New California Law Sealing Criminal Records: Eligibility and Limits

California now seals most misdemeanor and many felony conviction records on its own, without a petition, a court appearance, or a fee. Under Penal Code Sections 1203.425 and 851.93, the California Department of Justice reviews its statewide criminal databases every month, identifies people who meet the criteria, and grants relief automatically. This is what people mean when they talk about California automatic record sealing, and the expanded felony version has been operational since October 1, 2024.¹

Whether it reaches your record depends on the offense, how the sentence ended, and how much time has passed.

Who Qualifies for Automatic Conviction Relief

Every pathway shares two threshold rules. The conviction must have occurred on or after January 1, 1973. And the person cannot be currently serving a sentence, on active supervision, or facing pending criminal charges.¹

From there, three routes lead to automatic relief:

Probation completed without revocation. If you finished your entire probation term without it being revoked, you qualify — misdemeanor or felony. No extra waiting period applies beyond probation itself.
Misdemeanors and infractions where probation didn’t apply. You qualify once your sentence is complete and at least one calendar year has passed since the date of judgment.
Felonies outside the probation pathway. You qualify after completing all incarceration, supervision, parole, and post-release community supervision, and after four years pass without a new felony conviction. This route excludes serious felonies, violent felonies, and any offense requiring sex offender registration.

Sex offender registration is a blanket disqualifier. If you have any active registration obligation under the Sex Offender Registration Act, none of your convictions qualify for automatic relief, regardless of which pathway would otherwise apply.¹

Arrests That Didn’t Lead to a Conviction

Arrests are handled under a separate statute, Penal Code Section 851.93, and the DOJ reviews them on the same monthly cycle. Relief applies to arrests on or after January 1, 1973, and the waiting periods break down as follows:²

Misdemeanor arrest with charges dismissed: eligible immediately once the dismissal is recorded.
Misdemeanor arrest with no charges filed: eligible one year after the arrest date, provided no conviction resulted.
Felony arrest with no charges filed: eligible three years after the arrest date for most felonies, or six years for offenses punishable by eight or more years in prison.
Diversion program completed: eligible once you successfully complete a qualifying prefiling, pretrial, or drug diversion program tied to the arrest.

Across all four categories, the underlying requirement is the same: no conviction resulted from the arrest, or the person was acquitted.

Offenses the Automatic System Won’t Reach

The felony pathway carves out three categories entirely:

Serious felonies as defined by Penal Code Section 1192.7(c), including murder, robbery, first-degree burglary, and arson
Violent felonies as defined by Penal Code Section 667.5, covering offenses involving great bodily injury, sexual assault, and kidnapping
Sex offenses requiring registration under Penal Code Section 290

These exclusions block the four-year felony pathway specifically. If someone completed probation without revocation on a serious or violent felony, the probation-completion pathway may still apply.¹ The sex offender registration bar, by contrast, disqualifies every pathway.

How the DOJ Grants Relief

The process runs through the Department of Justice, not the courts. Each month, the DOJ reviews its statewide criminal justice databases and the Supervised Release File, uses the disposition dates and sentencing terms in its electronic records to calculate elapsed time, and identifies eligible records.¹ When a record qualifies, the DOJ grants relief — including dismissal of the conviction — and adds a notation to the person’s state criminal history record. That notation controls what background check systems can disclose for employment, licensing, or certification purposes.³

The system depends on the accuracy of the DOJ’s electronic records. If a court never reported a disposition, or if the underlying records contain errors, an eligible case can be missed. Anyone who believes their record should have been cleared can request a copy of their DOJ criminal history through a Live Scan submission for a $25 fee.⁴ If the record still shows a conviction that should have been sealed, the fix comes through a court petition or a records correction.

What a Sealed Record Actually Does

For most practical purposes, you can move forward as though the conviction never happened. California’s Fair Chance Act prohibits employers from asking about or considering convictions that have been sealed, dismissed, or expunged.⁵ On a job or housing application asking whether you have been convicted of a crime, you can legally answer no for any conviction that received relief.

Standard private-sector background checks should no longer return the sealed conviction. The record itself is not destroyed; it remains in the DOJ database with the relief notation attached, and the notation tells background check systems to suppress the information from standard disclosure.

Where the Seal Doesn’t Protect You

The relief has real boundaries. Under Penal Code Section 1203.425, you still have to disclose a sealed conviction when applying for:¹

Peace officer positions with any law enforcement agency
Elected or appointed public office, if directly asked
California State Lottery Commission contracts
In-home supportive services provider enrollment
Childcare and community care licensing under the Health and Safety Code
Education positions subject to school district or credentialing agency review

Courts and law enforcement also keep full access to your criminal history regardless of the seal. A new criminal case will show the prior conviction to prosecutors and judges at sentencing.

Immigration

A California state seal has no effect on federal immigration law. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services takes the position that a state court action to expunge, dismiss, or seal a conviction does not remove the underlying conviction for immigration purposes.⁶ A sealed drug conviction or crime involving moral turpitude can still make a non-citizen inadmissible or deportable. USCIS may require you to submit evidence of the conviction anyway, and failing to disclose one on an immigration application creates a separate misrepresentation problem. If you are not a U.S. citizen, talk to an immigration attorney before assuming automatic relief has resolved your situation.

International Travel

Some countries, Canada being the best-known example, run their own border screening and may consider offenses sealed under state law. Federal information-sharing can make older records visible even after California has sealed them. If you plan to travel and have a criminal history, get documentation confirming the dismissal or seal and carry it with you. Rules vary country by country, and a sealed California record guarantees entry nowhere.

Petitioning When Automatic Relief Doesn’t Reach You

If your conviction sits outside the automatic system, whether because it’s a serious or violent felony, you’re still under supervision, or DOJ records contain errors, the court petition route is still available. Penal Code Section 1203.4 lets anyone who completed probation ask a judge to dismiss the conviction, and even people who violated probation can petition, though the judge has discretion to deny.⁷ The petition must be served on the prosecutor at least 15 days before the hearing. Unpaid restitution alone cannot be the sole reason for denying the petition, which matters for people who still owe restitution but have otherwise completed their sentence.

For arrests that didn’t result in a conviction but fall outside the automatic system, such as cases where charges could still be refiled, Penal Code Section 851.91 provides a petition-based sealing process. The petition must show that no charges can be refiled and that the person was not evading prosecution.

1
California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 1203.425
2
California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 851.93
3
California Department of Justice. Sealing Orders
4
California Department of Justice. Criminal Records – Request Your Own
5
California Civil Rights Department. Fair Chance Act: Criminal History and Employment
6
USCIS. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 12, Part F, Chapter 2 – Adjudicative Factors
7
California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 1203.4