How Long Does an Employment Background Check Take?
Updated 11 min read
The short answer
- Washington State Patrol online check
- Results immediately
- WSP criminal history page
- Colorado CBI online check
- Instantaneously
- CBI ICHC page
- Pennsylvania State Police, no record
- Some results immediately
- PSP background check page
- Pennsylvania, a check under review
- Two to four weeks
- PSP background check page
- Prior DOT employer's safety history
- Within 30 days of the request
- 49 CFR 391.23(g)(1)
- Verified drug test report to you
- Within two days of verification
- 49 CFR 40.167(c)
Read on each agency's page or in the eCFR, October 23, 2026.
- HireRight, an average employment check
- “typically take between two and four business days”
- HireRight support article
- Checkr, checks through a screening firm
- “On average … typically take three to five days”
- Checkr article, June 22, 2026
- Checkr, its own criminal checks
- “89% … completed within one hour”
- Checkr article, June 22, 2026
Each firm's own claim, quoted from its own page on October 23, 2026. Not tested by us.
An employment background check takes as long as the slowest search on the order. The screening firms put the average at a few business days, and that fits the agency side: an online state search with no record comes back at once. But no law sets a turnaround for a screening firm, and the averages hide the tail. Pennsylvania's State Police say a check that needs more investigation is marked “under review” and may take two to four weeks. A former DOT employer has 30 days to answer. A school or a previous employer outside DOT rules has no federal deadline at all.
So the useful question for an employer is not “how long” but “which search is holding this up, and what is it waiting on?” The rest of this guide goes search by search, then adds the time the law puts around the check, before the order and after the report.
A firm's average is measured on its own mix of orders. Ask any firm you are weighing for the share of orders like yours, same searches and states, finished within a set number of business days, and what it counts as “complete”. The Checkr vs HireRight compare reads both firms' own pages side by side.
Criminal record searches: what holds them up
| Search | What it waits on | Published time or rule |
|---|---|---|
| State repository, online | A name and birth date with no possible match | Immediate (WA, CO); some immediately (PA) |
| State repository, a possible match | Someone at the agency checking the record | Two to four weeks under review (PA) |
| County criminal court | The court's access: online index, clerk request or courthouse terminal | Set court by court |
| Federal court index | PACER, online | Online |
| Fingerprint check, where a law requires one | Print quality: the FBI can reject prints the state accepted | Reprint, then a name check (CA DOJ) |
| A screening firm's own database | Confirming any hit at the court before it is reported | The firm's procedure |
A clean result is fast because nothing needs a person. Washington's WATCH search returns its response “immediately online”, and Colorado's online check works “instantaneously”. The delay starts when a name comes close to a record. Common names, a shared birth date, a hyphenated surname or a name change all produce possible matches, and every possible match has to be confirmed or ruled out by someone.
County courts are where most of the variation lives. Some publish an online index that a researcher can search from anywhere; others hand out records only through a clerk or a public terminal in the courthouse, which means a court researcher in that county and the court's own working hours. A candidate who lived in four counties in seven years means four of those clocks, not one.
When a screening firm reports a public record for a job, it must either tell the applicant at the time or keep strict procedures so the record is complete and up to date. Firms must also follow reasonable procedures for maximum possible accuracy. That is why a hit in a firm's database usually goes back to the court before it reaches you, and why it adds days.
15 U.S.C. § 1681k(a); § 1681e(b)
Fingerprint checks apply only where a law requires them, such as child care staff under the federal CCDBG rules or jobs a state law names. Their delays are physical: California's Justice Department tells employers the FBI may reject prints the state accepted, the person is then reprinted, and after a second rejection the employer requests an FBI name check instead. What each record type can show is in what shows up on a background check.
Verifications, drug tests and driving records
| Search | What it waits on | Published time or rule |
|---|---|---|
| Employment verification | The former employer's HR team answering | No deadline outside DOT; DOT employers 30 days |
| Reference calls by a screening firm | References picking up; the 3-day notice to the candidate | 15 U.S.C. 1681d(a) |
| Education | The school's records office; consent if the student opted out | 34 CFR 99.30, 99.37 |
| Driving record | One request per licensing state | Real time for PennDOT business accounts |
| Drug test | Collection, the lab, and the MRO for any non-negative result | DOT: MRO report within two days of verification |
| Clearinghouse (CDL drivers) | The driver's electronic consent in the Clearinghouse | 49 CFR 382.703(b) |
| International history | Each country's courts, schools and employers | Set abroad |
Verifications wait on people who owe you nothing. Outside DOT-regulated driving jobs, no federal rule gives a former employer a deadline to answer a verification request, so a small business with no HR desk, a closed company or an employer abroad can hold a report open for days. DOT-regulated employers are the exception: they must answer a safety-history request within 30 days, and reply even when there is nothing to report.
