How Long Does a Felony Stay on Your Record in Texas?

A felony conviction in Texas is permanent. There is no waiting period after which a felony conviction automatically falls off your record, no expungement available for felony convictions, and — for most categories of felony — no order of nondisclosure available either. A felony conviction appears on background checks for employment, housing, professional licensing, security clearances, and financial services for the rest of your life, with no mechanism under current Texas law to remove or seal it from public access.

This is the answer most people searching this question do not want to receive. But it is the accurate answer, and understanding exactly why felony records are permanent — and what the genuinely limited exceptions are — is essential for anyone who has a felony conviction or who is currently facing a felony charge and needs to understand what a conviction would mean for the rest of their life.

Why Felony Convictions Cannot Be Expunged in Texas

Expunction under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 55 is available only when no conviction resulted from the arrest. The statute authorizes expunction for arrests where charges were never filed, for charges that were dismissed, and for acquittals at trial. Once a conviction is entered — whether through a guilty plea, a no-contest plea, or a jury verdict — expunction is no longer available regardless of the offense level, the sentence imposed, or how much time has passed since the conviction.

This is not a technicality or an oversight — it is a deliberate feature of Texas expunction law. The Texas Legislature determined that the public’s interest in knowing the criminal history of convicted persons outweighs the convicted person’s interest in having that record removed. The result is that a felony conviction from any decade remains on the public criminal history maintained by the Texas Department of Public Safety and accessible through background check services indefinitely.

Why Felony Convictions Generally Cannot Be Sealed Either

Orders of nondisclosure under Texas Government Code Chapter 411 seal criminal records from public access — removing convictions from the DPS public portal and from most private background check databases. Nondisclosure was expanded in recent years to cover more categories of offenses, but it still excludes a significant range of felony convictions that most people would expect to be eligible.

Felony convictions that are specifically excluded from nondisclosure eligibility under Texas Government Code Section 411.074 include any conviction that requires sex offender registration, any conviction involving family violence, any conviction for murder or capital murder, any conviction for kidnapping or aggravated kidnapping, any conviction for trafficking of persons, any conviction for abandoning or endangering a child, any conviction for stalking, and any offense with a deadly weapon finding in the judgment.

Beyond the specific exclusions, the general nondisclosure statute for felony offenses — Texas Government Code Section 411.0725 — requires that the offense must have been eligible for deferred adjudication, that the defendant successfully completed deferred adjudication community supervision, and that a waiting period of five years from the date of discharge has elapsed before a petition can be filed. This means that nondisclosure for felony offenses is available only for deferred adjudication — not for convictions. A felony conviction through a guilty plea or trial verdict is not eligible for nondisclosure under Section 411.0725 regardless of the waiting period.

The practical implication is stark: a felony conviction in Texas — through any pathway other than deferred adjudication — is permanent and publicly visible on criminal background checks for life.

The Deferred Adjudication Exception

The one pathway through which a felony charge can result in a sealable record is successful completion of deferred adjudication community supervision followed by a successful nondisclosure petition. Deferred adjudication is a form of probation under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 42A.101 where the judge defers a finding of guilt and places the defendant on supervision for a period of up to ten years for a felony. If the defendant successfully completes the supervision period without violations, the case is dismissed — technically, no conviction is entered.

After discharge from felony deferred adjudication and a five-year waiting period, the defendant may petition the court that handled the original case for an order of nondisclosure. The nondisclosure seals the record from public background checks — but as noted above, not for the excluded offense categories, and not for all government purposes. Law enforcement, courts, and most licensing boards retain access to sealed records.

The deferred adjudication option is also not available for all felony offenses. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 42A.102 prohibits deferred adjudication for DWI, capital murder, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault, aggravated robbery, and certain other serious offenses. For these charges, a plea results in a conviction — not a deferral — and the conviction is permanent.

What a Dismissed Felony Charge Means for Your Record

The record outcome is completely different when a felony charge is dismissed rather than resulting in a conviction. A dismissed felony charge — whether dismissed by the prosecutor, by the court, or through a not-guilty verdict at trial — is potentially eligible for expunction under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 55.

