In Iowa, an OWI conviction (the state’s name for a DUI) stays on your criminal record permanently, and it stays on your driving record for 12 years from the date of conviction or revocation. The one exception on the criminal side is a deferred judgment on a first offense: complete probation successfully and the record can be expunged. So the honest answer to how long a DUI stays on your record in Iowa is that it depends on which record you mean, and whether you qualified for a deferred judgment at the start of your case.
Two Records, Two Timelines
An OWI creates two separate paper trails, and they follow different rules.
Your criminal record documents the arrest, the charge, and the conviction. Employers, licensing boards, landlords, and the general public can see it through background checks. Your driving record is kept by the Iowa Department of Transportation and tracks violations, license revocations, and related administrative actions. Insurers rely on it, and courts use it to decide whether a new OWI charge counts as a first, second, or third offense.
When people ask how long an OWI “stays on their record,” they usually have the criminal side in mind. But the driving side often matters just as much day to day, because it drives insurance rates and sets the clock for repeat-offense exposure.
The 12-Year Rule on Your Iowa Driving Record
The Iowa DOT keeps an OWI on your driving record for 12 years from the conviction date or the effective date of the revocation. After 12 years, the entry is deleted.
That deletion matters for one specific reason: once an OWI drops off your driving record, it cannot be counted as a prior offense if you are arrested for OWI again. Iowa’s penalties escalate sharply with each offense, so the 12-year window is effectively the lookback period for repeat-offender charging.
A quick example. If you were convicted of a first-offense OWI in 2015 and are arrested again in 2028, the 2015 conviction is gone from your driving record and a court cannot treat the new charge as a second offense based on it. But a second arrest in 2026 falls inside the window, and the 2015 OWI would push the new case into second-offense territory.
Two things the 12-year clock does not do. It does not erase the criminal record on its own; even if a deferred judgment later leads to criminal expungement, the OWI information remains on your driving record for the full 12 years. And it does not control commercial driving consequences, which run on separate federal rules.
What the Driving Record Means for Insurance
An OWI will raise your car insurance premiums for at least three years, and many insurers look back five years or more when setting rates. The OWI stays visible on your Iowa driving record for the full 12 years regardless of when your rates settle down. Iowa also requires you to maintain proof of financial responsibility (SR-22 insurance) for two years from the effective date of your last suspension or revocation.
Why the Criminal Record Is Permanent
Iowa law does not allow expungement of OWI convictions. The misdemeanor expungement statute at Iowa Code chapter 901C explicitly excludes convictions under section 321J.2, which is the OWI statute. Once you are convicted, the criminal record is there for life. Background checks will show it. Applications that ask about criminal history will require you to disclose it.
The only way to avoid that outcome is to never be convicted in the first place, which is exactly what a deferred judgment accomplishes.
Deferred Judgment: The Only Path to a Clean Record
Under a deferred judgment, you plead guilty, but the court holds off on entering a conviction and places you on probation instead. Complete probation and pay everything you owe, and the court dismisses the charge. The record can then be expunged. Violate probation, and the guilty plea you already entered is finalized into a conviction that will stay on your record permanently.
Who Qualifies
Not every first-offense OWI is eligible. Iowa Code section 321J.2 bars a deferred judgment if any of the following apply:
- Your blood alcohol concentration exceeded 0.15.
- You have a prior OWI conviction, a prior OWI deferred judgment, or a prior license revocation under chapter 321J, including one from another state with a substantially similar law.
- You refused the breath, blood, or urine test requested under Iowa’s implied consent law.
- The offense caused bodily injury to anyone other than you.
- You were driving while your license was suspended, revoked, or barred.
If none of those disqualifiers apply, the court has discretion to grant a deferred judgment. It is not automatic. The prosecutor can argue against it, and the judge makes the final call.
What Expungement Does and Doesn’t Do
Once you finish probation and pay all fines, court costs, restitution, and fees, the court orders your discharge, and the criminal record related to the deferred judgment is expunged under Iowa Code section 907.9. Expungement seals the record from public access. Employers running standard background checks should not see it.
Two caveats. Law enforcement agencies may still retain the information for internal purposes. And expungement cleans up the criminal side only; the OWI remains on your driving record for the full 12 years regardless.
Getting the Expungement Processed
For deferred judgments completed after July 1, 2013, expungement is generally automatic. If yours was completed before that date, or if the automatic process did not happen in your county, you have to file a written application yourself with the Clerk of Courts in the county where the case was tried. The Iowa Judicial Branch publishes standard forms.
After filing, the county attorney gets a copy and has the chance to object. With no objection, the court may grant expungement without a hearing. If the prosecutor objects, the court will schedule a hearing before deciding.
Before you file, make sure every financial obligation from the case is paid. Under section 907.9, the court cannot expunge until all restitution, civil penalties, court costs, and fees are satisfied. If you still owe money but are otherwise eligible for discharge from probation, set up a payment plan with the clerk of court or the county attorney first.
Timelines That Don’t Match the 12-Year Rule
Two consequences of an Iowa OWI are not controlled by the state’s 12-year clock, and anyone counting on that window should know about both.
Commercial Driver’s License
Federal regulations govern CDL consequences and run independently of Iowa’s lookback. A first alcohol-related offense triggers a one-year disqualification from operating a commercial motor vehicle, whether the OWI occurred in a commercial vehicle or your personal car. A second alcohol-related offense is a lifetime disqualification. That lifetime ban applies even if decades separate the two incidents. The federal BAC threshold for commercial vehicles is also lower, 0.04 rather than 0.08, so a CDL holder can face disqualification at a level that would not even support a standard OWI charge.
Entry Into Canada
Canada treats impaired driving as a serious criminal offense. Since Bill C-46 took effect on December 18, 2018, the maximum penalty for impaired driving in Canada has been ten years, and the automatic passage-of-time route to admissibility (called “deemed rehabilitation”) no longer applies to offenses committed after that date.
For offenses before December 18, 2018, deemed rehabilitation may still be possible if at least ten years have passed since you completed every element of your sentence, including probation, fines, and license reinstatement. For offenses after that date, your options are applying for criminal rehabilitation (available five years after completing your entire sentence) or obtaining a temporary resident permit for an individual trip. Criminal rehabilitation applications can take a year or more. Anyone with more than one impaired driving conviction faces a steeper path and may never become admissible through the passage of time alone.
The burden is on you to prove admissibility at the border, so if you plan to travel to Canada with an OWI on your record, gather court records and consider getting a legal opinion letter from a Canadian immigration lawyer before the trip.