The Virginia State Police Civil and Applicant Records Exchange, CARE, runs criminal record searches for non criminal justice entities and individuals under Va. Code 19.2-389, from the Central Criminal Records Exchange whose records are supported by fingerprints on file. Its criminal history record check page offers two name based methods: the SP-167, which anyone may use, and the SP-230, reserved for employers and prospective employers in Virginia, plus the SP-325 fingerprint based national check for those with access to children, the elderly and people with disabilities.
There is no expedited or same day service. The normal turnaround is 15 business days after the State Police receive the mail, the FAQ says 15 to 20, and the SP-167 form, generated online and printed for mailing, needs notarized signatures: Section 1 by the person being searched, Section 2 by whoever else is to receive the results.
- SP-167, anyone: created at the State Police forms site, one form per request, notarized, mailed with payment; $15.00 for a criminal history record, $20.00 for the combination criminal history and sex offender registry search; a person requesting their own results may use NotaryCam online notarization for $15.00 more.
- SP-230, Virginia employers: no notarization, Virginia conviction data only, for adoption and foster care agencies, hospital pharmacies, adult homes and day care, licensed and unlicensed child care centers, cities and counties under ordinance, assisted living facilities and Virginia employers; it cannot be used to search your own record.
- SP-325, care providers: a national fingerprint based check under the National Child Protection Act and Volunteers for Children Act, $27.00 per employee and $20.00 per volunteer with an FD-258 card, for Virginia employers and volunteers living and working in the Commonwealth; accounts through ncjihelp@vsp.virginia.gov.
- Where: Virginia State Police, Civil and Applicant Records Exchange, 7700 Midlothian Turnpike, North Chesterfield, Virginia 23235, the address on the page, or P.O. Box 85076, Richmond, VA 23285, the address in the form instructions; status questions to Background_Checks@vsp.virginia.gov with the name, date of birth, date sent and whether it was a $15 or $20 check.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Virginia's own systems: the Virginia State Police Criminal History Record Check page, the SP-167 form instructions, the SP-325 National Criminal Record Request for Employees or Volunteers, the Civil and Applicant Records Exchange page, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Filing the SP-167
The instructions walk through the form. The requester creates it on the State Police forms site, chooses SP-167 for individuals, agencies not authorized to use the SP-230 and out of state requests, types the information, confirms and generates a PDF to print; a search on yourself with results mailed back to you needs only Section 1 notarized, while results going to anyone else need that recipient's notarized signature in Section 2. The SP-167 alone searches Virginia convictions only; a search that also covers Virginia charges, dismissals and pending charges requires a completed fingerprint card attached to the form. Payment is by business check, certified check or money order payable to Virginia State Police, never a personal check, or by MasterCard or Visa written on the form with the cardholder's signature, or an NCJI charge account number; since November 1, 2010 a returned check, dishonored money order or declined card adds a $50 handling fee under Code of Virginia 2.2-4805. The State Police tips for speed are paying by business check, money order or certified check and mailing next day air at the requester's cost; card payments take a little longer. Someone in the Richmond area may drop the form at headquarters at 7700 Midlothian Turnpike with two forms of ID and the exact amount in cash or money order, but it is not processed the same day, and a note with a phone number can arrange pickup. Someone overseas, or anyone needing a certified check for a visa, chooses VISA as the purpose so a notarized letter comes with the result, and the instructions suggest NotaryCam when no notary is at hand. The person in prison pays like everyone else, since a fee is charged on all checks.
The fee table
The instructions price every search. A criminal history record on the SP-167 or SP-230 is $15.00 per search; the combination criminal history and sex offender registry search on either form is $20.00; a sex offender search alone on the SP-266 is $15.00, with no signature required; a non profit organization's combination search is $16.00 and its complete sex offender search $8.00, each with attached documentation of the organization's name, address and tax exempt number and the volunteer purpose. The statutory entities entitled to fingerprint based state and federal searches pay $13.75 for the CARE search and $13.25 for the FBI file, $27.00 in all.
How the result is marked
The completed form comes back marked at the bottom, and the instructions explain each marking. No Conviction Data, Does Not Preclude the Existence of an Arrest Record, means no Virginia convictions were found. No Criminal Record, Name Search Only, means the search was run for a specific purpose such as a visa and found neither convictions nor charges. No Criminal Record, Fingerprint Search, is the answer when a fingerprint card went with the SP-167 and nothing was found. No Sex Offender Registration Record means no Virginia registration, and Criminal Record Attached means a Virginia record was found and is attached. The SP-167 returns a complete Virginia criminal history record; the State Police cannot disseminate juvenile record information except as Va. Code 19.2-389.1 provides, and its arrest reports are not releasable to the public, so a question about a charge on the record goes to the arresting agency.
