The Kansas Bureau of Investigation runs the state's Central Repository for criminal history record information: the summary of arrests for Kansas felonies and misdemeanors, including juvenile offender data for the same offenses, municipal and county convictions equivalent to state crimes, dispositions reported by prosecutors and courts, and incarcerations by the Department of Corrections, each file organized chronologically and tied to the person by fingerprint identification. When it is released it prints as an abstract of record, the rap sheet.
Any individual or organization may obtain adult conviction information on request, with no consent from the subject: data from incidents in which the person was found guilty in a Kansas court, is currently on diversion or is awaiting disposition. Arrests that ended without a conviction, completed diversions, expungements and all juvenile data stay out of those general requests and reach only criminal justice agencies, agencies with a statutory entitlement and the person reviewing their own file.
- Online name check: $30.00 per search of the KBI criminal history site, by name and date of birth with race, sex and Social Security number recommended, usually answered immediately; adult convictions, diversions and pending cases only. Name based checks are no longer taken by mail or walk in.
- Certified checks by mail: the Certified Record Check Request Form to the KBI, $40 per name based search with one maiden or alias name included, $45 per fingerprint based search, $57 for a Kansas and national search where a statute allows it; mailed fingerprint checks take one to three weeks.
- Your own full file: $45 with an FD-258 or FD-353 fingerprint card and a letter explaining the purpose, notarized for $10 more; it includes non conviction, juvenile, diversion and expunged entries, which is why an employer may not ask you for it.
- Address: Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Criminal History Records Unit, 1620 SW Tyler, Topeka, KS 66612-1837, (785) 296-2454, Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central, record_check@kbi.ks.gov.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Kansas's own systems: the KBI Fact Sheet on criminal history record checks for non criminal justice purposes, updated July 2024, the Kansas Central Repository Certified Record Check Request Form, the KBI sample letter for requesting your own criminal history record, the Certified Record Check Request Form revised July 2024 on the criminal history site, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
What the repository holds and who sees what
The KBI's fact sheet describes four tiers of access. Criminal justice agencies, meaning law enforcement, prosecutors, courts and confinement facilities, receive the record for the administration of criminal justice. Government agencies with a statutory entitlement receive the categories their enabling statute names. People reviewing their own record receive all adult and juvenile information in their file. Everyone else, any individual or organization, receives adult conviction information: incidents ending in guilt in a Kansas court, current diversions and cases pending disposition, and never the arrests that did not result in conviction, the successfully completed diversions, the expungements or the juvenile data. The repository also feeds portions of its records to the FBI's national database, and the fact sheet cites 28 CFR part 20, 42 USC 5119c, K.S.A. 22-4701 and 38-2301 and K.A.R. 10-12-1 as its authority.
Checking another person: the $30 online name check
Name based record checks on another person are obtained from the KBI criminal history website, where the fee is $30.00 per search; they are no longer available by mail or walk in. The best identification is a fingerprint comparison on a standard FBI applicant card, FD-258, never the arrest card FD-249, but when prints are impractical the search runs on name, date of birth, race, sex and Social Security number, with the name and date of birth always required and the rest strongly recommended. Online checks are usually completed immediately while on the site. Consent of the subject is not required by Kansas statute or regulation for a Kansas record, though a check of the federal database does require it. The KBI tells requesters to release results only to people with a need to know for the purpose of the check, to keep them only as historical support for the decision, to shred what is no longer needed, and to treat a check as perishable: a later decision needs a fresh check, since new arrests are added and court orders and appeals remove events over time.
Certified checks by mail: $40, $45 and $57
A certified Kansas record, the kind a visa application, an immigration case or another governmental purpose requires, is requested by mail on the Certified Record Check Request Form, sent to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Attn: Central Repository, 1620 SW Tyler, Topeka, KS 66612-1837, with the subject's full name and date of birth, maiden or alias name, Social Security number, sex, race and place of birth, the specific purpose, the address for the results and the payment, made to the KBI Record Check Fee Fund. The fact sheet prices a certified name based check at $40 per search, with one additional maiden or alias name included and a third name counted as a new check, a fingerprint based Kansas check at $45 per person and a fingerprint based Kansas and national check at $57 per person; the form on the KBI site lists $30.00, $45.00 and $57.00 for the same three, and the July 2024 revision on the criminal history site lists $40.00 and $55.00 with results optionally sent by encrypted email. A fingerprint card may be included but is not necessary for a certified name check; if a record is found, only adult convictions, pending diversions and arrests pending disposition are included. The requester signs that disclosure is governed by Title 28 of the Code of Federal Regulations and K.S.A. 22-4707, agrees to limit the information to staff with a clear need to know, to keep it secure and to return it on demand if a rule is broken. Mailed fingerprint based checks are processed within one to three weeks of receipt, depending on volume and the record's complexity, and the complete payment must accompany the request.
Your own full record: $45, and why employers may not ask for it
To review your own file for accuracy and completeness you mail the KBI Records Management Section a fully completed FBI Personal Identification Fingerprint Card, FD-353, or Applicant Fingerprint Card, FD-258, a letter requesting the record and explaining its purpose, and payment; the sample letter puts the fee at $45.00 payable to the KBI Record Check Fee Fund, with $10.00 more, $55.00 in all, to have the rapsheet notarized. You receive everything on file, including non conviction and juvenile data, successful diversions and expungements, but only if the letter states the purpose; a letter without one brings conviction information only. For that reason the KBI says not to request your own record for an employer: you would hand over information the employer is not entitled to, and K.S.A. 22-4710 prohibits an employer from requiring you to obtain your own record, so the employer should request it from the repository and receive only what it may lawfully see. To see what the public can see about you, the online name check returns adult convictions alone.
National records, corrections and apostilles
The FBI's national database is not open to the general public for non criminal justice purposes; some governmental agencies have limited access by legislation, and a Kansas agency needs a state or federal law allowing a national search before the $57 check can run, with questions to the Criminal History Records Unit at (785) 296-2454. A person can obtain their own federal record through the FBI's identity history summary process. To correct a Kansas record, a person with documents contradicting it contacts the unit at the same number; a federal record is corrected only through the agency responsible for the entry, with instructions sent to the subject along with the FBI record. There is no discount for caregiver agencies or nonprofits. An apostille for a certified check comes from the Kansas Secretary of State at (785) 296-4564.
Reading a Kansas result
A public Kansas check is a conviction, diversion and pending case record, nothing more, and the KBI itself says a name match without fingerprints is a weaker identification than a fingerprint comparison. The full file exists but belongs to the person and to the agencies the statutes name; a clean $30 search says only that no adult Kansas conviction or open case matched the identifiers. Kansas information is all the repository provides to the public, with the national layer reserved for agencies the law authorizes.
Questions about background checks in Kansas
Related Kansas records
The KBI record is one of the Kansas records this site covers: the Kansas court records guide explains the district courts' own case files, the arrest records guide covers what a booking makes public, the sex offender registry guide covers the KBI's registry, and the Kansas county pages list each sheriff and clerk of the district court.