“Can I get my federal conviction expunged?” is one of the most common questions people ask after a federal case ends. They want a clean background check, a fresh start, a record that does not follow them. The honest answer is harder than most people expect — and understanding why is the first step toward focusing on remedies that can actually help.
This guide explains expungement and record sealing in federal court — whether a federal conviction can be expunged, the single narrow statute that allows it, how arrest records are treated differently from conviction records, the limits of record sealing, and the alternatives worth pursuing instead. It is grounded in the federal courts’ treatment of expungement and the statute at 18 U.S.C. § 3607. Elizabeth Franklin-Best, P.C. handles federal post-conviction matters nationwide, and giving clients a straight answer about record relief is part of that work. Elizabeth Franklin-Best — honored in the 2026 edition of Best Lawyers in America for Appellate Practice and carrying a 2026 Chambers USA ranking in Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations — wrote Reversing Your Criminal Conviction, and Managing Director Christopher Zoukis, a federal reentry authority, knows firsthand what records follow people out of the system. Drawing on a nationwide federal post-conviction practice spanning more than 330 federal proceedings, over 100 of them appeals across all twelve circuits and the U.S. Supreme Court — including the § 2255 and clemency work this page steers clients toward when a record cannot be erased — she keeps the focus on the relief that genuinely moves a case. This page reflects how we set realistic expectations.
If you want to understand whether anything can be done about a federal record, the firm offers a paid, one-hour initial consultation to review your situation and the realistic options.
Table of Contents
Quick Answer: Federal Expungement
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Can a federal conviction be expunged? | For almost all federal convictions, no. There is no general federal expungement statute, and federal courts generally cannot expunge a valid conviction on equitable grounds. |
| Is there any federal expungement statute? | Yes — 18 U.S.C. § 3607, for a first-time simple drug-possession offender under 21 U.S.C. § 844, with full expungement reserved for those under 21 at the time. |
| Can an arrest record be expunged? | Sometimes. Some courts recognize a narrow inherent power to expunge arrest records that did not lead to a valid conviction, in extreme circumstances, though the courts are not uniform. |
| Can a federal conviction be sealed? | There is no across-the-board federal statute to seal an entire conviction record. Courts can seal individual documents for specific reasons. |
| How long does a felony stay on your record? | Indefinitely. Federal convictions never age off the FBI identity history summary, and the FCRA allows background-check companies to report convictions without any time limit. Only a remedy that changes the record itself alters that. |
| What can I do instead? | A presidential pardon can forgive a conviction and lift its disabilities; post-conviction relief can vacate a conviction that is legally flawed. |
Key Takeaways
- For almost all federal convictions, expungement is not available — the federal system has no general expungement statute.
- Federal courts generally cannot expunge a valid conviction on equitable grounds such as rehabilitation or good post-conviction conduct.
- The one meaningful federal expungement statute, 18 U.S.C. § 3607, applies only to first-time simple drug possession under 21 U.S.C. § 844.
- Full expungement under § 3607(c) is reserved for offenders who were under twenty-one at the time of the offense.
- Arrest records are treated differently from conviction records; some courts recognize a narrow inherent power to expunge arrest records in extreme circumstances.
- The courts of appeals are not uniform on the expungement of arrest records, and the power is applied sparingly — under Kokkonen‘s limits, Sumner (9th Cir.) confines it to unlawful arrests and clerical errors, while Doe (2d Cir.) preserves a narrow arrest-record power after dismissal.
- Convictions never age off the FBI identity history summary, and the FCRA permits background-check companies to report them indefinitely; arrests without conviction generally stop being reportable after seven years.
- There is no across-the-board federal statute to seal an entire conviction record; courts can seal individual documents for specific reasons.
- Broad expungement and record sealing are largely features of state law, which does not apply to federal convictions.
- A presidential pardon can forgive a valid conviction and lift its disabilities, though it does not erase the record.
- Post-conviction relief can vacate a legally flawed conviction — a stronger outcome than expungement, where the facts support it.
