Virginia Record Sealing: What the October 1, 2026 Deadline Actually Changed

Virginia Record Sealing: What the October 1, 2026 Deadline Actually Changed

Virginia's automatic criminal record sealing law did not expand its list of offenses on October 1, 2026. Those offenses were already covered as of July 1. What the October date carried was a hard statutory deadline for the State Police to start the machinery.

Information last verified on October 4, 2026. This report rests on the Code of Virginia and on the uncodified enactment clauses of the acts that created and amended it, as published by the Virginia Legislative Information System. It has not been reviewed by a licensed attorney.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers Virginia state law only, specifically Va. Code Title 19.2, Chapter 23.2 and the uncodified enactment clauses of the 2021 Special Session I and 2025 Acts of Assembly that set its phase-in dates. It does not address federal record relief, and it does not describe the law of any other state.

What Happened

Two statutory deadlines fell on October 1, 2026, and neither one was an expansion of what can be sealed.

The first governs the engine of the whole system. Virginia's automatic sealing process works by having the State Police comb the Central Criminal Records Exchange, build a list of eligible convictions, and hand that list up the chain until a circuit judge signs an order. Until the first list moves, nothing is sealed automatically no matter how clearly the statute covers an offense. The eighth enactment of 2025 Acts of Assembly c. 634 amended and reenacted the fifth enactment of each of the two 2021 chapters, c. 524 and c. 542, to read:

5. That the Department of State Police shall first transmit the list required under subsection B of § 19.2-392.7 of the Code of Virginia, as created by this act, not later than the earlier of (i) the first day of the third month following the effective date of this act as provided in clause (i) of the fourth enactment of this act or (ii) October 1, 2026.

The clause has carried that two-part shape since 2021: an earlier date triggered by a certification from the Superintendent of State Police, and a flat backstop. All the 2025 act changed was the backstop year, from 2025 to 2026. The certification path was never triggered, so Chapter 23.2 took effect under its own backstop on July 1, 2026 and the transmission deadline is the backstop date, October 1, 2026. The thirteenth enactment of the same act makes the parallel change to the fifth enactment of the 2023 chapters, cc. 554 and 555.

The second deadline concerns a records portal. The second enactment of the same act provides:

2. That the Department of State Police shall develop a secure portal for the purpose of allowing government agencies to determine whether a record has been sealed prior to responding to a request under § 2.2-3706 or 2.2-3706.1 of the Code of Virginia, as amended by this act, by October 1, 2026.

Read it closely, because the clause is narrower than a summary of it suggests. The portal's stated users are government agencies, and its stated purpose is to keep an agency from handing out a sealed record in response to a Freedom of Information Act request for criminal incident information. Nothing in the clause creates a place where a member of the public can look up whether their own record has been sealed.

What did not happen on October 1 is the offense expansion. The fifth and sixth enactments of the 2025 act fixed a single earlier date for the substance of the law:

5. That the provisions of §§ 2.2-3706 and 2.2-3706.1 and §§ 9.1-101, 9.1-128, 17.1-293.1, 17.1-502, 19.2-310.7, 19.2-392.2, 19.2-392.5 through 19.2-392.8, 19.2-392.11 through 19.2-392.14, 19.2-392.16, and 19.2-392.17, as they shall become effective, of the Code of Virginia, as amended by the first enactment of this act, shall become effective on July 1, 2026. 6. That the provisions of §§ 19.2-392.6:1 and 19.2-392.12:1 of the Code of Virginia, as created by this act, shall become effective on July 1, 2026.

The Virginia State Crime Commission says the same thing in plainer words. Its public page on the subject is headed "SEALING OF CRIMINAL RECORDS BEGINS ON JULY 1, 2026" and lists the misdemeanor convictions, the marijuana possession offenses, the non-conviction dispositions, and the traffic infractions all under that one date.

Two things this report cannot confirm. The first is whether the State Police met either October 1 deadline. The agency's website did not load on any attempt made for this article, and no official announcement of the first transmission or of the portal's launch was located. The statutory obligation is documented. The compliance is not. The second is the exact wording of the portal clause quoted above. The transmission deadline is corroborated independently by the Virginia State Crime Commission, which cites enactment clauses 8 and 13 of the 2025 acts for the October 1, 2026 date, and the clause it amends can be read in the 2021 act. The Commission does not address the portal, and the Legislative Information System would not serve the chaptered text of the 2025 act on any attempt made through October 4, 2026, so that one clause has not been re-read against the act itself.

What the Law Actually Says

Automatic sealing of convictions runs on a short list. Va. Code 19.2-392.6(A) covers a misdemeanor violation of § 18.2-96 (petit larceny) or § 18.2-103 (concealing or taking possession of merchandise, altering price tags); § 18.2-119 (trespass after having been forbidden to do so), § 18.2-120 (instigating such trespass), or § 18.2-134 (trespass on posted property); a misdemeanor violation of § 18.2-248.1 (distribution of marijuana); and § 18.2-415 (disorderly conduct in public places). The offense date must fall on or after January 1, 1986.

