Virginia Court Records: How to Search, What's Public, and How Sealing Now Works (2026)

Virginia does not give the general public a free, statewide way to search court records remotely. The state's only remote-access system, OCRA, is reserved for attorneys and government agencies. Meanwhile, Virginia's record-sealing landscape changed in a real way this year: automatic and petition-based sealing took effect on July 1, 2026, adding a new remedy alongside the state's older expungement statute. This guide covers both.

Information last verified on 2026-08-10. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

No Public Remote Portal: How OCRA Actually Works

Virginia's Officer of the Court Remote Access system, known as OCRA, sounds like it might be a public case-search tool. It is not. Per Hanover County's own FAQ, OCRA is "the Virginia General Assembly authorized system enabling secure remote access by subscribers to digital civil and criminal case files stored in the Supreme Court of Virginia's Case Imaging System (CIS)." The word "subscribers" is doing a lot of work there. Eligible users are limited to "members in good standing of the Virginia State Bar and their authorized agents," attorneys admitted pro hac vice, and government agencies authorized by the clerk. The general public is not one of the listed user groups.

OCRA is administered county by county, and subscription fees vary accordingly. Hanover County, one of the counties whose fee schedule is confirmed directly, charges $150.00 per attorney per year plus $50.00 per supervised staff member. Other Virginia counties set their own OCRA pricing, so a fee quoted for one county should not be assumed to apply elsewhere.

How the General Public Actually Checks a Virginia Case

Because OCRA is not a public tool, checking a case in a Virginia circuit or general district court runs through the clerk of that court, in person or by phone or written request, rather than through an online statewide search. Some individual courts may publish limited online case-status information of their own, but there is no confirmed statewide list of which courts do this, so check the specific court's own website or contact the clerk directly rather than assuming a portal exists.

Sealing Is Now Live in Virginia

Virginia's sealing law is not an upcoming change anymore. It took effect on July 1, 2026, and Virginia's State Crime Commission reported in January 2026 that the agencies responsible for building it, including the Virginia State Police, the Office of the Executive Secretary, the DMV, and the Virginia Court Clerks Association, all confirmed implementation was on schedule going into the launch.

Under Code of Virginia § 19.2-392.5, sealing means the state will "prohibit public access to records relating to an arrest, charge, or conviction" held by the Central Criminal Records Exchange, any court, any police or sheriff's department, campus police, or the DMV, with limited exceptions for authorized internal government use. If a record is sealed, law enforcement responding to an outside inquiry must say no record exists, unless one of those exceptions applies. Sealing does not eliminate any obligation to pay fines, costs, or restitution, and it does not restore firearm rights on its own.

Two tracks now exist. Automatic sealing applies to a defined list of misdemeanor convictions, including petit larceny, shoplifting, trespassing, distribution of marijuana, and disorderly conduct, along with marijuana possession and certain non-conviction records. The Virginia State Police has until October 1, 2026 to transmit its first list of convictions eligible for automatic sealing, so the automatic track is still ramping up even though the underlying law is active. Petition-based sealing covers a wider range of misdemeanor and felony convictions and deferred dismissals, but it carries real exclusions: Class 1 through 4 felonies, sex offenses, violent felonies, firearm-related felonies, protective-order violations, hate crimes, and crimes against family or household members are not eligible.

This sealing framework sits alongside, not on top of, Virginia's older expungement statute, which addresses certain non-conviction records through a separate and longer-standing process. For a full eligibility walkthrough of both tracks, see the Virginia expungement laws guide.

Certified Copies and Practical Steps

Certified-copy fees for Virginia court records are set at the clerk's office level rather than through a single statewide schedule. Contact the clerk of the circuit or district court where the case was filed to confirm the current fee before requesting a copy.

Using Virginia Court Records the Right Way

These access paths are built for checking your own case or a matter you are personally involved in, not for compiling background information on someone else. If a Virginia court record is being used to screen a job applicant or tenant, that use is governed separately by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, and OCRA's bar-and-agency-only design is not a substitute for FCRA-compliant screening. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681c, records of criminal convictions are exempt from the standard seven-year reporting limit and can be reported indefinitely unless Virginia has sealed or expunged them.

Related Resources

Court Records by State covers the full 50-state picture. See also How to Look Up Court Records, Are Court Records Public?, Virginia Expungement Laws, Virginia Background Check Laws, Virginia Warrant Search, and Virginia Public Records Laws.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about how Virginia's court record access and sealing law work. It is not legal advice. County fees, portal access, and statutes change; verify current details with the relevant clerk's office or a Virginia attorney before relying on anything here for a specific situation.

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Last updated: 2026-08-10. Portal facts and fees reflect their published status as of August 2026.