What is a FBI Name Check?

FBI Name Checks are basically “name-checking” procedures done by the Federal Bureau of Investigations in the US for various agencies and components of the US government. These name-checks are done to review the background of a particular person for a variety of purposes including employment and appointments in the US government, admission to the ABA or American Bar Association, security clearance, and visa applications. FBI Name Checks are also required by the US government on people that are invited to attend a certain event at the White House.

For those that seek employment in the US and apply for visas, their names will also pass through the FBI name check. All visa applications, regardless of status, are required by US law to undergo background checks by the FBI. This is to ensure that immigration laws are honored and only those with clean records can get visas and enter the US. FBI Name Checks are also done in instances where a person is investigated for a criminal offense. In this way, his/her previous records will also be checked for consideration and review with a present case. These name checks are also necessary for the US government when it comes to their counter-terrorism or counter-intelligence efforts.

As mandated by Executive Order 10450 under the National Name Check Program, the FBI Name Checks were initially done during the time when Dwight Eisenhower was the US president. Since then, the FBI is tasked to do the name or background checking for the various government agencies and components. Basically what happens is that a particular agency, like the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, will submit names to the FBI and the FBI will then have the names run through against their own Universal Index. All instances wherein the name of particular person appears will be recorded and will become part of the report.