Can someone please advise how far back a fingerprint background goes and what is presented to an employer?

It depends on who is doing the check, why they are doing the check, how far back they want to go. My last one for my nursing license went back 21 years.

Are you referring to the fingerprints as well?

diva, it ALL depends on the employer. What they ask for and how far back they go depends on what they want to pay for. So although people can tell your their situations, no one can tell you yours.
A nursing license is going to go back a lot further, and get more details, than a sales clerk or waitress. A federal job might go back your entire life. It depends!

I had one for my car dealer license...went all the way back for a complete history.

First fingerprints and criminal history are two different things.

They run fingerprints to prove identity, to be sure, there is not the same person under other names.

Once this is done they run a criminal history. The report goes back, to the first entry, there is no time limit. So it will go back 10, 20, 40, 50 years, there is no stopping point.

Some companies only look at the past 10 or past 15 years but that is normally a company policy.

"The report goes back to the first entry." Can you clarify that? I have NEVER been in trouble with the law. My search went back 21 years. I know this only because it stated my address at the time.