You can become a nurse in Texas with a felony on your record in most cases. The Texas Board of Nursing must refuse a license for a short list of violent and sexual felonies, but even that bar lifts five years after you finish your sentence. Every other felony gets an individual review that weighs how long ago the offense happened, what it involved, and what you have done since. The smartest move, before you pay a dime of tuition, is to ask the Board for a preliminary ruling on your eligibility.
Felonies That Force the Board to Say No
Texas Occupations Code Section 301.4535 lists offenses that require the Board to refuse a license on proof of conviction. The Board has no discretion on these. The list runs broader than most applicants expect:
- Murder, capital murder, and manslaughter
- Kidnapping or unlawful restraint punished as a felony
- Sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, continuous sexual abuse of a child or disabled person, and indecency with a child
- Aggravated assault, and injuring or abandoning a child, elderly person, or disabled person
- Robbery, aggravated robbery, aiding suicide punished as a state jail felony, selling or purchasing a child, and agreeing to abduct a child from custody
- Felony-level violations of certain family violence or stalking protective orders
- Any offense requiring sex offender registration
- Convictions under federal law, military law, or another state’s law with substantially similar elements
The denial is serious, but it is not necessarily permanent. Section 301.4535(c) makes you eligible again on the fifth anniversary of successfully completing community supervision or parole for one of these offenses. If you finished probation or parole more than five years ago, the Board can consider your application.1Texas Public Law. Texas Occupations Code Section 301.4535 – Required Suspension, Revocation, or Refusal of License for Certain Offenses
How the Board Reviews Every Other Felony
If your conviction is not on the Section 301.4535 list, the Board decides first whether the offense directly relates to the duties and responsibilities of nursing. A drug distribution conviction has an obvious connection to a profession that handles controlled substances. A decades-old property crime may not.2Legal Information Institute. 22 Texas Administrative Code 213.28 – Licensure of Individuals with Criminal History
When the Board finds that connection, Texas Occupations Code Section 53.023 requires it to weigh:
- The extent and nature of your criminal history
- Your age at the time of the offense
- The time that has passed since your last offense
- Your conduct and work history before and after
- Evidence of rehabilitation, including education, counseling, or treatment
- Compliance with the conditions of probation, parole, or mandatory supervision
- Other evidence of fitness, including letters of recommendation you gather yourself
No single factor decides the question. Someone convicted of a drug felony fifteen years ago with steady employment, completed treatment, and strong references stands in a very different position from someone with a recent conviction and nothing to show for the years since. The statute puts the responsibility to assemble that showing on you.3State of Texas. Texas Occupations Code 53.023
Deferred Adjudication, Expunctions, and Sealed Records
Many Texans with deferred adjudication believe they were never convicted and have nothing to disclose. For nursing, that assumption causes real problems. The Board’s eligibility questionnaire asks whether you have ever received deferred adjudication for any criminal offense other than Class C misdemeanor traffic violations.4Texas Board of Nursing. Licensure Eligibility
Section 53.021(c) generally prevents licensing authorities from treating a dismissed deferred adjudication as a conviction, but subsection (e) carves out an exception for licenses that authorize providing public health services. Nursing sits inside that exception. The Board can treat your deferred adjudication the same as a conviction and evaluate it under the Section 53.023 factors.5State of Texas. Texas Occupations Code 53.021 Disclose it. The Board runs fingerprint-based checks against both DPS and FBI databases, which pull records that a private employer’s name-based screen would miss. Hiding something the Board is about to find raises exactly the character and fitness questions you want to avoid.6Texas Board of Nursing. Criminal Background Check Instructions
Expunged and sealed records are different. If a court has expunged or sealed the record, you do not need to disclose it. Even so, the Board recommends submitting a copy of the court order with your application, because an undisclosed offense that still surfaces in the background check can look like dishonesty.4Texas Board of Nursing. Licensure Eligibility
An order of nondisclosure gives you less protection than people assume. Under Government Code Chapter 411, the Board is entitled to access criminal history records subject to a nondisclosure order. Even if you correctly leave the offense off your application, the Board can see it and may ask about the underlying conduct. Treat a nondisclosure order as a shield against private employers, not against the Board.
