Guide
Two different checks that get talked about interchangeably. Only one of them satisfies most Florida requirements.
Overview
A Level 1 check is name-based. It searches Florida records using your name and date of birth, it's quick, and it's inexpensive. A Level 2 check is fingerprint-based, covers both Florida records through FDLE and national records through the FBI, and is what Florida statute requires for anyone in a position of trust with children, the elderly, or people with disabilities.
The reason this matters practically is that they're not interchangeable, and a Level 1 result will not close out a Level 2 requirement no matter how recently it was run. If your form says Level 2, you need to be fingerprinted — there is no database shortcut.
Level 2 Applies To
Nurses, aides, therapists, and clinical staff in licensed settings.
Teachers, aides, and anyone working unsupervised with minors.
Assisted living, nursing home, and home health employees.
Real estate, contractor, insurance, and many other Florida licenses.
Adults volunteering unsupervised with children through schools or youth programs.
Every adult living in the household, not only the applicants.
Why Fingerprints
Name-based searching has a structural weakness that fingerprinting doesn't. Common names generate false matches, so a search can surface someone else's record attached to your name — or, if a record was filed under a variant spelling or a former name, miss yours entirely. Neither outcome is acceptable when the question is whether someone should be trusted with vulnerable people.
Fingerprints are unique and don't change, so the match is definitive. That's the whole reason Florida moved licensing and care-provider screening onto fingerprint-based Level 2, and it's why the extra ten minutes at a scanner is worth it. It's also why a common name is a reason to prefer the fingerprint route even where you have a choice.
FAQ
If it says "Level 2," "fingerprint-based," or names a statute, it means Level 2. If it just says "background check," ask the requesting agency — guessing costs a full round of screening.
For some private-employer policy checks, yes. For statutory positions of trust in Florida — children, the elderly, the disabled — no. Level 2 is what the statute requires.
It's fingerprint-based, so identity is definitive. Name-based searches can attach someone else's record to a common name, or miss yours entirely.
Yes. Level 2 covers Florida records through FDLE and national records through the FBI. Level 1 is a Florida name-based search only.
No. They're different processes — one is a database search, the other is a fingerprint submission. A Level 2 requires being fingerprinted.
A Level 1 name search returns quickly. Level 2 fingerprints transmit the same day, with results typically reaching the requesting agency within a few business days.
Call (561) 570-6006 and read us the requirement. We interpret these daily.
FDLE-approved Live Scan fingerprinting for Palm Beach County. By appointment at our Downtown West Palm Beach office, just off Okeechobee Boulevard. On-site service for companies countywide.
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Palm Beach County Live Scan Fingerprinting is a private fingerprinting and document handling business and is not affiliated with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Agency for Health Care Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or any government agency. We do not provide legal advice. State and federal processing fees are set by the requesting agency and are additional to our service fee.