Fingerprints' validity for weapons increases from four to eight years

The Ministry of Public Security has extended the validity of the fingerprint registration and voucher—required for firearm registration and enrollment procedures, carry permits, and private security agent credentials—from four to eight years. The decision was formalized in Guideline No. MSP-DM-0002-2026, signed by Minister Gerald Campos Valverde on October 9, 2026, and published in La Gaceta No. 197 on Monday, October 19, 2026, under official reference IN202601133496.

The guideline is based on the Arms and Explosives Law and its regulations, which require the fingerprint registration of the applicant and its verification by the institutional system, as well as the Private Security Services Regulation Law, which mandates the Private Security Services Directorate to maintain a registry of security and administrative personnel including personal data, a recent photograph, fingerprints, background checks, and training. Until now, the term was set by Guideline No. DVUE-007-2021 of April 12, 2021, which regulated the matter, and by Guideline No. 3940-2021 of August 17, 2021, which considered any registration and fingerprinting voucher issued less than four years ago to be valid.

From four to eight years

Article 1 of the guideline establishes that, for firearm registration and enrollment procedures, firearm carry permits, and private security agent credentials, the fingerprint registration and voucher performed before the competent institutional dependency shall have a validity of eight years, counted from the date of its registration or issuance, as applicable.

Article 2 resolves the situation for those who have already completed the process: registrations and vouchers existing as of the date the guideline enters into force will be considered valid if eight years have not passed since their registration or issuance, unless a legal or technical circumstance arises that makes an update or a new capture necessary.

Early update and term limits

Article 3 clarifies that the Administration may require the update, verification, or new capture of the dactyloscopic record before its expiration when there are technical, legal, security, identification, or record quality reasons that justify it.

Article 4 specifies the scope: the term corresponds solely to the validity of the fingerprint registration and voucher and does not modify the terms that the legal system sets for other requirements, documents, permits, or credentials. Personal data, photographs, background checks, and other information subject to modification must be kept up to date as appropriate.

Appointment system saturation

The measure responds to a technical criterion from the Fingerprinting Unit of the Police Archive Department, submitted via official letter N° MSP-DM-DVURFP-DGFP-DIAC-DAP-UD-J-143-2026 dated September 23, 2026. That report warned that the sustained increase in requests generated operational saturation of the technological systems and available human capacity, an accumulation of procedures, and an increase in processing times.

The technical criterion concluded that fingerprint identification is a permanent record associated with unique biometric characteristics and that fingerprints remain stable during adult life; therefore, the mere passage of time does not mandate a new capture. With the extension, the Fingerprinting Unit will be able to concentrate its specialized human resources on substantive and priority functions, reduce waiting times, and decongest institutional systems.

Implementation and repeals

Article 5 instructs the adoption of the necessary administrative and technological measures to apply the guideline to the following dependencies:

• Directorate of Intelligence and Criminal Analysis
• Police Archive Department
• Fingerprinting Unit
• General Directorate of Armaments
• Department of Weapons and Explosives
• Directorate of Private Security Services

The guideline was addressed to Nelson Barquero Pérez, Vice Minister of Public Security; Jorge Madrigal González, Director of Intelligence and Criminal Analysis; Reiner Vargas Vargas, Head of the Fingerprinting Unit; Vivianna Rojas Núñez, Director of Private Security Services; Jeffry Cerdas Lobo, General Director of Armaments; and Hermes Pérez Chaves, Head of the Department of Weapons and Explosives.

Article 6 nullifies Guideline N° DVUE-007-2021 and Guideline N° 3940-2021, as well as any other administrative provision of equal or lower rank that opposes these provisions. Article 7 stipulates that the guideline takes effect upon its signing.

The change directly benefits thousands of users carrying out weapons and private security procedures, who will no longer have to repeat fingerprint capture every four years, and organizes into a single instrument a subject that until now was dispersed across two guidelines. For the Ministry of Public Security, the measure shifts the operational effort from the repetition of procedures toward selective verification, without waiving the authority to demand a new capture when there are security reasons or concerns regarding the quality of the record.

Source: La Gaceta, N° 197 of Monday, October 19, 2026, Section I (Executive Branch), pp. 6-7 (official reference: IN202601133496).