File a Declaratory Order Before You Enroll
The Board offers a Declaratory Order (DO) petition that lets you find out whether your criminal history will block licensure before you commit to a nursing program. For anyone with a felony considering nursing school in Texas, this is the most important step.
The petition asks you to explain why your background may create a problem and to attach the court documents behind it: indictments, judgments, orders of deferred adjudication, probation records, and proof of completion. The regulation says “all” court documents, so include everything. If substance use was part of the offense, add proof of sobriety, treatment completion, drug screens, therapy, or support group attendance. The filing fee is $150 and nonrefundable.7Legal Information Institute. 22 Texas Administrative Code 213.30 – Declaratory Order of Eligibility for Licensure8Texas Board of Nursing. Declaratory Order
Some nursing programs trigger the process for you. When you enroll and submit fingerprints through the new student roster process, the Board reviews the results and may send a letter requesting a DO petition and the fee. The initial fingerprint review takes up to 30 days, and once the Enforcement Department has your petition, expect at least 90 days for a decision.9Texas Board of Nursing. New and Accepted Student FAQ The outcome will be one of three: eligible, ineligible, or eligible with conditions. Getting that answer before you are deep into coursework can save years and thousands of dollars.
If the Board Proposes to Deny You
When the Executive Director proposes to find you ineligible, you can request a formal hearing before the State Office of Administrative Hearings. SOAH issues a Proposal for Decision, and the Board then enters a final order stating each basis for the ruling.
What you do next sets your waiting period. If the Board enters a final order denying your petition after a SOAH hearing, you cannot file another petition or seek licensure for three years from the date of that order. If you decline the hearing after the Board proposes to deny you, the wait is one year from the date of the proposal.7Legal Information Institute. 22 Texas Administrative Code 213.30 – Declaratory Order of Eligibility for Licensure Use the time. Additional employment history, community involvement, treatment, and new letters of recommendation all strengthen a second petition.
The Federal Exclusion List Can Still Shut You Out
A Texas license alone does not guarantee a job. The Office of Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services maintains an exclusion list that bars individuals from working for any employer that bills Medicare, Medicaid, or other federal healthcare programs. Because nearly every hospital, nursing home, and clinic accepts federal insurance, being on that list eliminates most nursing jobs.
Federal law requires at least a five-year exclusion for conviction of:
- Offenses connected to delivering services under Medicare or a state healthcare program
- Any federal or state conviction for patient abuse or neglect
- Felony fraud, theft, embezzlement, or financial misconduct in a healthcare program
- Felony unlawful manufacture, distribution, or dispensing of controlled substances
A second qualifying conviction extends the exclusion to ten years, and a third makes it permanent.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 1320a-7 – Exclusion of Certain Individuals and Entities From Participation in Medicare and Other Federal Health Care Programs11Office of Inspector General. Exclusion Authorities This is where people get blindsided: Board approval, nursing school, NCLEX, a valid license, and then no major employer will hire them. If your felony fits any of these categories, check the OIG’s online database before you invest in a nursing education.
Clinical Placements Are a Separate Hurdle
Board approval does not get you through nursing school by itself. Clinical rotations run at hospitals and healthcare facilities, and those facilities run their own background checks under their own standards. A hospital’s HR department can reject a student placement based on a felony conviction even when the Board has found you eligible. Programs typically cannot guarantee a placement for students whose checks raise concerns at partner facilities, and you cannot graduate without the clinical hours.
Ask any program you are considering about its clinical site policies before you enroll. Some will tell you upfront which offenses disqualify students at their partner hospitals. Others will only find out after you have started paying tuition.