Can You Expunge a Federal Conviction?
The short answer is that, for almost all federal convictions, the answer is no. This surprises people, because expungement is familiar from state court, where many states have broad schemes that allow records to be expunged or sealed after a waiting period. The federal system has nothing comparable for the vast majority of offenses.
Expungement, as federal courts describe it, is the editing of the historical record — an order directing that references to a matter be removed from official records. A federal court’s authority to do that is sharply limited. It comes only from a specific statute or, in narrow circumstances and with disagreement among the courts, from the court’s inherent authority. There is no general grant of power to expunge a valid federal conviction.
The most important thing to understand at the outset is what this means for strategy. A person whose real goal is a clean record needs to know early that expungement is, in nearly all federal cases, off the table — so that effort can go toward remedies that exist. This guide first explains why federal expungement is so limited, then turns to what can actually be done.
Applied Insight: The most common disappointment in this area is a carefully prepared expungement motion built on a compelling rehabilitation story. In most federal courts, the law forecloses it regardless of how sympathetic the facts are. Knowing that from the start spares clients the cost and false hope of a filing the court has no power to grant.
There Is No General Federal Expungement Statute
This point deserves its own section because it is the foundation of everything else. Congress has never enacted a general federal expungement statute for federal convictions. The statutes that do permit expungement reach only particularized situations.
Federal courts have also generally rejected the idea that they hold a broad inherent power to expunge a valid conviction, and the reasoning starts with first principles. In Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America, 511 U.S. 375 (1994), the Supreme Court reaffirmed that federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction and recognized only two narrow purposes for “ancillary” jurisdiction: resolving factually interdependent claims in a single court, and enabling a court to manage its proceedings, vindicate its authority, and effectuate its decrees. An expungement motion filed years after a sentence has ended, resting on rehabilitation or job-market hardship, serves neither purpose.
The courts of appeals have applied that logic to valid convictions with near unanimity. The Ninth Circuit held in United States v. Sumner, 226 F.3d 1005 (9th Cir. 2000), that ancillary jurisdiction reaches only the expungement of an unlawful arrest or conviction or the correction of a clerical error — never equitable relief for a valid record. The Second Circuit reached the same result in Doe v. United States, 833 F.3d 192 (2d Cir. 2016), vacating a district judge’s much-discussed expungement order because rehabilitation and employment difficulties, however genuine, supply no jurisdiction. The upshot: a spotless record since the offense, real hardship, and a compelling personal story — all of which matter greatly in a pardon application — do not give a federal court power to expunge a valid conviction.
There are a few narrow statutory exceptions scattered through federal law — for example, provisions allowing the amendment of records that are factually inaccurate, a provision addressing certain civil drug-penalty records, and the confidentiality safeguards of 18 U.S.C. § 5038, which restrict access to federal juvenile-delinquency records (a sealing-type protection, not true expungement). Congress has seen repeated proposals for a broader fix — versions of a federal Clean Slate Act have been introduced — but none had been enacted as of mid-2026. These are targeted tools, not a general pathway. For an ordinary, valid federal conviction, none of them provides relief.
The One Real Statute: 18 U.S.C. § 3607
There is one federal expungement statute that meaningfully clears a conviction-type record, and it is narrow by design: 18 U.S.C. § 3607, often called the Federal First Offender Act.
Section 3607 applies to a person found guilty of simple possession of a controlled substance under 21 U.S.C. § 844 who meets two conditions: no prior federal or state drug conviction, and no previous disposition under § 3607 itself — the statute is a one-time tool. For such a person, the court may, with the person’s consent, impose probation of up to one year without entering a judgment of conviction. If the person completes probation without a violation, the court dismisses the proceedings — no judgment of conviction is ever entered, and § 3607(b) provides that the disposition is not considered a conviction for any disqualification or disability imposed by law. Only a nonpublic record stays with the Department of Justice, used solely to check whether a person has used the statute before.
