The order people naturally follow is: sort the visa paperwork, move, then handle whatever is left over. For most documents that works. For this one it does not, and the reason is not obvious until you are on the wrong side of it.

Two rules that catch people

One: it can only go to you. An Identity History Summary is your criminal history record, and the FBI treats it accordingly. The request has to come from you and the response goes to you, or to your attorney with a release signed by both of you on the attorney’s letterhead. There is no version where a company collects it for you.

Two: you generally cannot view it from abroad. Channelers state that federal regulation prohibits viewing FBI reports from outside the United States and its territories, and that they cannot disseminate report information outside the country. So the plan of landing in Lisbon and pulling up the PDF does not work.

What this means about services that offer to get it for you

Several do, including some who will sell you the apostille alongside it. Read carefully what is actually being offered. Helping you order it, giving you the channeler link, and finding your Live Scan location are all legitimate. Receiving your report on your behalf is not something the rules provide for.

We are in this category, so weigh that accordingly. Our answer is that you order the report and it comes to you. Then, once it is your document in your hands, you can pass it to whoever you like — and that is the point at which we can help, because the apostille leg is the part that genuinely cannot be done from where you are.

The sequence that works

1. Get fingerprinted at a Live Scan location while you are still in the US
2. Order your Identity History Summary through an FBI-approved channeler, in your own name
3. Receive it, usually within hours, and print it — a printed electronic copy is accepted for apostille
4. Send it for the federal apostille, about two weeks in person in Washington
5. Add a sworn translation if your consulate requires one, after the apostille, never before

If you have already left

It gets awkward rather than impossible. People route it through an attorney, or time it around a trip home, or use a trusted contact and a US address. We are not going to tell you which of these will work for your situation, because the answer depends on facts we do not have and rules we do not administer. Ask a channeler directly, and ask before you book anything.

Nothing here is legal advice, and we are not affiliated with the FBI or any government agency. Rules change; both sources above carry the date we read them.