Schools move faster when the student has not blocked release. Under FERPA a college may release “directory information”, which includes “dates of attendance” and “degrees, honors, and awards received”, but it must honor an opt-out made while the student attended, even years later. Then the school needs a signed and dated consent that names the records, the purpose and who receives them; an electronic signature counts. Getting that consent at the start saves a round trip.
Drug tests split in two. In a DOT test, a negative result moves straight through, while a non-negative lab result goes to a medical review officer, who reviews the custody form and, in most cases, interviews the donor before verifying it, so it takes longer by design. A verified positive reaches the employer the same day or the next business day, and the written report must arrive within two days of verification. More in drug testing for employers, and for driving records in MVR checks for employers.
What to do
- Order only the searches the role needs; every extra search is another clock.
- Collect every name, birth date, address, school and employer before you order.
- When a report runs long, ask the firm which search is open and what it waits on.
What the law adds before and after the check
- 01
Offer, disclosure and signed consent
Clock: You and the candidate. Nothing is ordered before the signature.
- 02
Order placed with the screening firm
Clock: You. Missing names, addresses or schools come back as questions.
- 03
Searches run side by side
Clock: The slowest search sets the date.
- State repository
- County court
- Federal index
- Driving record
- Education
- Employment
- Drug test
- Clearinghouse
- 04
Report delivered
Clock: The screening firm, after confirming any record at its source.
The report is clear
- You make the decision
- The start date can be set
- Form I-9 and E-Verify follow the hire
You may act on the report
- Pre-adverse notice with a copy and the Summary of Rights
- The wait (see the table below)
- Final adverse action notice
The clock starts with a signature. The FCRA lets you order a report only after a stand-alone written disclosure and the candidate's written authorization, so a consent form that sits unsigned in an inbox is the first delay of the whole check. If the screening firm will interview references, the separate investigative-report notice goes out within three days of ordering.
Fair-chance laws move the criminal search later in the process. In California, employers with five or more employees wait until after a conditional offer to look at conviction history, and New York City allows a criminal history inquiry only after a conditional offer. The criminal search cannot run in parallel with your interviews there; it starts with the offer, so plan the start date around it.
Federal law sets no number of days between the pre-adverse notice and the final decision; a 1997 FTC staff letter called five business days reasonable, and that is common practice. California and New York City write their windows into law, and they run from when the person receives the notice.
15 U.S.C. § 1681b(b)(3)(A); 2 CCR § 11017.1(c)(2)(E)–(F); NYC Admin. Code § 8-107(11-a)
| Rule | The wait | Notice sent on a Monday: the window runs at least to |
|---|---|---|
| Federal FCRA | No fixed period; five business days is common practice (FTC staff letter, 1997) | The following Monday |
| California, notice by email | Deemed received two business days after sending, then at least five business days | Wednesday of the following week |
| California, mailed to a California address without tracking | Deemed received five calendar days after mailing, then at least five business days | Friday of the following week |
| California, record disputed in writing | At least five more business days | One more business week |
| New York City | At least five business days from receipt of both the report and the Fair Chance Notice | The following Monday, if both arrive Monday |
A dispute adds more. If the candidate tells the screening firm the report is wrong, the firm generally has 30 days to reinvestigate, and up to 15 more if the candidate sends new information in that time. In New York City, if the candidate shows an error, you redo the Fair Chance analysis on the corrected record and, if you still plan to act, give at least five more business days. The adverse action timeline dates each step for federal law, California or NYC, and the adverse action notice guide has both letters.
What to do
- Send the disclosure and consent with the offer, and chase the signature the same day.
- In California and NYC, count the criminal search from the conditional offer, not the interview.
- When a report needs a decision, add the wait for your jurisdiction before you promise a start date.
What you can do to speed it up
- Every name
- Full legal name and every previous or maiden name
- Birth date
- Matches records and rules out namesakes
- Addresses
- Every address in the years your searches cover
- Schools
- School, campus, degree, dates, the name used then
- Employers
- Legal name, an HR contact, dates, job title
- Driving
- License number and every state that issued one
- Consents
- The FCRA pair, plus a signed school consent if needed
Most of the time an employer loses is lost before the order. A missing previous name sends the firm back to the candidate; a school listed without the name used at the time can return “no record”; an address left out means a county nobody searched. Ask for all of it on the same day you send the disclosure, using the disclosure form builder for the consent pair.