Two conditions sit on top of that list, and they disqualify more people than the list suggests. Subsection B requires that seven years have passed since the conviction and that the person has not been convicted in that window of anything reportable to the Central Criminal Records Exchange, or of violating the law of any other state, the District of Columbia, the United States, or any United States territory, excluding traffic infractions. Subsection C is blunter: if the person was convicted of an ineligible offense on the same date, nothing from that date seals.

Marijuana possession works differently and more generously. Va. Code 19.2-392.6:1 directs that any criminal or civil matter that ended as a charge or conviction under former § 18.2-250.1 "shall be sealed without the entry of a court order." No waiting period, no judge, and no particular disposition required, although the matter must have concluded. The Records Exchange, the courts, law enforcement agencies, and the Department of Motor Vehicles each seal those records in their own systems, except that subsection B bars the DMV from sealing where federal record retention rules or federal program requirements tied to a license suspension still apply. The other limit is the section number: this reaches former § 18.2-250.1 and nothing else, so a distribution conviction under § 18.2-248.1 still rides the ordinary seven-year track.

Where the automatic process cannot reach, a petition can. Va. Code 19.2-392.12:1 lets a person petition for the same categories plus underage alcohol possession under § 4.1-305 and paraphernalia distribution under § 18.2-265.3(A). There are no court fees, and these petitions do not count against the two-petition lifetime cap that applies to the general sealing statute. This route exists precisely because the State Police may skip any record it cannot resolve by electronic review, or where the criminal history shows an out-of-state charge during the lookback period. Our guide to Virginia expungement and sealing walks through both pathways in more detail.

Now the part that matters most, and is easiest to miss. Sealing is not erasure. Under Va. Code 19.2-392.5, sealing means prohibiting public access to a record held by the Records Exchange, the courts, police departments, sheriffs' offices, campus police departments, and the DMV. The record keeps existing. Va. Code 19.2-392.13(C) then enumerates 28 purposes for which it may still be disseminated. Among them: determining eligibility to possess or purchase a firearm, including through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System; screening applicants for the State Police or any police department or sheriff's office; compliance with Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration rules by DMV, motor carriers, and medical examiners; any employer inquiry federal law requires; positions subject to national security screening; child custody and care proceedings; protective order hearings; jury eligibility; and disclosure to the person themselves. Subsection C1 adds that agencies may share sealed records among themselves to carry out duties required by state or federal law.

Against that, Chapter 23.2 puts real weight on the other side of the ledger. Va. Code 19.2-392.15 bars Virginia private employers that are not subject to federal laws or regulations in the hiring process, along with state and local government agencies, educational institutions, landlords, and insurers, from requiring an applicant to disclose a sealed matter, requires them to say so on the application form, and makes a willful violation a Class 1 misdemeanor for each occurrence. Va. Code 19.2-392.5(D) lets the person deny or not disclose the arrest, charge, or conviction to any state or local government agency or to any private employer in the Commonwealth, without exposure to a perjury charge. Subsection E carves that back in five situations: police and sheriff agency applications, inquiries the Code requires, inquiries federal law requires, national security positions, and employers allowed access under the § 9.1-128 regulations. Va. Code 19.2-392.16 requires background screening companies to register with the State Police for sealing notifications and to promptly delete any record they know is sealed. If you are trying to understand how these duties interact with ordinary hiring and tenant screening, see our breakdown of Virginia background check rules for employers and landlords.

Finally, what sealing never does. It does not restore civil rights or firearm rights. It does not cancel fines, costs, or restitution. It does not keep the offense out of a pretrial or sentencing report in a later case.

Analysis: Why This Matters

The following is analysis from the Recording Law Editorial Team.

The confusion over these dates is not a trivia problem. It is a direct consequence of how Virginia built this law, and it has a cost measured in people acting on the wrong assumption.

An effective date and an operative date are different things, and Chapter 23.2 separated them by three months on purpose. On July 1, 2026, a Virginian with a nine-year-old petit larceny conviction and a clean record since became legally eligible for automatic sealing. Nothing about their actual record changed that morning. The statute obliged the State Police to transmit a first list by October 1, and the monthly cycle runs from there through the Office of the Executive Secretary to the circuit court clerk to a judge's order and back. A record that qualifies in July may not carry a sealing order until well after October, and the law gives the individual no notification step at any point in that chain.

That design choice makes the gap between the two dates consequential in a specific way. Someone who reads that sealing "took effect" and concludes their record is clean may check a no box on an application that still shows a conviction to the employer running the check. Virginia's protections are strong, but they protect a record that has actually been sealed. They do nothing for a record that is merely eligible.

The portal deserves its own clarification. A secure lookup that tells agencies whether a record is sealed before they answer a records request is genuine infrastructure, and it closes a real leak: the agency that honestly answers a FOIA request with information a court has ordered sealed. But it is built for the disclosing side, not the subject side. The asymmetry is worth naming, because the one party with the strongest interest in knowing whether a record is sealed, the person whose record it is, still has to request a court order to see their own sealed file under Va. Code 19.2-392.13(D).

