This question is a bit difficult to answer, because it depends on many factors, starting with the amount of reports that the employer requested the background screening company to run or if they decide to do it themselves, how many resources they contact and the response of those resources.A background screening company has access to resources that can prbackground checks from some states or counties within an hour. That is if the state has a criminal records database and the counties and cities to be searched are all reporting to this database. Occasionally individual cities or states need to be searched and some are easier to obtain than others, and can take a day or two to respond.Credit reports (if needed) can be run very fast as well as driving records.If reference checks need to be done, the background screening company or the employer would have to wait for an applicantu2019s references to respond to phone calls/e-mails.Other reports such as education verification, credential verification or even international background checks added to the complete background screening process can also delay the complete report.