For a dismissed felony charge where the grand jury returned a no-bill, the case was dismissed by the prosecutor before trial, or the defendant was acquitted, the expunction petition can be filed after the statute of limitations for the underlying offense has expired. For most felonies in Texas, the statute of limitations is three years — meaning three years after the dismissal, the defendant can file for expunction and have all records of the arrest destroyed.

After expunction, the defendant can legally deny that the arrest ever occurred on employment applications, housing applications, and most professional licensing applications. The contrast between a dismissed felony charge and a felony conviction is the most complete record contrast available in Texas criminal law — one produces a destroyed record, the other produces a permanent one.

How a Felony Conviction Affects Your Life Beyond the Sentence

The permanent nature of a felony record affects every aspect of a convicted person’s life long after the sentence is completed.

• Employment. Most employers who run background checks will see a felony conviction regardless of when it occurred. Texas law places some restrictions on how employers can use criminal history in hiring decisions — the Texas Labor Code prohibits blanket exclusions of applicants with criminal records in some contexts — but a felony conviction is visible, disclosable, and a factor that most employers consider seriously, particularly for positions involving access to vulnerable populations, financial accounts, or positions of trust.
• Housing. Landlords routinely run criminal background checks and many have policies that exclude applicants with felony convictions. Public housing programs administered through HUD have specific restrictions on housing persons with certain categories of felony convictions. A felony record creates housing challenges that are most acute in the years immediately following release from custody but persist indefinitely.
• Voting rights. A felony conviction in Texas results in the loss of the right to vote during the period of confinement, supervision, or parole under Texas Election Code Section 11.002. Voting rights are automatically restored upon full discharge — completion of all supervision, parole, and sentence requirements — without any separate petition or application. This automatic restoration distinguishes Texas from some other states that require a separate rights restoration proceeding.
• Firearm rights. Under Texas Penal Code Section 46.04, a felony conviction results in loss of the right to possess a firearm in any location other than the person’s own home for five years after conviction or release from confinement, supervision, or parole — whichever is later. After that five-year period, possession in the home only is permitted under Texas law. Federal law under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) is permanent and more restrictive — federal law permanently prohibits felons from possessing any firearm or ammunition anywhere, with no restoration mechanism absent a specific legal process. The federal prohibition applies simultaneously with the state restriction and is not satisfied by the expiration of the state restriction.
• Professional licensing. Every professional licensing board in Texas — the Texas Board of Nursing, the Texas Medical Board, the Texas Education Agency, the State Bar of Texas, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation — conducts criminal history reviews that surface felony convictions. Each board applies its own standards, but a felony conviction requires mandatory disclosure and independent review by virtually every licensing authority. The impact varies by the nature of the conviction, the profession, and how much time has passed — but a felony conviction from any year cannot be hidden from licensing applications.
• Federal benefits and programs. Certain federal benefits — including some student loan programs, federal housing assistance, SNAP benefits, and SSI — impose restrictions or disqualifications based on specific categories of felony convictions. The specific restrictions vary by program and by the nature of the conviction.
• Security clearances. A felony conviction is evaluated under the adjudicative guidelines administered by the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency for federal employment and contractor positions requiring security clearances. A single older felony conviction with evidence of rehabilitation, stable employment, and a clean record since does not automatically disqualify a clearance applicant — but it must be disclosed, will be scrutinized, and can result in denial depending on the nature of the offense and the clearance level required.

The Most Important Implication for Anyone Currently Facing a Felony Charge

Everything in this post about the permanent consequences of a felony conviction describes outcomes that do not happen if the charge is dismissed, if the defendant is acquitted, or if the defendant successfully completes deferred adjudication — where that option is available — and ultimately obtains a nondisclosure.

This is why fighting a felony charge aggressively from the first day, pursuing every available suppression argument, and evaluating every option for dismissal or charge reduction before any plea is entered produces outcomes with materially different lifelong consequences than accepting a plea quickly without fully evaluating the alternatives. The sentence in a felony case ends — the record does not.

If you are facing a felony charge in San Antonio or Bexar County, or if you have a felony conviction and want to understand whether any record relief is available in your specific situation, call Barton & Associates at 210-500-0000. Consultations are free, confidential, and available 24 hours a day with a criminal defense attorney.