Scope is the next lever. A search the role does not need is a clock you did not have to start: an education check for a warehouse role, or a seven-state county sweep when the candidate has lived in one. The small-business screening compare reads how self-serve firms let a small employer set up an order.
For a school that needs consent, the FERPA consent must specify the records, state the purpose and name who receives them; a properly authenticated electronic signature counts. For a CDL driver, ask them to register in the Clearinghouse with the offer so the full query is not waiting on a login. Book the drug-test collection for the day the offer is accepted.
What to do
- Send consent, the collection list and the drug-test booking together, with the offer.
- Choose a firm that shows status search by search, so you can see which clock is open.
- Start international searches first; they set the longest clocks.
Can someone start before the check is back?
For most private jobs no federal rule stops you; it is a policy choice. Some employers let a new hire start with a written understanding that the offer depends on the report. If you do that, the FCRA steps still apply when a report comes back with something you may act on: the pre-adverse notice and the wait come before any decision. A few sectors write the answer into their rules.
| Who | When they may start | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Child care staff (CCDBG) | May start after a qualifying FBI fingerprint or in-state criminal result; supervised until all checks are back. The state answers within 45 days. | 45 CFR 98.43(d)(4), (e)(1) |
| Head Start staff | One fingerprint check before hire; the other and the child abuse registry within 90 days | 45 CFR 1302.90(b) |
| CDL drivers (FMCSA) | No safety-sensitive work before a verified negative drug test and a full Clearinghouse query | 49 CFR 382.301(a), 382.701(a) |
Form I-9 and E-Verify run on their own clock after the hire. Section 2 is due within three business days after the first day of work (start Monday, finish by Thursday), and the E-Verify case by the third business day after the employee starts work for pay. E-Verify may never be used to pre-screen an applicant. The Form I-9 guide covers the steps.
8 CFR § 274a.2(b)(1)(ii); E-Verify User Manual § 1.5
Quick reference
- Turnaround set by law for a screening firm
- None
- Online state search, no record
- ImmediateWSP, CBI, PSP pages
- Pennsylvania check under review
- Two to four weeksPSP page
- Prior DOT employer's answer
- Within 30 days49 CFR 391.23(g)(1)
- DOT drug test report after verification
- Within two days49 CFR 40.167(c)
- Investigative report notice
- Within 3 days of ordering15 U.S.C. 1681d(a)
- Federal pre-adverse wait
- No fixed period; 5 business days commonFTC staff letter, 1997
- California response window
- At least 5 business days after receipt2 CCR 11017.1(c)(2)(E)
- NYC response window
- At least 5 business days after receiptNYC Admin. Code 8-107(11-a)
- Dispute reinvestigation
- 30 days, up to 15 more15 U.S.C. 1681i(a)(1)
Questions employers ask
Why is my background check taking so long?
Usually one search is waiting: a possible match that someone has to confirm at a court, a county that only releases records through a clerk, a school or former employer that has not answered, or a drug test result under medical review. Ask the employer or the screening firm which search is still open.
Can a background check take a month?
Yes. Pennsylvania's State Police say a check under review may take two to four weeks, former DOT employers have 30 days to answer a safety-history request, and child care checks under the federal CCDBG rules can take the state up to 45 days.
Does a long background check mean something was found?
Not necessarily. A common name, an unanswered verification or a court that works on paper slows a check with nothing in it. If something is found that the employer may act on, the FCRA requires a pre-adverse notice with a copy of the report before any decision.
Is the background check done before or after the job offer?
Either, under federal law, as long as the disclosure and written consent come first. In California (employers with five or more employees) and New York City, conviction history waits until after a conditional offer. See the California and NYC guides.
How long after the pre-adverse notice can an employer decide?
Federal law sets no fixed period; five business days is common practice. California gives at least five business days after the notice is received, plus at least five more if the person disputes the record in writing, and NYC at least five business days after the person has both the report and the Fair Chance Notice.
Is E-Verify part of the background check?
No. E-Verify confirms work authorization after the hire and the Form I-9, and it may not be used to pre-screen applicants. See E-Verify for employers.
Does paying more make a background check faster?
Only where speed is bought by method, such as an online source in place of a courthouse visit. A court, a school or a former employer answers on its own time whatever you pay. Our cost guide shows what each part of the bill pays for.