The statute goes further for the youngest offenders. Under § 3607(c), if the person was under twenty-one years old at the time of the offense, the court enters — on the person’s application — an order expunging from all official records every reference to the arrest, the proceedings, and the result. By the statute’s terms, the order restores the person, in the contemplation of the law, to the status they occupied before the arrest, and it shields them from perjury or false-statement liability for declining to acknowledge the expunged matter when asked. It is the rare federal record remedy that genuinely lets a person answer “no.”
The limits are strict and worth stating plainly. Section 3607 reaches only first-time simple possession under § 844 — not distribution, not trafficking, not possession with intent, not fraud, not any other offense. The full expungement under subsection (c) is available only to those who were under twenty-one at the time. For everyone outside that narrow category — which is the overwhelming majority of people with federal convictions — § 3607 offers nothing.
Arrest Records vs. Conviction Records
One distinction can change the analysis: the difference between a record of an arrest and a record of a conviction.
For a valid conviction, the rules described above apply, and expungement is almost never available. But where a person was arrested and the matter did not result in a valid conviction — charges were dismissed, the person was acquitted, or the arrest was unlawful — some federal courts have recognized a narrow inherent power to expunge the arrest record in genuinely extreme or exceptional circumstances.
Even that authority is contested — and this is where the real circuit split lives. In the Ninth Circuit, Sumner confines the inherent power to unlawful arrests and clerical errors; a lawful arrest that simply never produced a conviction does not qualify. The Second Circuit, by contrast, has long recognized ancillary jurisdiction to address the dissemination of arrest records after a dismissal — a line Doe expressly preserved even while closing the door on conviction records. Other circuits fall at points in between. Where the power exists, courts use it sparingly, for genuinely extreme circumstances, not as a routine courtesy because charges were dropped. The practical lesson: an arrest-record question has to be analyzed under the law of the specific circuit where the case arose, and it is worth examining rather than assuming nothing can be done.
Applied Insight: The arrest-versus-conviction line is one of the few places in federal expungement law with any give. It is not a wide opening — the standard is demanding and the circuits diverge — but conflating the two questions causes people to give up on an arrest-record issue that might have been worth pursuing. The two should always be analyzed separately.
Record Sealing in Federal Court
Record sealing is often discussed alongside expungement, and the two are sometimes used interchangeably — but they are not the same. Sealing means restricting public access to a record without destroying it; expungement aims to remove the record itself. A third term completes the vocabulary: a set-aside — in federal practice, usually a vacatur — withdraws the adjudication itself, so the conviction no longer legally exists, which is different from hiding or deleting the paperwork that described it. Knowing which of the three a statute or court order actually delivers is half the analysis.
The federal reality for sealing mirrors the reality for expungement. There is no across-the-board federal statute that allows a person to seal an entire federal conviction record from public view. Federal courts can and do seal particular documents within a case file for specific, case-by-case reasons — for example, to protect sensitive information or a third party — but sealing individual documents is a far narrower thing than sealing a whole conviction record so that it no longer appears.
In short, a person hoping to “seal” a federal conviction so it stops showing up on background checks generally will not find a federal mechanism to do it. Broad record sealing, like broad expungement, is largely a feature of state law rather than federal law.
What the FBI Rap Sheet and Background Checks Show
Record relief only matters insofar as it changes what others can see, so it helps to know where the records actually live. The FBI maintains the central criminal-history file — the identity history summary, commonly called a rap sheet — compiled from fingerprints and data submitted by arresting agencies, prosecutors, and courts. It lists federal and state arrests, the charges, and whatever dispositions the agencies reported. A federal conviction stays on it indefinitely; nothing ages off with the passage of time. The underlying court file, meanwhile, remains publicly searchable through the federal judiciary’s PACER system unless a court has sealed it.
