No, your criminal record does not automatically clear after seven years. The idea that a criminal record clears after 7 years comes from a federal background-check reporting rule, and that rule has a carve-out big enough to drive a truck through: it does not apply to criminal convictions. The conviction itself sits in court and law enforcement databases until you take steps to have it sealed or expunged, or until an automatic state sealing law reaches it.
Where the Seven-Year Idea Comes From
The seven-year number is real, but it is narrower than most people think. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. § 1681c), consumer reporting agencies — the companies that sell background checks — generally cannot report the following items once they are more than seven years old: arrests that did not lead to a conviction, civil lawsuits, civil judgments, paid tax liens, and accounts sent to collections.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports
Criminal convictions are explicitly excluded from that seven-year cap. The statute bars reporting of “any other adverse item of information, other than records of convictions of crimes” older than seven years. A background check company can legally report a criminal conviction from ten, twenty, or thirty years ago.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports
Even the protections that do exist have a loophole. If you are applying for a job that pays $75,000 or more per year, the seven-year restrictions on arrest records and other non-conviction items do not apply at all. For higher-paying positions, background check companies can report everything regardless of age.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports
State Laws That Cap Conviction Reporting
Roughly a dozen states go further than federal law and impose their own time limits on how long background check companies can report criminal convictions. California, Massachusetts, Montana, and New York are among the states that restrict reporting of convictions older than seven years, though several of these laws only apply to jobs below a certain salary threshold.
Some state caps are narrower than they sound. Kansas, Maryland, New Hampshire, and Washington limit conviction reporting only for positions paying under $20,000 per year, which offers little practical protection for most job seekers. The remaining states follow the federal default, meaning convictions can appear on background checks indefinitely. If you live in one of those states, waiting the record out is not a strategy — the only route to a clean report is getting the underlying record sealed or expunged.
How Records Actually Get Cleared
Two legal tools do the work: sealing and expungement. They are related but not the same.
Sealing hides a record from public view. The record still exists, and law enforcement and certain government agencies can typically still see it, but most employers, landlords, and members of the public cannot.2Bureau of Justice Statistics. Sealing and Purging of Criminal History Record Information Rules on who keeps access vary by state.3Legal Information Institute. Sealing of Records
Expungement goes further. A court orders the conviction treated as though it never happened, and in most situations you can legally deny the arrest or conviction ever occurred. It is not a complete erasure — court and police records from the original incident may still exist in some form, and a federal appeals court has noted that “an expunged arrest and/or conviction is never truly removed from the public record.”4American Bar Association. What Is Expungement For everyday purposes like job and housing applications, though, expungement offers the strongest protection available.
Eligibility depends heavily on the offense. Most states reserve sealing and expungement for lower-level crimes and require waiting periods after you finish your sentence. Waiting periods for misdemeanors commonly run one to three years; felony waits often stretch from three to eight years or longer. Violent crimes, sex offenses, and other serious felonies are frequently excluded entirely. Court filing fees for expungement petitions typically fall between $100 and $400, and attorney fees can add $400 to $4,000 depending on complexity.
If your petition is granted, you can usually answer “no” when asked about criminal history on job and housing applications. Depending on the state, successful expungement may also restore civil rights lost upon conviction, such as the right to vote, serve on a jury, or hold certain professional licenses. Firearm rights are more complicated and depend on both state and federal law; a state expungement does not automatically restore federal firearm eligibility.
Clean Slate Laws: Automatic Sealing After a Waiting Period
A growing number of states have passed Clean Slate laws that seal eligible records automatically, without any petition. As of early 2026, thirteen states and Washington, D.C. have enacted Clean Slate legislation, affecting more than 18 million people. Michigan’s system has sealed records for over 912,000 people since launching in 2023, and Minnesota identified more than 2.17 million potentially eligible records within its first year.5The Clean Slate Initiative. States of Clean Slate: End of Year Wrap Up
Details vary, but most Clean Slate laws share a framework. Misdemeanor convictions become eligible after a waiting period, commonly three years after sentencing or release from incarceration. Felony convictions require a longer wait, often eight years. To qualify, you generally cannot be on parole, probation, or post-release supervision, and you cannot have pending charges. A new conviction before the waiting period runs out resets the clock.6N.Y. State Courts. New York State’s Clean Slate Act
Sex offenses, murder, and other serious violent crimes are typically excluded from automatic sealing. Non-drug-related Class A felonies are also generally ineligible.6N.Y. State Courts. New York State’s Clean Slate Act If your state has a Clean Slate law, check the specifics — the sealing may happen without you doing anything, but only if you meet every eligibility requirement.
Petitioning a Court Where Sealing Is Not Automatic
In states without automatic sealing, or for offenses that do not qualify, the path is a formal petition. You file with the court that handled your case, submit supporting documentation (proof you completed your sentence, evidence of rehabilitation, sometimes character references), and ask a judge to grant relief.
Judges have wide discretion. They weigh how much time has passed, the seriousness of the offense, whether you have any subsequent arrests, and what you have done with your life since. An attorney who handles these petitions regularly knows what judges in your jurisdiction find persuasive and can anticipate prosecutorial objections. Fees are the ones described above — court costs plus, in most cases, legal help.
Federal Convictions Are a Separate Story
Federal convictions do not clear after seven years, and there is essentially no general right to expunge one. Federal courts have confirmed this bluntly: federal convictions cannot be expunged through a standard petition process.7U.S. District Court, Southern District of Mississippi. How Do I Have My Conviction Expunged
One narrow exception exists under 18 U.S.C. § 3607: first-time drug possession offenders who were under 21 at the time of the offense and who successfully completed probation. Even that provision applies only to simple possession charges under the Controlled Substances Act, not distribution, trafficking, or any other federal crime.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3607 – Special Probation and Expungement Procedures for Drug Possessors For anyone outside that narrow window, a presidential pardon is the only avenue for official recognition of rehabilitation.
Offenses That Usually Cannot Be Cleared at All
Every state draws a line, and serious offenses almost always fall on the wrong side of it. Sex crimes requiring registration, violent felonies such as murder and aggravated assault, and crimes involving child victims are excluded from sealing and expungement in most jurisdictions.
Domestic violence convictions frequently remain permanent as well. Federal law prohibits people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence from possessing firearms, and even in states that would otherwise allow misdemeanor sealing, these convictions often carry lasting consequences. Significant financial fraud may also be excluded, depending on the state and severity.
When a Cleared Record Still Shows Up Online
Getting the official record cleared is only half the battle. Mugshots, arrest records, and news articles often live on third-party websites and data broker platforms long after courts have sealed or expunged the underlying case.
Several states have addressed this directly. Laws in California, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Colorado, Oregon, and Utah require mugshot websites to remove booking photos, at no cost, within a set timeframe — usually 7 to 30 days after receiving a valid written request — when charges were dropped, the person was acquitted, or the record was expunged.
Background check companies that qualify as consumer reporting agencies under the FCRA also have a legal duty to keep their data current. If a company continues to report a conviction that has been sealed or expunged, you may have grounds for a claim under the FCRA.