In Arizona, a DUI stays on your Motor Vehicle Division driving record for five years, but it stays on your criminal record permanently unless you take action to remove it. Those are two separate records with two separate rules, and the permanent one is where most of the long-term damage lives. Arizona law does give you two tools to soften the criminal side: setting aside the conviction and, since 2023, sealing the record entirely.
Five Years on Your Driving Record
Your MVD driving record is the file insurers and the MVD itself use to judge you as a driver. A DUI conviction stays visible there for five years. During that window, insurance carriers can see it, and most will either raise your premiums sharply or decline to renew you.
The conviction also adds eight points to your license in one shot. Because a single DUI already hits the eight-point threshold, the MVD will order you to complete Traffic Survival School after a first conviction, and skipping the class triggers an automatic suspension.1Arizona Department of Transportation. Traffic Survival School
If you move out of state, the conviction usually follows. Arizona belongs to the Interstate Driver License Compact, an agreement among 45 states to share driving-related convictions, and your new home state can act on the report under its own laws. Some non-compact states share the information anyway.
Permanent on Your Criminal Record
Your criminal record does not work like your driving record. A DUI conviction never falls off on its own. There is no expiration date and no automatic cleanup. Every background check for employment, housing, or professional licensing will surface it, year after year.
This is where a DUI does its lasting harm. Employers in driving, childcare, healthcare, education, and government roles routinely screen criminal histories, and a DUI can knock you out of contention or send your application to the bottom of the stack. Landlords running tenant screening see it too. That permanence is the reason Arizona’s set-aside and sealing options exist.
The 84-Month Look-Back Is Not a Record Timeline
People often mix up the five-year record window with Arizona’s 84-month (seven-year) look-back, but they do different jobs. The look-back is a sentencing rule. A second DUI within 84 months of the first carries a minimum of 90 days in jail for a standard DUI and 120 days for an extreme DUI.2Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 28 Section 28-1381 A third DUI within that window becomes an aggravated DUI, a class 4 felony.3Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 28-1383 – Aggravated Driving or Actual Physical Control While Under the Influence After 84 months pass, a new DUI is generally sentenced as a first offense. The conviction itself is still on your criminal record; it just no longer enhances a new sentence.
Setting Aside a DUI Conviction
Once you have completed every part of your sentence, including any jail time, fines, assessments, community service, and court-ordered treatment, you can petition the court to set aside the conviction. A set-aside does not erase anything. The court dismisses the original charges and releases you from most of the penalties and disabilities tied to the conviction.4Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-905 – Setting Aside Judgment of Convicted Person on Discharge
Your criminal record will then show the case as “dismissed” after completion of the sentence. On a routine background check, that reads considerably better than an active conviction, though a determined investigator can still see the underlying history. The set-aside also has two clear limits. It does not touch your MVD driving record; the statute specifically preserves the Department of Transportation’s authority to treat the conviction as if it had never been set aside. And the conviction still counts toward the 84-month look-back if you pick up another DUI.4Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-905 – Setting Aside Judgment of Convicted Person on Discharge
To apply, you file a petition with the court that handled the original case. The prosecutor has 60 days to object. There is no guarantee the judge will grant it. The court weighs the nature of the offense, your compliance with the sentence, and any later criminal history. Standard and extreme DUI misdemeanors are generally eligible.
Sealing Your Criminal Record
A law that took effect in 2023 gives Arizona residents a stronger remedy: sealing the criminal record. A sealed record is inaccessible to the general public. Most employers, landlords, and licensing boards running standard background checks will not see it, and you can legally state on employment, housing, and loan applications that you were never arrested for or convicted of the sealed offense.5Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-911 – Sealing of Arrest, Conviction and Sentencing Records
Waiting Periods
You cannot petition on the day you finish your sentence. Arizona imposes waiting periods tied to how the offense was classified:
- Class 1 misdemeanor (standard or extreme DUI): three years after completing all nonmonetary terms of the sentence.
- Class 4 felony (most aggravated DUI convictions): five years after completing all nonmonetary terms.
- Class 6 felony (aggravated DUI involving a child under 15): five years after completing all nonmonetary terms.6Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-911 – Sealing of Arrest, Conviction and Sentencing Records
You also have to pay every dollar in fines, fees, and restitution before filing. The court will not consider the petition until all monetary obligations are cleared.6Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-911 – Sealing of Arrest, Conviction and Sentencing Records
What Sealing Does Not Cover
Sealing is powerful for everyday background checks, but it is not invisible to the legal system. A sealed DUI can still enhance the penalty on a future DUI within the 84-month look-back window. Law enforcement, prosecutors, and specific government agencies named in the statute can still see the record. And if the court denies your petition, you have to wait three years to try again.6Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-911 – Sealing of Arrest, Conviction and Sentencing Records
Set-Aside vs. Sealing
The practical difference matters. A set-aside changes the label on a record anyone can still find. Sealing hides the record from nearly everyone outside the criminal justice system. For most people trying to move past a DUI, sealing is the stronger tool. The trade-off is time: three years of waiting for a misdemeanor, five for a felony, with a clean record in the interim.
A Note If You Hold a CDL
The record rules above are the same for a commercial driver, but the licensing consequences are not. Federal law imposes a minimum one-year CDL disqualification for a first DUI, even if the arrest happened in your personal vehicle, and three years if you were hauling hazardous materials at the time. A second DUI triggers a lifetime CDL disqualification, reducible to no less than 10 years at the discretion of regulators.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 49 USC 31310 – Disqualifications A set-aside or sealed criminal record does not undo a federal CDL disqualification.