Georgia expungement eligibility.

Wait periods by offense category

Years required between completion of all sentence requirements and the earliest date relief is available.

Wait periods are counted from the latest of: release from custody, end of probation/parole, or final restitution payment. Statute citation applies. Confirm with a licensed attorney before relying.

Compute your earliest eligible date

Enter your sentence-completion date and offense category to compute the earliest petition date.

How to file in Georgia

1. Pull a certified copy of your record from Georgia's criminal history repository.
2. Confirm restitution and fines are fully paid. Outstanding obligations block almost every petition.
3. Confirm probation/parole discharge. Get a final discharge letter or a current letter from your supervising officer.
4. Verify the wait period for your offense (table above) is satisfied.
5. File the petition at the Superior Court (felonies) or State/Magistrate Court (misdemeanors) in the county of conviction. Filing fee: $25.
6. Serve the prosecutor with notice of the petition. Most states require this before a judge will rule.
7. Attend the hearing if the court schedules one. Many uncontested petitions are decided on the papers.

Recent amendments

Major statutory changes affecting record relief in Georgia.

• 2020

  SB 288 (effective Jan 1, 2021)

  Amended O.C.G.A. §35-3-37 to allow petition-based restriction and sealing of up to two misdemeanor convictions and any pardoned offense.

  Primary source: gjp.org ↗
• 2015

  Retroactive First Offender (HB 328, codified O.C.G.A. §42-8-66)

  Allowed people who could have been sentenced as First Offenders to petition for retroactive First Offender treatment.

  Primary source: ccresourcecenter.org ↗

Georgia-specific carve-outs

Categories the law treats differently in this state.

• DUI, sex offenses, family-violence battery excluded

  Misdemeanor DUI, family-violence misdemeanors, sex offenses, and certain offenses against minors remain excluded from SB 288 restriction/sealing.

  Source: gjp.org ↗

Common mistakes to avoid

Reasons Georgia petitions get bounced or sealings fail to land.

• !The four-year conviction-free window must be measured from sentence completion, not from arrest or conviction date.
• !Petitioner must specifically prove that harm to them outweighs the public's need to know — a one-paragraph petition usually loses.

Excluded categories

These categories are typically excluded from petition relief in Georgia based on our research. An attorney may still see options.

• Sex offenses

  Excluded from automatic and petition relief in nearly every state. A few narrow carve-outs exist for older non-registerable offenses.

  See state-by-state pages

• Violent felonies

  Generally excluded from automatic Clean Slate sealing; some states allow petition relief after long wait periods.

• DUI / DWI

  Treatment varies widely. Some states (e.g. Michigan, Virginia) carve out DUIs entirely; others treat them as standard misdemeanors.

• Pending cases or unpaid restitution

  Most states require all sentence requirements — including restitution to victims — to be fully discharged before the clock starts.

• Federal convictions

  Federal expungement is functionally non-existent. There is no statutory federal expungement remedy for most offenses.

Related reading

• When the eligibility clock starts

  Why the wait period in Georgia runs from the latest of release, end of supervision, or restitution paid.

• What most states leave out

  Categories of offenses excluded from automatic sealing and petition relief.

• Unpaid restitution as a silent block

  How an open balance on the criminal docket blocks an otherwise eligible record.

• Sealing and professional licensing

  Why FBI-fingerprint background checks see records that consumer reports don't.