For the first time in its history, Virginia is sealing criminal convictions. The state's long-delayed record-sealing regime took effect on July 1, 2026, and it stands to reshape background checks for well over a million records across the Commonwealth. If you have a Virginia record, or you help someone who does, the practical question is simple: which of the two new tracks applies to you, and what does 'sealed' actually get you?
This guide breaks down what went live, who qualifies automatically, who has to petition, and why a sealed record is not the same as a record that is gone.
What Actually Went Live on July 1
The framework that took effect is built on two 2025 bills, SB1466 and its companion HB2723, which consolidated reforms first passed in 2021 and 2023 and then substantially reshaped them. The effective date was pushed back a full year, from July 2025 to July 2026, to give the courts and the Virginia State Police time to build the infrastructure needed to seal records at scale.
The scale is large. According to Virginia State Police estimates reported by WSET, automatic sealing is expected to reach roughly 112,000 conviction records and about 942,000 dismissed or acquitted misdemeanor cases. An additional 733,000 people are estimated to be eligible to file a petition to seal.
The law creates two distinct paths. The first is automatic sealing, initiated by the government with no action required from you. The second is petition-based sealing, which you file yourself in circuit court. The difference between them controls almost everything about how, and whether, your record gets sealed.
Track 1: Automatic Sealing (No Action Required)
Automatic sealing is government-initiated. If you qualify, the record seals without a petition, a hearing, or a fee. It covers a narrow, specific set of outcomes.
A short list of misdemeanor convictions, after a clean period. Roughly seven specific misdemeanor conviction types seal automatically once seven years pass with no new convictions. The list includes offenses such as petit and grand larceny in the shoplifting context, trespassing, disorderly conduct, and misdemeanor marijuana distribution.
All marijuana-possession charges. Every marijuana-possession charge seals automatically, regardless of when it happened. There is no waiting period for that category.
Misdemeanor dismissals and acquittals. If a misdemeanor charge was dismissed or ended in acquittal, it seals automatically. You do not need to file anything. This category accounts for the large majority of the volume, the roughly 942,000 dismissed or acquitted cases noted above.
The takeaway on Track 1: if your situation fits one of these buckets, the state is supposed to do the work for you. The narrow convictions require a seven-year clean stretch; marijuana possession and non-conviction misdemeanor outcomes do not.
Track 2: Petition-Based Sealing in Circuit Court
The petition track, governed by Virginia Code § 19.2-392.12, reaches a broader band of offenses but requires you to file in circuit court and meet a legal standard.
What is eligible. Petition sealing covers misdemeanors, Class 5 or Class 6 felonies, and grand larceny under § 18.2-95, provided the offense date is on or after January 1, 1986.
Waiting periods. The wait is seven years for misdemeanors and ten years for felonies.
The legal standard. Under § 19.2-392.12, a court must find that the record's continued existence and dissemination causes or may cause 'manifest injustice' before it grants a petition. This is not automatic. The judge weighs your case.
The two-petition cap, and its exception. There is a lifetime maximum of two granted petitions per person under § 19.2-392.12. There is an important carve-out: under § 19.2-392.12:1, petitions filed for offenses tied to the automatic-sealing categories carry no lifetime cap, and those petitions do not count against the two-petition maximum. In practice, if an offense would have qualified for automatic sealing but for some reason needs a petition, it does not burn one of your two lifetime slots.
What the 2025 Amendments Changed
The 2025 session did not just set an effective date. It reshaped the regime in three ways that matter to real cases, as detailed by practitioners at Clean Slate Virginia.
A 1986 offense-date floor. Petition sealing under § 19.2-392.12:1 reaches only offenses dated on or after January 1, 1986. Older records fall outside the framework.
Ancillary matters can now be sealed with the underlying case. Probation-violation convictions and failure-to-appear convictions are treated as 'ancillary matters' and can be sealed together with the case they attach to. There is a timing wrinkle: when an ancillary matter exists, the waiting period runs from the probation-violation date, not the date of the original conviction. That can push your eligibility date later than you might expect.
All fees eliminated. The statute now states that a person 'shall not be required to pay any court fees or costs' for a sealing petition. Both filing fees and service-of-process costs were removed, lowering the barrier to filing.
