How to Get a Felony Expungement in Washington State

A felony expungement in Washington State is technically called “vacating” a conviction, and it’s available only for eligible Class B and Class C felonies under RCW 9.94A.640. You file a motion in the superior court where you were sentenced, prove you have finished every part of your sentence and waited the required number of years without any new convictions, and ask the judge to set aside the guilty verdict or let you withdraw your plea. If the motion is granted, the case is dismissed and you can legally say you were not convicted of that crime.

Who Qualifies

Three things have to be true before a Washington court will vacate a felony conviction.

First, you need a Certificate of Discharge. The Department of Corrections or the sentencing court issues this once you have completed all confinement, all community custody, and all legal financial obligations.¹ If you never received one, you can petition the sentencing court to issue it.

Second, you cannot have any pending criminal charges anywhere — state, federal, or out of state — at the time you file.² Resolve any open case first.

Third, you must have stayed conviction-free for the full waiting period that applies to your felony class.

Waiting Periods by Felony Class

Class A felonies cannot be vacated at all under this statute. For the other two classes:²

Class B felonies require at least ten years since the later of your release from community custody, your release from confinement, or your sentencing date, with no new convictions anywhere during those ten years.
Class C felonies require at least five years measured the same way, with no new convictions during those five years.

The clock starts from whichever of those events happened last, not the earliest. If you were sentenced, served time, and then completed three years of community custody, the waiting period runs from the end of community custody.

Felonies That Cannot Be Vacated

Certain felonies are permanently barred, and no judge has discretion to override the exclusions.

Most violent offenses and crimes against persons are off the table. Three specific offenses can still be vacated, but only if the conviction did not include a firearm, deadly weapon, or sexual motivation enhancement:²

Assault in the second degree
Assault in the third degree, if the victim was not a law enforcement or peace officer
Robbery in the second degree

Felony DUI under RCW 46.61.502 and physical-control offenses under RCW 46.61.504 are categorically ineligible, and Class C felony DUI variants are also excluded. If your conviction falls into any of these excluded categories, a governor’s pardon is the remaining path.

What You File and Where

You will need two supporting documents before you draft anything:

Your Certificate of Discharge.
A WATCH criminal history report through the Washington State Patrol, which shows your conviction details and confirms you have no new convictions during the waiting period. The fee is $11 per name search.³

Then you prepare three court forms: a Motion to Vacate Felony Conviction, a Declaration sworn under penalty of perjury laying out how you meet each statutory requirement, and a proposed Order to Vacate for the judge to sign. The forms are on the Washington Courts website’s Vacating and Sealing Records page, which also offers a guided interview that fills them in from your answers.⁴ Paper copies are available from the superior court clerk in the county where you were convicted.

File the completed motion, declaration, and proposed order with the clerk of the superior court in the county of your original conviction. Make copies for your records and for the prosecutor. After filing, you must serve the prosecuting attorney with the full set so their office can review the motion and decide whether to object.

At the hearing, the judge reviews your motion, your evidence, and any response from the prosecutor. Some courts decide unopposed motions on the papers without requiring you to appear. If the motion is granted, the judge signs the Order to Vacate and the clerk updates the record to reflect the dismissal.²

What Changes Once the Order Is Signed

Vacation releases you from the penalties and disabilities of the offense. On job applications, rental applications, and other questionnaires asking whether you have been convicted of a crime, you can legally answer no as to the vacated conviction.⁵

Washington State Patrol and local agencies are prohibited from disseminating the vacated conviction to the general public. Other criminal justice agencies can still see it, and it can still be used against you in a later prosecution, but it will not count toward your criminal history score in a future sentencing.

Private background check companies may take time to update their databases. If a vacated conviction keeps appearing on a consumer report, you can dispute it with the reporting agency, which is generally required to investigate and correct inaccuracies within 30 days under federal law.

What Vacating Does Not Do

Three limits catch people off guard, and each matters before you decide whether a vacatur alone will get you where you want to be.

Firearm Rights Are Not Restored

Vacating a felony conviction does not automatically restore your right to possess a firearm. The statute says nothing in the vacation process affects the requirements for restoring firearm rights under RCW 9.41.040.⁵ Restoring firearm rights requires a separate petition, and federal firearm prohibitions can apply independently of state law.

Federal Security Clearances Still Require Disclosure

If you apply for a federal security clearance, the Standard Form 86 requires you to disclose criminal history whether the record was sealed, expunged, or vacated. The federal government is not bound by state vacation orders for clearance purposes, and failing to disclose can be treated as deliberate falsification, which is often more damaging than the underlying conviction.

Immigration Consequences May Survive

If you are not a U.S. citizen, a vacated state conviction can still count as a “conviction” for immigration purposes. Federal immigration law defines conviction on its own terms.⁶ The Board of Immigration Appeals has held that a state vacatur is recognized for immigration only when it was based on a procedural or substantive defect in the original case, such as ineffective assistance of counsel. A vacatur granted for rehabilitation or to avoid immigration consequences is generally not recognized. Talk to an immigration attorney before filing, because how the vacatur is framed in the record can matter.

If Your Conviction Is Not Eligible

For Class A felonies, felony DUI, and other excluded offenses, the remaining option is a governor’s pardon through the Washington State Clemency and Pardons Board. The board generally will not consider a petition until at least ten years have passed since the date of conviction, absent unique or emergency circumstances.⁷ A pardon does not erase the conviction the way a vacatur does, but it formally forgives the offense and can lift certain legal disabilities associated with it.

What It Costs

The WATCH report is $11.³ Court filing fees vary by county and are not standardized statewide, so check with your superior court clerk. Hiring an attorney typically runs somewhere between $1,500 and $4,000 depending on the case and the local market. Many people file on their own using the guided interview on the Washington Courts site, and Washington Law Help offers free guidance for those who qualify.⁸

1
Washington State Legislature. RCW 9.94A.637 – Discharge Upon Completion of Sentence
2
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 9.94A.640 – Vacation of Offenders Record of Conviction
3
Washington State Patrol. WATCH Brochure
4
Washington State Courts. Court Forms – Vacating and Sealing Records
5
Washington State Legislature. RCW 9.94A.640 – Vacation of Offenders Record of Conviction
6
Cornell Law – Legal Information Institute. 8 USC 1101(a)(48) – Definition of Conviction
7
Governor of Washington. Submit a Petition – Clemency and Pardons Board
8
Washington Law Help. Vacate a Felony Conviction