Private background checks are a second, separate layer. Commercial screening companies assemble reports from court records and databases, and federal law regulates them through the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681c, a record of arrest that did not end in conviction generally may not be reported once it is more than seven years old — but a criminal conviction may be reported indefinitely. So the honest answer to “how long does a felony stay on your record” is: permanently, unless a recognized remedy — vacatur, a § 3607 expungement, or qualifying relief for a state record — changes the record itself rather than just the calendar.
Two practical notes. First, screening databases lag and contain outright errors — wrong person, wrong disposition, dismissed charges displayed as convictions — and the FCRA gives the person a right to dispute inaccurate data and force correction. Be aware, though, that whether an accurately reported but later-expunged conviction must come off a commercial report is a separate and harder question, and several courts have answered it in the screening companies’ favor. Second, anyone may request their own identity history summary from the FBI to see precisely what the file says — usually the right first step before deciding whether any remedy is worth pursuing, and a step we routinely recommend taking before a consultation.
What to Do Instead: Pardon and Vacatur
If expungement and sealing are off the table for most federal convictions, the practical question becomes what is available. Two remedies do real work, and the right one depends on the goal.
A presidential pardon. A presidential pardon does not erase a conviction, but it forgives it and lifts many of the legal disabilities tied to it — which is meaningful where the practical problem is a conviction-based bar to a license, a right, or an opportunity. The firm’s guide to pardon versus expungement compares the two remedies directly, and its guide to restoration of rights after a pardon explains exactly what a pardon restores.
Vacatur through post-conviction relief. Where the conviction itself may be legally flawed, the goal is not to forgive it or hide it but to undo it. Post-conviction relief — including a motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 — can vacate a conviction that rests on a constitutional or legal defect. A vacated conviction no longer stands as a valid conviction at all, which is a stronger outcome than either a pardon or expungement. Where the facts support it, a claim of actual innocence belongs in this category as well.
The exercise, in every case, is matching the remedy to the goal: forgive a valid conviction and lift its disabilities (pardon), or undo an unlawful conviction (vacatur). Expungement, for most federal convictions, is simply not one of the available answers.
State Expungement Is Different
It is worth a clear word of caution about state law, because it is a frequent source of confusion. Many states have broad expungement and record-sealing schemes, and a person who has read about expungement — or who had a state record cleared in the past — may reasonably assume the federal system works the same way.
It does not. State expungement law governs state convictions and arrest records; it has no application to a federal conviction. A federal court will not apply a state expungement statute to a federal record. Conversely, the narrow federal rules described here do not control state records. Anyone with both state and federal matters has to analyze each system separately.
The bottom line is that a person should never assume a federal conviction can be cleared simply because a state conviction could be. The federal rules are their own, and they are far more restrictive.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I get my federal conviction expunged?
For almost all federal convictions, no. There is no general federal expungement statute, and federal courts have generally held they lack authority to expunge a valid conviction on equitable grounds. The narrow exception is 18 U.S.C. § 3607, which applies only to certain first-time drug-possession offenders.
Why is there no federal expungement for most convictions?
Congress has never enacted a general federal expungement statute for federal convictions. Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction, and several courts of appeals have held that a district court has no inherent or ancillary power to expunge a valid record of conviction simply on equitable grounds.
Can I get my conviction expunged because I have rehabilitated myself?
Generally no. Courts have squarely held that expungement of a valid conviction solely to reward rehabilitation or commendable post-conviction conduct is not available. Rehabilitation matters greatly in other settings, such as a pardon application, but it does not give a federal court power to expunge a valid conviction.
What is 18 U.S.C. § 3607?
Section 3607, the Federal First Offender Act, allows a court handling a first-time simple possession offense under 21 U.S.C. § 844 to place the person on probation without entering a judgment of conviction. If the person was under twenty-one at the time, § 3607(c) directs expungement of the records. It does not reach other offenses.
Can an arrest that did not lead to a conviction be expunged?
Sometimes. The analysis is different for arrest records, particularly where charges were dismissed, the person was acquitted, or the arrest was unlawful. Some courts have recognized a narrow inherent power to expunge arrest records in extreme circumstances, though the courts of appeals are not uniform and the power is applied sparingly.
