI). The drawbacks of ink I've already mentioned, but let me elaborate. Because the person at the police station has not done 15 of these the night before, he/she will not know what good prints are supposed to look like. You won't find out that the prints are no good until the FBI rejects them. There used to be an option to write "I'm in a hurry" on the envelope...this is like telling your mechanic you need your car back for the weekend. Everyone needs his/her car back for the weekend.
Maybe their customer service has improved, but in 2009, there was a number you could dial, and a person would answer and say: "Not processed yet..." We had signed proof of receipt, but after that it goes into the abyss that is the US Government. If memory serves, medicals are only good for 4 months. Your first shot at fingerprints can take 3...we were coming up on the end, so my wife started getting desperate. I think she sent a third set (FedEx) with a prepaid FedEx envelope inside. She was getting ready to fly to DC when a friend who works for the FBI in DC pointed out that they are processed in West Virginia, where there is absolutely no "public face" to the organization. The person you talk to on the phone is in Maryland (going from my hazy 2009 memory).
Pay the extra $50! I believe anyone currently living in the US can do Livescan; I would like to apologize on behalf of the US Government for anyone that has moved on already and must go the ink route.