There is also a quiet structural problem that the 28 permitted uses create. A record that is sealed against the general public but visible to federally regulated employers, to the firearm eligibility system, to child custody proceedings, and to any employer the Code requires to ask is, for a meaningful slice of the labor market, not sealed at all. Virginia is honest about this in the statute. Coverage that calls it a clean slate is not. Readers comparing their options across state lines will find materially different designs; Maryland's expungement framework works from a single statutory definition of removal from public inspection rather than from a list of enumerated purposes for which a record stays reachable, which produces a different answer to the same question.

How This Affects You

If you have a Virginia conviction in one of the listed categories, eligibility and sealing are separate questions, and only the second one changes what shows on a background check. The statute provides no notice to the individual when an order is entered.

The only way to know what your record says is to look at it. Virginia State Police issue criminal history records to the subject of the record, and the Virginia Judicial System's statewide case search shows court case information. If a matter has been sealed, the online case system will not show it, and law enforcement will respond that no record exists.

If an application asks about a prior arrest or conviction and the record has not in fact been sealed, the protections in Va. Code 19.2-392.15 and 19.2-392.5 do not apply to it. Those sections speak only to sealed records.

If you believe a sealed record is still being sold or reported by a background screening company, Va. Code 19.2-392.16 gives you a dispute process at no charge and the right to have an inaccurate record corrected, alongside other remedies the statute contemplates.

If your matter was eligible for automatic sealing but has not sealed, the no-fee petition under Va. Code 19.2-392.12:1 exists for exactly that situation, and it does not consume the lifetime petition cap that applies elsewhere in the chapter. For how other states structure comparable relief, see our state by state guide to clearing a criminal record.

Virginia law is specific and the exclusions are numerous. Anyone weighing a petition, or trying to work out whether a particular conviction qualifies, should consult a licensed Virginia attorney about the actual record rather than reasoning from a category name.

This is general legal information, not legal advice. This article describes Virginia statutes and their enactment clauses in general terms as of October 4, 2026. It does not tell you whether any particular record is eligible for sealing, has been sealed, or will be sealed. Eligibility turns on the full contents of a criminal history record. Consult a licensed Virginia attorney about your own situation.

Related articles

• Virginia Expungement Laws
• Virginia Background Check Laws
• Expungement Laws by State
• Maryland Expungement Laws
• Virginia Scam and Fraud Laws

Last updated: 2026-10-04. This is a developing story; details verified as of 2026-10-04.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did Virginia expand automatic record sealing on October 1, 2026?

No. The offense categories covered by automatic sealing, including petit larceny, concealment of merchandise, the three trespass sections, misdemeanor marijuana distribution, disorderly conduct, and former marijuana possession records, took effect July 1, 2026 under the fifth and sixth enactments of 2025 Acts of Assembly c. 634. October 1, 2026 was the statutory deadline for the Virginia State Police to transmit the first list of eligible convictions to the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court and to the interfacing circuit court clerks, and the deadline for a secure sealed-record portal for government agencies.

Is there a Virginia website where I can check whether my record has been sealed?

The portal required by the 2025 legislation is described in the statute as a secure portal allowing government agencies to determine whether a record has been sealed before responding to a public records request. It is not described as a public lookup tool. Under Va. Code 19.2-392.13(D), a person who wants to access their own sealed court record has to obtain an order from the court that sealed it, or from the court where the case was finally disposed of if it sealed without an order.

Which Virginia convictions can be sealed automatically?

Va. Code 19.2-392.6(A) covers a misdemeanor violation of section 18.2-96 or 18.2-103, a violation of section 18.2-119, 18.2-120, or 18.2-134, a misdemeanor violation of section 18.2-248.1, and a violation of section 18.2-415, with an offense date on or after January 1, 1986. Sealing requires seven years since the conviction with no reportable convictions in that period, and it does not apply at all if the person was convicted of an ineligible offense on the same date.

Are all Virginia marijuana records being sealed?

Va. Code 19.2-392.6:1 directs that any criminal or civil matter concluding as a charge or conviction under former section 18.2-250.1, which covered simple possession of marijuana, be sealed without a court order and with no waiting period, whatever the final disposition was, although the matter must have concluded. It is limited to that former section, and subsection B bars the Department of Motor Vehicles from sealing where federal record retention rules or federal program requirements tied to a license suspension still apply. Marijuana distribution convictions under section 18.2-248.1 are handled through the ordinary seven-year automatic process instead.

Can an employer still see a sealed Virginia record?

Sometimes. Va. Code 19.2-392.15 bars Virginia private employers that are not subject to federal laws or regulations in the hiring process, along with government agencies, schools, landlords, and insurers, from requiring disclosure of a sealed matter, and makes a willful violation a Class 1 misdemeanor. But Va. Code 19.2-392.13(C) lists 28 purposes for which a sealed record may still be disseminated, including police agency hiring, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration compliance, national security screening, and any inquiry federal law or the Virginia Code requires an employer to make.

Does sealing restore firearm rights or cancel what I owe?

No. Sealing does not restore civil rights or the right to possess a firearm, and Va. Code 19.2-392.13(C) expressly permits sealed records to be used in firearm eligibility determinations, including through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Fines, court costs, and restitution remain payable, and a sealed offense is still disclosed in pretrial and sentencing reports in later cases.