For some high profile and important employment positions, a Federal Bureau of Investigation background check is needed to verify that there is nothing in the person's criminal history that may make hiring them a bad decision.  The FBI criminal background check is more detailed and will have more complete information than the background checks conducted at the state level.

The only person that can request a federal criminal background check is you for yourself.  Businesses are not allowed to request the FBI criminal background check on their employment applicants so they will require the applicant to obtain their federal criminal background check and deliver it to the business unopened so that they know that the documents have not been tampered with.  Obtaining federal background check criminal reports under false pretenses is considered a federal offense.

The FBI criminal background check is obtained by the individual by sending an official set of their fingerprints to the FBI, who will then return the person's criminal information by mail.  Most of the companies that require applicants to obtain these types of background checks are making sure that the person has never been convicted of any crimes that may hurt their business, such as theft, embezzlement, physical violence, or drug issues.