In Massachusetts, an OUI stays on your driving record for life and on your criminal record permanently unless you take steps to seal it. How long a DUI stays on your record in Massachusetts is really two questions with two answers: the Registry of Motor Vehicles keeps the offense forever with no way to remove it, while your criminal record can be sealed after a waiting period of three years for a misdemeanor OUI or seven years for a felony OUI.
The Driving Record Never Clears
The RMV keeps an OUI on your driving history permanently. There is no lookback window, no expiration, and no petition process to remove it. This is a direct result of Melanie’s Law, enacted in 2005, which eliminated any time limit on how far back the RMV can look when counting prior OUI offenses. Before that law, only offenses within a set window counted toward enhanced penalties. Now an OUI from 20 or 30 years ago still qualifies as a prior offense if you pick up a new charge.
A Continuance Without a Finding counts too. Even though a CWOF is not technically a guilty verdict, the RMV treats it the same as a conviction when tallying prior OUI history. Accept a CWOF on a first offense and get arrested again a decade later, and you face second-offense penalties.
What the Lifetime Lookback Actually Costs You
Because every prior OUI counts regardless of age, penalties escalate sharply the next time around. A first offense carries no mandatory jail time. A second offense requires at least 30 days behind bars with no possibility of suspension or parole for that minimum period, plus a two-year license suspension and a required ignition interlock device — even if the first offense happened decades earlier.1General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Part I Title XIV Chapter 90 Section 24 Third offense is a felony with an eight-year revocation, and by the fifth offense the revocation is for life.
Chemical test refusals stack their own suspensions on top: 180 days for a first offense, three years with one prior, five years with two priors, and a lifetime suspension with three or more priors.2Mass.gov. Alcohol and Drug Suspensions for Over 21 Years of Age The RMV pulls those prior counts from the same permanent driving record.
The Criminal Record (CORI) Stays Until You Seal It
Separate from your driving history, an OUI also appears on your Criminal Offender Record Information, or CORI. This is the record that employers, landlords, and licensing boards see when they run a background check.3Mass.gov. Massachusetts Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) An OUI conviction stays on your CORI permanently unless you take action to seal it.
Sealing Waiting Periods
The waiting period before you can petition to seal depends on whether your OUI is a misdemeanor or a felony. First and second offenses are misdemeanors. Third and subsequent offenses are felonies.
- Misdemeanor OUI (first or second offense): at least three years from the date you were found guilty or released from incarceration, whichever came later.
- Felony OUI (third or subsequent offense): at least seven years from the date of conviction or release from incarceration, whichever came later.
During the waiting period, you also cannot have been found guilty of any other criminal offense in Massachusetts. Minor traffic tickets with fines under $50 don’t count against you.4General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 276 Section 100A
A CWOF follows a slightly different path. Because a CWOF results in a dismissal after you complete probation rather than a conviction, it falls under the non-conviction sealing process. The waiting period for a CWOF starts from the date of the CWOF itself, and these cases are filed through the clerk’s office of the court where the case was heard rather than by mail to the Commissioner of Probation.5Mass.gov. Request to Seal Your Criminal Record
How to File
For convictions, fill out the Petition to Seal Conviction Records form on Mass.gov. You’ll need your full name, date of birth, the exact charge, the court where the case was heard, the docket number, and the date of the final disposition. Sign it under the penalties of perjury and mail it to the Commissioner of Probation.5Mass.gov. Request to Seal Your Criminal Record The process is free.
Once the Commissioner’s office confirms you meet the eligibility requirements, the record is sealed and the court that handled the original case is notified. From that point forward, most background checks will return no record, and you can legally state on job and housing applications that you have no criminal record.4General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 276 Section 100A
What Sealing Doesn’t Do
Sealing is not erasing. Law enforcement agencies, courts, and appointing authorities can still see sealed records. A sealed OUI can be used against you in sentencing if you’re convicted of a future criminal offense. In family court proceedings involving child custody, abuse allegations, or safety concerns, a judge can review sealed records in private and potentially admit them as evidence.4General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 276 Section 100A
Sealing your criminal record also does not touch your driving record. The RMV will still see the OUI and apply the lifetime lookback if you’re ever charged again.2Mass.gov. Alcohol and Drug Suspensions for Over 21 Years of Age
Expungement Is Rarely an Option for OUI
Massachusetts also allows expungement, which permanently removes a charge from your CORI entirely. Expungement requires filing a petition and attending a hearing before a judge, and it is available only in limited circumstances. Most standard OUI convictions do not qualify. Sealing is the more commonly available remedy.
Other Records That Follow Their Own Clocks
A few consequences of an OUI live outside both the RMV and CORI, and they don’t move on the same timeline.
Insurance
Massachusetts uses the Safe Driver Insurance Plan to calculate auto insurance premiums, and an OUI triggers the harshest surcharge the system imposes. The SDIP assigns five points for major violations like drunk driving. The plan generally uses a six-year lookback when calculating your rate, so the surcharge impact fades over time even though the offense itself stays on your driving record permanently. Points can begin dropping sooner if you maintain a clean record: if you accumulate no more than three surchargeable events in the five years before your policy start date and your most recent event is more than three years old, one point drops for each year you stay clean.
Travel to Canada
Canada treats impaired driving as a serious criminal offense. Since December 2018, the maximum penalty under Canadian law for impaired driving increased to ten years, and that reclassification means a single OUI can make you inadmissible. If your OUI occurred before December 18, 2018, you may qualify for “deemed rehabilitation” once ten years have passed since you completed every part of your sentence, including probation, fines, and license reinstatement. If your OUI occurred on or after that date, deemed rehabilitation is no longer available, and you could be considered inadmissible for life without taking affirmative steps such as a Temporary Resident Permit or Criminal Rehabilitation (which requires at least five years since sentence completion). A sealed Massachusetts CORI does not prevent Canada from seeing the offense.
Federal Security Clearances
The SF-86 clearance application requires you to disclose arrests, not just convictions, and some questions on the form have no time limit. Failing to disclose an OUI arrest creates a bigger problem than the arrest itself, because dishonesty during the clearance process can delay your application by a year or result in denial. Sealing your Massachusetts record does not relieve you of the federal disclosure obligation.
So the short answer holds, with the qualifications that matter: your driving record carries the OUI for life, your criminal record carries it until you seal it after three or seven years, and a handful of other consequences run on their own schedules regardless of what Massachusetts records show.