The SP-230 and the entities entitled to full records
The SP-230 is only for an employer or prospective employer in Virginia. Under Va. Code 19.2-389 the entities empowered to receive name searches on it, without notarization and with Virginia conviction data only, are domestic and international adoption and foster care agencies, hospital pharmacy employees, adult home care facilities, licensed homes for adults, district homes for adults, adult day care centers, licensed and unlicensed child care centers, cities and counties under a duly enacted ordinance, licensed assisted living facilities and Virginia employers. A longer list is entitled to complete criminal record information from CARE: the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, specific volunteer agencies, foster care agencies, domestic and international adoption agencies, the Gaming Commission, the Office of Interdepartmental Regulations, the State Lottery, armed and unarmed security guard companies, court orders and subpoenas, public school boards, the State Corporation Commission, the State Board of Elections, volunteer fire and rescue departments, visas and passports for international travel, the Virginia Racing Commission, the Departments of Social Services and of mental health and substance abuse, and Dominion Energy, with the starred ones submitting fingerprints for the $27.00 state and federal search.
The NCJI: 72 hour electronic searches
Because those entities are statutorily entitled to name searches, the State Police built the Non Criminal Justice Interface, described on the CARE page: Virginia criminal history searched by name and descriptors from a desktop, with electronic responses within 72 hours or less, for non criminal justice Virginia agencies authorized by statute and private employers that sign an agreement with the Department of State Police. A participant must be located in Virginia, sign the agreement, have internet access, open a billing account and take eBilling, and the NCJI can also run a name search of the Sex Offender Registry, violent and non violent, for agencies the statute allows; violent offender information is free to the public on the registry site. Questions go to ncjihelp@vsp.virginia.gov or the Criminal Justice Information Services Division, CARE, P.O. Box 85076, Richmond, Virginia 23285.
The SP-325 national check for care providers
Under the National Child Protection Act of 1993 as amended by the Volunteers for Children Act, a qualified business or organization providing care to children, the elderly or people with disabilities may request a national fingerprint based check of every current or prospective employee, volunteer, contractor or vendor; the requester must live and work in Virginia. On the SP-325, revised July 1, 2019, the applicant gives name, address and date of birth, signs the disclosure and may sign the optional waiver releasing the national record to the organization under Va. Code 19.2-389 and 19.2-392.02; the organization completes its section, keeps the signed original and mails a copy with the FD-258 fingerprint card and payment to Virginia State Police, Non-Criminal Justice, P.O. Box 85076, Richmond, VA 23285-5076. The search fee is $27.00 for employment and $20.00 for a volunteer, by MasterCard, Visa, an NCJI account or a certified or business check or money order, never a personal check. An applicant found unqualified may start a personal review: for the Virginia record, at State Police headquarters between 8:00 am and 4:30 pm or a State Police area office with two forms of ID, where fingerprints are taken and searched and the Virginia record reviewed, with any discrepancy taken up with the court or arresting agency that submitted it; for a record outside Virginia, the FBI's Special Correspondence Unit at (304) 625-5590.
Challenges, corrections and expungement
A person who learns their name or descriptors sit in the Central Criminal Records Exchange on someone else's record may challenge the record by going to a local sheriff, police department or State Police headquarters and asking to be fingerprinted for that purpose; the official documents on letterhead that identity was checked and prints taken, there is no charge, and the letter and prints go to the Manager, Central Criminal Records Exchange, Virginia State Police, P.O. Box 27472, Richmond, Virginia 23261-7472, with written confirmation within five workdays of whether the person is the subject of the record and what was modified. CCRE corrects a record only on notice from the contributing criminal justice agency, auditing the record and coordinating the change with that agency, and it will not accept corrections from anyone else. Under Va. Code 19.2-392.2 a person whose charge ended in not guilty, dismissed or nolle prosequi, or who received an absolute pardon for an unjust conviction, may petition the court that adjudicated the case for expungement, with CCRE answering questions at (804) 674-6723.
Reading a Virginia result
A Virginia name check returns convictions, or convictions and charges when a fingerprint card went with it, marked in the State Police's own phrases at the foot of the form; the same form's markings tell the reader whether the absence of convictions rules out an arrest record, which a name search never does. The SP-230 gives employers conviction data only, the NCJI gives the entitled entities the same by computer within 72 hours, and the national record comes only through the SP-325 or the statutory fingerprint entities. Arrest details stay with the arresting agency, juvenile records stay closed, and a wrong match is cleared by the free fingerprint challenge.
Questions about background checks in Virginia
Related Virginia records
The State Police record is one of the Virginia records this site covers: the Virginia court records guide explains the Judiciary's own online case information, the arrest records guide covers what an arrest makes public, the sex offender registry guide covers the State Police registry the $20 combination search also checks, and the Virginia county and city pages list each sheriff and circuit court clerk.