Tennessee Background Check: TBI Open Records and the Fingerprint Checks

Written by SearchSystems.net from Tennessee's own systems: the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Background Checks page, the Tennessee Open Records Information Services (TORIS) site, the TBI Diversions, Expungements and Dispositions page, the TBI TICS firearm background checks page, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.

The $29 open records check

The TBI's background checks page splits its services between the general public and qualified organizations. For the public, a Tennessee only check costs $29, needs no fingerprints, and may be completed online or by mail, with results provided electronically to a required valid email address. TORIS describes what the $29 buys: the result states whether the subject has a Tennessee criminal history record, and if a record may be for the individual searched, a copy of it is forwarded, without aliases. The fee is $29.00 per request, non refundable, charged to a Visa, MasterCard or Discover card, with billable accounts for repeat users on the TN FlexCheck system, and the TBI warns that the PDF results may not open on every device.

Fingerprint checks through IdentoGO

The TBI offers fingerprint based checks to the public and to qualified organizations through its contractor, and tells individuals who need to buy one to use the contractor, not law enforcement. A nationwide FBI only check costs $50 and requires fingerprints. Qualified organizations run Tennessee and FBI checks at $37.15 for an applicant, $33.15 for a volunteer and $23.90 for an international adoption or a state only check, fingerprints required, with the organization's ORI information governing the request; the page links IdentoGO for both.

Diversions and the certificate of eligibility

Tennessee's diversion system runs through the TBI. Diversion lets a charge be set aside for an agreed period once the defendant pleads guilty and accepts the judge's conditions, and after the period is completed the charge can be expunged, but only if the defendant returns to court to ask. Before diversion is granted, a certificate of eligibility is requested through the TBI's online diversion application, processed in order of receipt and typically within 24 hours by a unit open from 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on state business days, which asks for applications at least three business days before court and generally refuses to expedite. Pretrial diversion under TCA 40-15-105, a suspended prosecution under a memorandum of understanding with the district attorney in which the defendant has neither pleaded nor been found guilty, ends in an order of expungement marked with that statute; judicial diversion under TCA 40-35-313, in which the defendant pleads guilty, is found guilty or pleads no contest and the sentence is withheld during probation, is barred to anyone ever convicted of a felony or a Class A misdemeanor with time served, and a failed probation puts the sentence into effect with no expungement. The application must have the diversion type checked or it is returned, costs $100 with the TBI unable to pre check eligibility under FBI rules, cannot be filed from a smartphone, takes no American Express, and charges from the same arrest date can share one application. The unit is at TBI, Attention: Diversions, 901 R.S. Gass Blvd., Nashville, TN 37216, (615) 744-4617, TBI.Diversions@tbi.tn.gov.

Expungement

The TBI page lists the grounds on which expungement can be granted: successful completion of judicial or pretrial diversion, an acquittal, a no true bill, a nolle prosequi, a conviction reversed on appeal, or dismissed charges. Certain crimes, such as registerable sex offenses, may be eligible for diversion but not for expungement.

Firearm checks and appeals

Since 1998 the TBI has run the Tennessee Instant Check System, TICS, for licensed dealers selling or returning firearms, more than 4,000,000 transactions in all, and a buyer the system denies may appeal with the Appeal of Denial of Attempted Firearm Transfer form within 30 days, by fax to (615) 744-4660, by email or by mail to the TBI TICS Unit, 901 R. S. Gass Blvd., Nashville, TN 37216-2639. The TBI then has 15 business days to chase missing dispositions with arresting agencies and clerks; a transaction it cannot resolve becomes a conditional proceed that the dealer may complete or refuse, a sustained denial comes with a letter, and appeal status is checked online with the transaction number and date of birth. A Tennessee handgun carry permit does not replace the check, since it lacks the annual re check the federal Brady law requires. The TBI holds no record of approved transactions, so a record fixed only for an appeal is fixed permanently only when the arresting agency or clerk files the R-84 final disposition report or an expungement order.

Reading a Tennessee result

A TORIS result is a name match against fingerprinted Tennessee arrests, delivered as a PDF, without aliases, juvenile matters or anything from another state; a record that may be for the individual searched is the TBI's own phrasing, and a fingerprint check settles identity. The $50 FBI check and the organization checks run through IdentoGO, and a completed diversion leaves the record only when the defendant goes back to court for the expungement.

Questions about background checks in Tennessee

Related Tennessee records

The TBI record is one of the Tennessee records this site covers: the Tennessee court records guide explains the clerks' case files behind each disposition, the arrest records guide covers what a booking makes public, the sex offender registry guide covers the TBI's registry, and the Tennessee county pages list each sheriff and circuit court clerk.