For each section of ORS that is displayed in this tutorial, you will see a picture of an important part of an ORS screen and corresponding text under it. If you still need assistance after viewing the tutorial, contact NFA's Information Center.

Section 3: NFA ID SEARCH

From the Online Registration Home Page, you can access any process for which you have security. If a firm or individual has either been registered or applied for registration previously, it is very important to use the NFA ID number that had been previously assigned for any new application. To start the Search for an NFA ID, you can either select the Search for an NFA ID tab at the top of the page or the link in the active page.

In the Search for an NFA ID page, there are three types of searches available to you. If you are looking for an individual ID number, you can either use the Search for an Individual section or, if known, the Search by Social Security Number. If the applicant has provided the user with his/her social security number, using it to search may yield precise results. If the user is searching for an individual, the more information the user can use to search (accurately spelled last name, full first name), the fewer items the user will receive from the search. However, you should understand that the name searches for both firms and individuals are not phonetic searches. If the name is not spelled accurately, no matches will be returned. If you are uncertain of the exact spelling, using the first few letters of the name should generate a manageable number of matches to check. Use more letters if too many matches are returned. Searching for a firm, holding company or sole proprietor should be used if the user is looking for the ID number for a company. In NFA's registration system, sole proprietors are considered to be firms.

Once you have gotten the results of the search, you can view the current status of the name (registered, pending, unregistered, etc.) or history or find out if there is any disciplinary history in BASIC by selecting the name and clicking on one of the view buttons at the bottom of the page. When this BASIC button is clicked, a separate browser will open and display the Details and Status page in BASIC for the name selected. You can toggle between affiliation and date of birth for an individual and locations and status for a firm to aid in identification of the name searched.