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FBIBackgroundCheck.orgKnowledge base

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News and updates

Government announcements, policy and requirement changes, and this site's own editorial record. Nothing is posted here because it was reported somewhere — if the responsible authority has not published it, it is not an announcement.

2026

  1. 2026-08-01 · Editorial update

    Knowledge base published

    The initial corpus is published: eight articles, twenty-three country guides, four research reports, a glossary, and five interactive tools. Every factual claim carries an inline citation to a primary source, and the editorial standards governing that requirement are published alongside it.

  2. 2026-08-01 · Editorial update

    Research report: the FBI publishes no processing-time figure

    A documentation review of the FBI's published material on Identity History Summary requests found no processing-time figure of any kind — no target, no range, no status indicator. What is published instead are three statements: that requests are not expedited, that they are processed in the order received, and that electronic submission should be processed faster than mail. This site therefore publishes no estimate, and its timeline tool refuses to produce one.

    Government sources

  3. 2026-08-01 · Editorial update

    Research report: one of twenty-three destinations publishes a position on Channelers

    A survey of the destination authorities covered by this site found exactly one published position distinguishing Channeler-delivered summaries from FBI-direct ones. Twenty-two publish no statement either way, which is recorded as undocumented rather than as acceptance.

    Government sources

  4. 2026-07-31 · Country requirement

    Canada — Channeler certificates confirmed as not accepted

    Editorial review of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada's police certificate guidance for the United States confirms that the certificate must be obtained from the FBI directly and that one obtained through an FBI-approved Channeler is not accepted. The Canada country guide and the request-channel comparison both record this as the single documented rejection in the survey set.

    Government sources

2024

  1. 2024-01-11 · Government announcement

    Apostille Convention enters into force for Canada

    From this date, a United States federal document destined for Canada is authenticated by apostille rather than by consular legalization. Instructions published before this date describe the superseded chain; where two sets of instructions conflict, the entry-into-force date is what distinguishes them.

    Government sources

2023

  1. 2023-11-07 · Government announcement

    Apostille Convention enters into force for China

    From this date, a United States federal document destined for China is authenticated by apostille rather than by consular legalization. This is the most common source of conflicting instructions for China-bound documents, because a large volume of guidance predates it.

    Government sources

1981

  1. 1981-10-15 · Government announcement

    Apostille Convention enters into force for the United States

    From this date, United States public documents destined for other Convention parties are authenticated by apostille. For a federal document such as an FBI Identity History Summary, the competent authority is the U.S. Department of State — not a state Secretary of State.

    Government sources