A DUI stays on your record in Ohio permanently. Ohio calls the offense OVI, and a conviction is a lifetime entry on both your full BMV driving record and your criminal record. State law specifically bars sealing or expunging it. What does have a time limit is the “look-back” window that decides how a future OVI is charged and sentenced — ten years in most situations, twenty in others — but that window is separate from the record itself.
The confusion around this question almost always comes from mixing those two things up. The conviction never falls off. Only its power to escalate a later sentence fades, and even that fade has exceptions.
What the BMV Keeps and for How Long
The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles maintains two versions of your driving record. A three-year abstract shows recent moving violations, accident reports, and license actions. A full driving record history contains every moving violation, accident involvement report, and license action the BMV has on file, with no time limit.1Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles. BMV Records An OVI lives on the full history forever. Anyone who orders the complete record rather than the three-year snapshot will see it no matter how old it is.
The BMV also assigns six points to your license for the conviction.2Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 4510.036 – Records of Bureau of Motor Vehicles Points accumulate on a rolling two-year window, and hitting twelve or more within that window triggers a separate suspension. A two-point credit is available for completing an approved remedial driving course, though the BMV allows only one credit every three years and no more than five in a lifetime.3Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 4510.037 – Remedial Driving Courses Points eventually stop counting toward that two-year total. The OVI entry underneath them does not move.
What the Criminal Record Keeps and for How Long
An OVI conviction is a permanent entry on your criminal record. Misdemeanor and felony OVIs both appear on background checks run by employers, landlords, licensing boards, and government agencies. There is no rolling window and no automatic removal.
Ohio law bars sealing OVI convictions outright. R.C. 2953.32 excludes all convictions under Chapters 4506, 4507, 4510, 4511, and 4549 of the Revised Code from the record-sealing process.4Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 2953.32 – Sealing of Record of Conviction OVI sits inside Chapter 4511, so it is categorically ineligible. The Ohio Supreme Court’s sentencing guidance lists “all traffic offenses, including OVI” among the offenses that cannot be sealed.5Supreme Court of Ohio. Adult Rights Restoration and Record Sealing Being a first-time offender does not change this. First OVI or fifth OVI, the conviction stays.
The Look-Back Window Is Not the Same as Your Record
Ohio’s OVI statute uses a look-back period to decide how severely a repeat offense is punished. This is what people are usually thinking of when they ask how long the offense “counts.” The window controls penalty escalation only. The conviction itself stays on your record whether or not it still counts for sentencing.
The Ten-Year Window
The standard look-back is ten years. A second OVI within ten years of a prior conviction is a first-degree misdemeanor with a mandatory minimum of ten consecutive days in jail, fines between $715 and $1,625, a license suspension of one to seven years, and ninety days of vehicle immobilization. A third OVI within ten years jumps to a mandatory thirty days in jail, fines between $1,040 and $2,750, and a license suspension of two to twelve years.6Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 4511.19 – Operating Vehicle Under the Influence
The Twenty-Year Window
Two situations stretch the look-back to twenty years. First, five or more prior OVI convictions within twenty years makes the next offense a fourth-degree felony. Second, R.C. 4511.19(A)(2) creates an enhanced offense when a driver refuses a chemical test during a current OVI stop and has a prior OVI within the previous twenty years.6Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 4511.19 – Operating Vehicle Under the Influence Refusing the breath or blood test during a later stop effectively doubles how far back a prior conviction can be pulled in against you.
Once a Felony, Always a Felony
If any prior OVI was classified as a felony, a future OVI is automatically a third-degree felony no matter when the earlier felony occurred. The look-back window becomes indefinite at that point.6Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 4511.19 – Operating Vehicle Under the Influence
Where a Permanent Record Actually Hurts
Because the conviction has no expiration date on either record, its practical effects follow you well past any sentence.
Insurance and SR-22
After an OVI, Ohio requires you to file an SR-22 certificate of financial responsibility, proving you carry at least the state’s minimum liability coverage. The filing lasts a minimum of three years, and courts can extend it. If the SR-22 lapses during that period, the BMV is notified and your license can be suspended again. Premiums usually jump sharply, and the increase tends to persist for three to five years, though some insurers look back further. A few carriers drop OVI-convicted drivers entirely and push them into high-risk policies.
Employment and Professional Licensing
Because the conviction stays on your criminal record indefinitely, it surfaces on background checks indefinitely.
- Employers in trucking, delivery, and transportation routinely disqualify candidates with OVI convictions. Major rideshare platforms check motor vehicle records and generally will not approve drivers with a serious violation like a DUI within the past seven years.
- Ohio licensing boards for medical, nursing, legal, and other regulated professions can impose discipline based on an OVI. A single misdemeanor may trigger a board inquiry; a felony can result in suspension or revocation of the license.
- Security clearance applications require disclosure of all criminal convictions, and an OVI can complicate adjudication, particularly if it suggests a pattern.
- Pilots must report any alcohol-related motor vehicle action to the FAA within sixty days, even if charges are later reduced or dismissed. Failing to report is an independent violation that can lead to certificate revocation.
Travel to Canada
An Ohio OVI can block entry into Canada. Canadian immigration law classifies impaired driving as a serious criminal offense, and even a single misdemeanor-level conviction can make you criminally inadmissible at the border. Canadian officers have access to U.S. criminal databases and can turn you away at airports, land crossings, or seaports.7Government of Canada. Overcome Criminal Convictions
To regain admissibility, you can apply for individual rehabilitation after at least five years have passed since you completed your entire sentence, including probation and any license suspension. You must show you are unlikely to reoffend. Canada also grants “deemed rehabilitation” in limited cases for less serious offenses after enough time has passed, with requirements that depend on how the offense maps to Canadian criminal law.7Government of Canada. Overcome Criminal Convictions A Temporary Resident Permit is a shorter-term option for people who need to enter before qualifying for rehabilitation.
Trusted-traveler programs also weigh the conviction. TSA PreCheck does not explicitly list misdemeanor DUI among its permanently or interim disqualifying offenses, but TSA retains discretion to deny applicants based on “extensive criminal convictions” or other factors.8Transportation Security Administration. Disqualifying Offenses and Other Factors Global Entry requires a criminal background check, and a DUI arrest or conviction can result in denial.
What You Cannot Do to Remove It
Ohio gives you almost no tools to undo the record consequences. You cannot seal an OVI, expunge it, or petition to have it removed after a set number of years. It remains visible on background checks for life. The only thing that fades is the penalty-enhancement effect: once ten years pass without another OVI, a new offense would be treated as a first offense for sentencing purposes under the standard look-back. Even that limited relief disappears if you refused a chemical test, which triggers the twenty-year window, or if any prior OVI was a felony, which triggers the permanent look-back.6Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 4511.19 – Operating Vehicle Under the Influence
So the short answer and the long answer converge. On your record: forever. Counting against you for a future sentence: ten years for most people, twenty if a refusal is involved, and no cutoff at all if a prior OVI was a felony.