How long does a DUI stay on your record in Minnesota depends on which record you mean. A Minnesota DWI stays on your driving record permanently, stays on your criminal record indefinitely unless a court seals it through expungement, and counts against you for enhanced charges on any new DWI for 20 years. Those three clocks run independently, so an old DWI that no longer bumps up a new charge can still surface on a background check and still push your insurance premiums up. The 2025 legislative session doubled the lookback window from 10 to 20 years, so the timeline that matters most for repeat-offense exposure is longer than it was a year ago.
Your Driving Record: Permanent
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety keeps every DWI-related license revocation on your driving record for life. There is no mechanism to have it removed. State law requires impaired-driving incidents to be retained on the driving record indefinitely, and the Department of Public Safety has maintained these records this way since at least the mid-1990s.1Minnesota House of Representatives. House Research Short Subjects – Drivers License Record Keeping for DWI Violations
Insurance carriers pull that record when setting premiums, and a DWI typically raises rates by 50 to 200 percent. The surcharge can persist for years, and some insurers will refuse to write a policy at all. Minnesota may also require an SR-22 certificate of financial responsibility, which itself signals to any future insurer that you had a serious driving violation.
The record travels too. Minnesota belongs to the Interstate Driver License Compact, an agreement among 45 states to share driving-offense information, so a Minnesota DWI follows you to most other states, and an out-of-state DWI in a compact state shows up here.
Your Criminal Record: 15 Years Public, Then Private
A DWI conviction also creates a criminal record maintained by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Under Minnesota’s data-practices law, that record is public for 15 years after you complete your sentence, meaning anyone who requests it during that window can see it.2Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 13.87 – Criminal History Data After 15 years, the BCA reclassifies the record as private data, which means it will no longer be released in response to a general public inquiry.
Reclassification is not deletion. The record still exists in the BCA system and remains accessible to law enforcement, courts, and certain government agencies. And there is a bigger catch: Minnesota Court Information System (MNCIS) records stay publicly searchable online indefinitely, regardless of the 15-year BCA threshold. An employer or landlord who searches the state court system directly will still find the conviction long after the BCA record has gone private. Background-check companies often search court records rather than relying solely on the BCA, so the practical visibility of an old Minnesota DWI generally lasts well past 15 years.
The 20-Year Lookback for New DWI Charges
Every time someone is charged with a new DWI, the court looks back through the preceding 20 years to count prior impaired-driving incidents. Those priors determine the severity of the new charge. Before August 1, 2025, the window was 10 years; the legislature doubled it as part of a broader DWI overhaul signed into law during the 2025 session.3Minnesota Senate. Laws 2025 Chapter 29 Summary – DWI-Related Modifications to Law
Minnesota labels DWI severity in reverse order. A first offense with no aggravating factors is fourth-degree DWI, a misdemeanor. One aggravating factor, such as a single prior within the lookback window or a blood-alcohol concentration of .16 or higher, bumps the charge to third-degree, a gross misdemeanor. Two aggravators make it second-degree. Three or more prior incidents within the lookback window, or any new DWI when you already have a prior felony DWI conviction, makes the new charge a first-degree felony, punishable by up to seven years in prison, a fine of up to $14,000, or both.4Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 169A.24 – First-Degree Driving While Impaired
Prior offenses from other states count if they involved impaired driving, and the lookback includes implied-consent revocations (where you refused or failed a chemical test) alongside criminal convictions. The practical result of the longer window: someone whose old DWI would have fallen off a 10-year count and produced a misdemeanor charge for a new offense could now face a gross misdemeanor or felony instead.
One detail catches people off guard. Even if you successfully expunge an old DWI, prosecutors can still use the sealed record to enhance a future DWI charge. Minnesota law specifically allows sealed criminal records to be used for that purpose.5Office of Minnesota Attorney General. Expungement – Frequently Asked Questions Expungement helps with employment and housing. It does not reset the DWI lookback clock.
Expungement: The Only Way to Seal a DWI
Expungement is the only path to remove a Minnesota DWI from public view. It does not erase the conviction; law enforcement and the courts retain access. But when a judge grants it, employers, landlords, and the general public can no longer see the conviction through background checks or court-record searches.
Automatic Expungement Does Not Apply to DWI
Minnesota has an automatic-expungement statute that seals certain offenses without a court petition. DWI convictions at every level are specifically excluded. The statute lists fourth-degree, third-degree, and second-degree DWI as offenses that do not qualify for automatic expungement.6Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 609A.015 – Automatic Expungement of Records To seal a DWI, you have to file a petition.
Petition-Based Expungement and Waiting Periods
Petition-based expungement starts with a formal request filed in district court and a filing fee. A judge then decides whether sealing your record serves the interests of justice. Eligibility depends on the severity of the offense and how much time has passed since you completed every part of the sentence, including probation, fines, and any incarceration. The typical waiting period is two years after full discharge for a misdemeanor DWI and four years for a gross misdemeanor DWI.
The judge applies a multi-factor balancing test, weighing the benefit of sealing your record against risk to public safety. Factors include the nature of the offense, how long ago it happened, your rehabilitation, employment and community involvement, the recommendations of prosecutors and law enforcement, victim impact, and your reasons for seeking expungement.7Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 609A.03 – Petition to Expunge Criminal Records A strong post-offense record and a concrete need (a job denied, housing rejected) improve the odds.
Felony DWI expungement is harder. The waiting period is longer, the public-safety bar is higher, and prosecutors are more likely to object. Courts are not barred from granting felony DWI expungement, but the petitioner has to show the benefit clearly outweighs any safety concern. Any new criminal offense during the waiting period will almost certainly sink the petition regardless of the underlying DWI’s degree.
Two Consequences That Do Not Follow the Same Clocks
Two situations cut differently from the records timelines above, and both routinely surprise people asking how long a DWI will affect them.
If you hold a commercial driver’s license, federal law imposes a minimum one-year disqualification from operating a commercial motor vehicle after a first DWI violation, and a lifetime disqualification after a second.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 49 USC 31310 – Disqualification Drivers hauling hazardous materials face a three-year disqualification on a first violation. These are federal minimums; no state can shorten them. A lifetime CDL disqualification can end a trucking career permanently, since most carriers will not hire a driver with that record even where reinstatement is theoretically available after ten years through a federal appeal process.
Canada is the other pressure point. Since December 2018, Canada has classified impaired driving as a “serious crime” after raising the maximum penalty for the offense to ten years under Canadian law. A single Minnesota DWI can make you inadmissible at the Canadian border. If the DWI predates December 18, 2018, and you finished your sentence at least ten years ago, you may qualify for “deemed rehabilitation,” where the passage of time alone satisfies admissibility. For convictions after that date, deemed rehabilitation is off the table, and you would need to apply for either a Temporary Resident Permit or Criminal Rehabilitation, the latter requiring at least five years since sentence completion. More than one DWI generally disqualifies you from deemed rehabilitation regardless of when the offenses occurred. Canadian border officers can see U.S. criminal databases, and the burden of proving admissibility falls on you.