The Permanent Carve-Outs: Offenses That Never Qualify
A significant list of offenses is permanently ineligible under either track. Under the subsection-L list in § 19.2-392.12 and the expanded exclusions from 2025, these categories do not seal:
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Class 1 through Class 4 felonies
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Violent felonies
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Sex offenses and any offense requiring sex-offender registration
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Firearm and weapons offenses, unless rights have been restored
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DUI under § 18.2-266
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Stalking under § 18.2-60.3
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Sexual extortion under § 18.2-59.1
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Assault and battery of a family or household member under § 18.2-57.2
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Protective-order violations
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Hate crimes
If your record involves one of these, the sealing regime does not reach it. DUI in particular is worth flagging for readers of a criminal-defense publication: it is expressly excluded, so a Virginia DUI conviction remains publicly visible under this law.
'Sealed' Is Not 'Gone'
This is the part most likely to be misunderstood. Sealing removes a record from ordinary public view, but it does not destroy it. According to the Virginia State Crime Commission's official FAQ, sealed records remain accessible to courts, law enforcement, and government agencies carrying out official duties across roughly 28 statutorily authorized purposes.
For everyday life, sealing does real work: employers and landlords generally cannot ask you about sealed offenses. But there is a limit. Background-check companies may lawfully retain data they already collected under federal law, which means information that was public before sealing can persist in private databases.
Sealing is also different from expungement. The two terms are not interchangeable. Expungement applies only to charges that did not result in a conviction, and expunged records are reachable for only a few narrow purposes. Sealing, by contrast, can cover some convictions, but it leaves records reachable for a broader set of authorized uses. Neither term means the record is physically destroyed.
The reach of the sealing statutes is worth knowing: they cover records held by the Central Criminal Records Exchange (the CCRE, run by the Virginia State Police), Virginia courts, police, sheriff, and campus police departments, and the DMV.
The Practical Gap and the Debate
Supporters and critics agree the law is consequential; they disagree about whether it goes too far or not far enough. Clean Slate Virginia, which pushed for the reform, frames it as a matter of employment fairness, giving people with old low-level records a path back into the workforce and housing. Critics organized as Virginians for Safe Communities have pressed concerns about limiting what employers and landlords can see, as reported by WSET.
There is also an implementation question. The one-year delay existed precisely because sealing records at this volume, more than a million between the automatic categories alone, places a heavy load on the Virginia State Police and on circuit court clerks. How smoothly the automatic track runs in practice will shape whether the estimated numbers translate into records actually sealed.
Reader Takeaway: Figuring Out Which Track Applies to You
Start by sorting your situation into the framework:
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Was your charge dismissed or acquitted, or was it a marijuana-possession charge? That likely seals automatically, no filing needed.
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Was it one of the narrow listed misdemeanor convictions (shoplifting-context larceny, trespassing, disorderly conduct, misdemeanor marijuana distribution)? Automatic sealing applies after seven clean years.
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Was it a broader misdemeanor, a Class 5 or 6 felony, or grand larceny, dated 1986 or later? You may petition in circuit court after the seven-year or ten-year wait, and you will need to show 'manifest injustice.' Filing is now free.
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Was it DUI, a violent or weapons offense, a sex offense, family assault, a protective-order violation, a hate crime, or a Class 1 through 4 felony? It does not qualify under this law.
And remember the ceiling on relief: even a successfully sealed record stays reachable by courts, law enforcement, and government agencies, and private background-check firms may keep older data. Sealing is a meaningful shield against employers and landlords. It is not a blank slate.
Because eligibility turns on the exact offense code, offense date, and whether ancillary matters like probation violations reset your clock, anyone considering a petition should confirm the specifics of their own record before assuming a track applies.
Related reading
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[For the First Time in U.S. History, a Federal Conviction Can Be Erased: The Trafficking Survivors Relief Act Opens the Door](/article/trafficking-survivors-relief-act-federal-expungement-first)
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[The Supreme Court's Chatrie Ruling Turns Google 'Geofence' Warrants Into a Search, and Into a New Suppression Argument](/article/chatrie-geofence-warrant-supreme-court-search-suppression-argument)
Sources
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Sealing of Criminal Records, Virginia State Crime Commission FAQ
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[Virginia Clean Slate law to take effect July 1, WSET](https://wset.com/news/local/virginia-clean-slate-law-to-take-effect-july-1-sealing-more-than-100k-low-level-records-june-2026-va)
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Major Changes Made to Virginia's New 'Expungement Law', Clean Slate Virginia
Note: This article contains AI-assisted content and has been reviewed by our editorial team.
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