Reference · the Board’s Fingerprint FAQs and Live Scan sheet · read 5 September 2026
Live Scan for a Board application: the form, the two fees, the out-of-state cards, and the three days.
The Board’s own ten-question FAQ and its instruction sheet answer the fingerprinting questions applicants ask: which form (the Board’s, not the employer’s), what it costs at the site ($32 to the DOJ, $17 to the FBI, plus the site’s charge), what to do from another state, how long the Board waits for results, how to check, and what a rejection means. One set of prints covers every registration and license you go on to hold.
The steps →The steps
The Board’s form, a DOJ site, two fees, and the copies you keep.
Form 37A-648 (rev. 06/2020), from the Board’s site and inside the associate application packet (FAQ 1). The information in section 3 must match the application; the Live Scan operator completes section 4 and returns the second and third copies to you.
The Department of Justice keeps the list of authorized sites (FAQ 2). Prints are transmitted electronically to the DOJ and the FBI.
DOJ fingerprint processing $32 and FBI processing $17, collected by the site when you are fingerprinted, plus a service charge that “may vary from location to location” (the instruction sheet). Neither processing fee is paid to the Board; the fee calculator carries the Board’s own fees separately.
The operator’s section 4 carries the ATI number you will need to check the status (FAQ 7). The Board’s tips sheet: request the workplace certifications and transcripts no earlier than two weeks before submitting, and keep the completed Live Scan form with the application.
Your employer’s Live Scan is not this one
Question 3 of the Board’s FAQ: a Live Scan completed for an employer or another agency does not count; “the results cannot be shared between agencies.” The Board’s tips sheet says the same in its second tip. If you were fingerprinted to start a job, you are fingerprinted again for the Board, on the Board’s form.
From outside California
Hard cards, by email request, taken at a law enforcement agency where you live.
Live Scan is available only in California (FAQ 4). An applicant living elsewhere emails the Board’s fingerprint unit with “Fingerprint Hard Cards” in the subject line and a mailing address, receives the cards and instructions, and has the prints taken at a law enforcement agency in the state of residence; the FAQ puts processing at “approximately 6 to 8 weeks”, the instruction sheet at “a minimum of 8 to 12 weeks, or longer”. The associate application packet attaches a $49 out-of-state fingerprinting fee, payable to the Behavioral Sciences Fund, when hard cards are submitted instead of a Live Scan, with the two completed cards (FBI and DOJ) sent with the application. Coming to California to use a Live Scan site instead is allowed (FAQ 5). The Board’s fingerprint unit’s address is on both documents; it is not repeated here.
After the scan
One to three days, a status check, and what “delay” and “rejected” mean.
“In most cases, we receive the fingerprint results within 1 to 3 days. If the applicant has a conviction history, or if the fingerprints are rejected, it can take longer” (FAQ 6). The application itself is processed on the Board’s own timetable, which is a separate clock.
The DOJ’s Applicant Background Status Check takes the ATI number from section 4 of the Request for Live Scan Service form and your date of birth (FAQ 7). Keep the copies the operator returns; the number is on them.
“When there is a ‘Delay’ on fingerprints, this means that we have not received an actual result from the California Department of Justice, such as ‘Cleared’ or ‘Rap Sheet.’ Delays can sometimes take several weeks … due to factors that are outside of the Board’s control” (FAQ 8).
“Sometimes fingerprints are ‘Rejected,’ which could be due to various reasons, such as low-quality prints, by either the Department of Justice or Federal Bureau of Investigation. When this occurs, you will be sent a rejection notice, and will need to have your fingerprints redone” (FAQ 8).
“You do not need to pay or be fingerprinted for each individual BBS registration or license type”; the results are applied to all of them (FAQ 9). An AMFT who later registers as an APCC, or applies for the license, does not repeat the scan for the Board.
Then what
The application the prints belong to.
The packet
AMFT registration in California
The application the Live Scan forms travel inside, and the first renewal after it.
The deadline
The 90-day rule
Why the application has to be postmarked inside 90 days of the degree, and what the fingerprints have to do with it.
Every other form
The Board’s forms, form by form
Sixteen documents from registration to license, kept or submitted.
Where every figure came from
Sources.
The Board’s documents
- Board of Behavioral Sciences, Fingerprint FAQs (ten questions), read 5 September 2026
- Board of Behavioral Sciences, Instructions for Live Scan Fingerprinting and Request for Live Scan Service, form 37A-648 (rev. 06/2020)
- Board of Behavioral Sciences, Top Tips for a Smooth Associate Application Process
- Board of Behavioral Sciences, 90-Day Rule FAQ
- Board of Behavioral Sciences, AMFT registration application packet (37A-580): the $49 out-of-state fingerprinting fee and the hard-card instructions
The Department of Justice
Every figure and quotation is from the Board’s Fingerprint FAQs and its Live Scan instruction sheet as posted on 5 September 2026; the DOJ and FBI fees are the ones printed on the sheet and are paid to the Live Scan site, not the Board. Where the two Board documents give different processing times for hard cards, both are shown. Not legal advice.
