Fingerprinting

This guide is designed to help you navigate fingerprinting requirements for employment or certification in early childhood in New York State. Please review this chart from the New York State Education Department for general guidance.

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Fingerprinting guidelines

Family or Group Family Program (statewide) OR Center-Based Program (outside NYC)

If you are one of the following, you must submit your fingerprints to the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS):

Family provider anywhere in New York State
Group family provider anywhere in New York State
School-age provider anywhere in New York State
Employee in a center-based program outside New York City

Follow the steps below:

Complete the Request for NYS Fingerprinting Services form (OCFS-4930).
Schedule an appointment to be fingerprinted with IdentoGO on the IdentoGO website or by calling 877-472-6915. Provide the service code 15441V.

Center-Based Program (within NYC)

If you work in:

center-based program in New York City

you must submit your fingerprints to the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH).

Follow the steps below:

Schedule an appointment to be fingerprinted with IdentoGO on the IdentoGO website or by calling 877-472-6915. Provide the service code 157XX3.
IdentoGO will provide you with a receipt of fingerprint processing. Submit this receipt to DOHMH with your A-Series packet.

See more information about fingerprinting in NYC.

NYC Department of Education (DOE), Center-Based Program with DOE Funding

Fingerprinting for the NYC Department of Education is done through IdentoGO using a DOE-specific code found in the DOE’s Applicant Gateway under Fingerprinting Instructions. The DOE can only receive fingerprints using this code.

Follow the steps below:

Prospective staff members must be nominated in the DOE’s Personnel Eligibility Tracking System (PETS) before being fingerprinted. They should receive a nomination email within 24-48 hours. Staff members who are fingerprinted before being nominated will need to repeat the fingerprinting process and pay again.
Confirm your profile, fill out the background questionnaire and review fingerprint instructions provided in the Applicant Gateway.
Schedule an appointment to be fingerprinted with IdentoGO on the IdentoGO website or by calling 877-472-6915 and providing the DOE-specific code from the Applicant Gateway. The payment of $101.75 can be made using a credit card, debit card, business check or a vendor-specific No Charge Authorization Code (NCAC). Cash is not accepted.
Prospective staff members may not begin working until they become eligible in PETS.

Guideline for Certification

If you are:

seeking assistant teacher or teacher certification
a student in a teacher preparation program leading to New York State Education Department (NYSED) certification

Follow the steps below:

Before you are fingerprinted, you must create a NYSED TEACH account.
Schedule an appointment to be fingerprinted with IdentoGO at the IdentoGO website or by calling 877-472-6915. You’ll need to provide the service code 14ZGQT.
IdentoGO will send your information to NYSED. To verify that your fingerprints have arrived, log into your TEACH account and click “Account Information.” Select "Fingerprinting" and “Go.” Look for the sentence "Your DCJS and FBI results have been received."