For the first time in Virginia’s history, people with past convictions will be able to have their record sealed from public view.

Virginia’s General Assembly passed the record-sealing law in 2021, and now, an amended version is set to take effect July 1, 2026.

Under the new law, a person with a misdemeanor or low-level felony conviction will be able to have their record sealed from public view — meaning the conviction would not show up on background checks needed for employment or housing.

“By allowing people to seal these convictions, it will open up all kinds of job opportunities to people that they haven’t been able to take advantage of before and help them support their families and have much more meaningful careers and livelihoods,” Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, told WTOP.

Beginning next summer, most landlords, potential employers and educational institutions will not be allowed to ask about a sealed record or get a copy from the court. Individuals will not be obligated to report their sealed record under the law as well.

Surovell said a $20 million rebuild of Virginia’s criminal record-keeping computer infrastructure is preventing the law from taking effect immediately.

How it works

To get a record sealed, the individual must first qualify and then petition.

To qualify, the petitioner cannot have been convicted of a Class 1 or 2 felony or a felony punishable by life in prison. They cannot have been convicted of a Class 3 or 4 felony within the last 20 years. And they also cannot have been convicted of a felony for at least 10 years before the petition is filed.

Some records will be sealed automatically under the law, including misdemeanor convictions such as larceny, certain types of trespassing and disorderly conduct. All marijuana possession records will be automatically sealed, and traffic infractions will seal automatically after 11 years.

A full list of eligibility qualifications can be found on the Justice Forward Virginia Foundation’s fact page .

In Virginia, certain types of records were already eligible for expungement.

Several amendments were made to the version of the law introduced in 2021.

Hundreds of offenses are no longer eligible under the 2025 version, including assault on law enforcement, said Rob Poggenklass the executive director of Justice Forward Virginia, which describes itself as a nonpartisan advocacy organization.

“We’re gonna have to come back to this, because there are lots of people who would have been eligible under the 2021 law, and are not going to be eligible under the 2025 amendments to it. But we’re still very happy that we will finally have this thing in place and people will be able to get the relief they deserve,” Poggenklass said during the group’s meeting earlier this month.

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