2.3 Fingerprints, Criminal History, and License Issuance

Fingerprinting is part of issuance

Texas Occupations Code section 455.1525 and 16 TAC section 117.20 require an applicant to provide a complete, legible set of fingerprints in the prescribed manner. The fingerprints support criminal-history information from the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and other authorized criminal-justice sources. TDLR may not issue the license when the applicant has not complied.

TDLR's current instructions tell a new applicant to wait for the department's fingerprint scheduling email after submitting the license application. The applicant uses the agency service information in that email, attends the designated vendor appointment with acceptable identification, pays the fingerprint vendor's separate charge, and sends the requested receipt information to TDLR. This is a one-time issuance requirement for a new applicant, though TDLR also conducts authorized background checks in connection with renewal.

Fingerprinting and criminal-history evaluation are related but different. Fingerprints identify records; the governing statutes and department guidelines determine what those records mean for eligibility.

Direct statutory ineligibility

Section 455.152 states that an individual is not eligible for a massage establishment, massage school, massage therapist, or massage therapy instructor license after a conviction, guilty or no-contest plea, or deferred adjudication for enumerated offenses. The current codification includes 2025 reenactments that must be read carefully. The enumerated categories include human trafficking, prostitution-related and specified sexual offenses, applicable attempt, conspiracy, or solicitation provisions, and substantially similar federal or out-of-state offenses as provided by the operative text.

The safe examination principle is the statutory consequence: when the facts identify an offense expressly listed in current section 455.152, do not apply a fabricated five-year waiting rule. The statute does not present the old simplified chart sometimes repeated by commercial summaries. Because the section contains parallel 2025 enactment notes, candidates should use the current official codification for the exact offense list rather than memorizing an obsolete list from a school outline.

Other criminal history

Section 117.20 also requires a background check under the Massage Therapy Act, TDLR criminal-conviction guidelines, and Occupations Code Chapters 51 and 53. TDLR's renewal page says criminal convictions are reviewed under the applicable standards and that applicants with a felony, non-minor-traffic misdemeanor, guilty or no-contest plea, or deferred adjudication must provide the department's Criminal History Questionnaire with application materials.

That does not mean every offense outside section 455.152 is ignored. It also does not mean every unrelated record creates automatic permanent denial. TDLR evaluates the applicable law, offense, relationship to the occupation, elapsed time, and other authorized information. A person may request a criminal-history evaluation letter before applying. Such a letter is a pre-application evaluation tool; it is not a therapist license.

Truthfulness is independently important. Section 117.90 prohibits false information in material submitted to TDLR, and fraud, misrepresentation, or concealment of material facts can support denial or discipline under section 455.251. Hiding a record can create a licensing problem even when the applicant believes the underlying offense should not be disqualifying.

Issuance and custody of credentials

Section 117.23 governs issued licenses and identification cards:

• They remain property of TDLR.
• They must not be altered.
• They must be surrendered to the department on demand.
• A license must be displayed appropriately and publicly at the licensed business location or the individual's primary office or place of employment.
• If the individual has no primary office or place of employment, the individual carries a current identification card.
• A displayed individual therapist license must have a current photograph attached to its front.
• TDLR replaces a lost, damaged, or destroyed credential after a written request and payment of the section 117.100 replacement fee, currently $25.

The rule does not say a home-printed photocopy always substitutes for the issued credential. Nor does it require every mobile therapist to display a wall license at every client address; carrying the current identification card addresses the absence of a primary office.

Applied examples

Missing fingerprints: TDLR cannot finish issuance simply because all other materials are complete.

Enumerated offense: Apply section 455.152, not a made-up waiting-period chart.

Different conviction: Do not promise approval or denial. Apply Chapters 51 and 53, the department's guidelines, and disclosure requirements.

Altered expiration date: Altering the card violates the credential rule and false information can compound the issue.

Therapist without a primary office: Carry the current identification card. The license itself still belongs to TDLR.

Exam trap

A background check at renewal is not the same as repeating the original fingerprint submission on every renewal. TDLR's instructions distinguish applicants who still must complete the one-time fingerprint requirement from the department's authority to run background checks.