What is the difference between expungement and record sealing?
Expungement aims to remove a record from official files. Record sealing restricts public access to a record without destroying it. In the federal system, both broad expungement and broad sealing of conviction records are largely unavailable, though courts can seal individual documents in a case for specific reasons.
Can I seal my federal conviction so it stops showing on background checks?
There is no across-the-board federal statute that allows a person to seal an entire federal conviction record from public view. Federal courts can seal particular documents within a case file for specific reasons, but that is much narrower than sealing a whole conviction record.
If I cannot expunge my conviction, what can I do?
It depends on the goal. A presidential pardon can forgive a conviction and lift many of its legal disabilities. If the conviction itself is legally flawed, post-conviction relief aimed at vacating it is the path. If you qualify under 18 U.S.C. § 3607, expungement may apply. The right step is to match the remedy to the outcome you need.
Is vacating a conviction the same as expunging it?
No. Expungement removes or restricts the record of a matter. Vacatur sets the conviction aside as legally invalid through post-conviction relief or appeal, so it no longer stands as a valid conviction. Vacatur attacks the lawfulness of the conviction itself and is a stronger outcome than expungement.
My state lets me expunge convictions. Does that apply to my federal case?
No. State expungement law governs state convictions and arrest records and has no application to a federal conviction. A federal court will not apply a state expungement statute to a federal record. The federal rules are separate and far more restrictive.
Does a pardon expunge my federal record?
No. A presidential pardon forgives a conviction and lifts many legal disabilities, but it does not expunge or seal the conviction. The conviction remains on the record, which then also reflects that a pardon was granted.
How can a federal expungement lawyer help if expungement is so limited?
The value is diagnostic. Counsel who knows this area can tell you within one review whether § 3607, a circuit-specific arrest-record theory, or an FCRA database dispute fits your facts — and when none does, redirect you to the remedy that changes what the record means, such as vacatur or clemency, before you spend money on a motion no court has jurisdiction to grant.
How long does a felony stay on your record?
Permanently, unless something changes the record itself. A federal felony conviction never ages off the FBI identity history summary, and the Fair Credit Reporting Act allows background-check companies to report convictions indefinitely. The seven-year limit people have heard about applies to arrests that did not end in conviction, not to convictions.
What shows up on an FBI identity history summary?
The rap sheet lists arrests, charges, and the dispositions that agencies and courts reported, across both federal and state systems. It is compiled from fingerprint submissions, and you can request your own copy from the FBI to see exactly what it says — a worthwhile step before pursuing any record remedy, since reporting gaps and errors are common.
Will a state expungement clear my FBI record?
Only for the state matter it covers, and only through the state’s own reporting channel — a state expungement order does not bind federal databases, though the FBI file is typically updated when the state repository reports the relief. State relief has no effect on a federal conviction, and a federal § 3607 expungement has no effect on state records. Each system’s relief reaches only its own records.
How Our Firm Helps With Federal Record Relief
Most record-relief consultations end with us talking a client out of a filing — and that is the service. We start by pulling apart what the record actually is: which entries are arrests, which are convictions, what the FBI file and the court docket each show. Then we test the narrow openings — § 3607 eligibility, an arrest-record theory under the law of the right circuit, a database error the FCRA can force a screening company to fix — before anyone drafts a motion a judge has no power to grant. When the answer is that the record cannot be cleared, we pivot to what can change its legal effect, from vacatur to clemency, and to managing the other fallout mapped in our collateral consequences hub.
Talk With a Federal Post-Conviction Lawyer
Before you spend another year assuming nothing can be done — or worse, paying for a motion no court can grant — get the question answered correctly once. In a paid, one-hour initial consultation, we review what your record shows, which of the narrow openings (if any) fits your facts, and which remedy actually serves the goal behind the question. Bring your FBI identity history summary if you have it; if not, we will tell you how to get it.