Oregon Expungement and Set-Aside: ORS 137.225 Eligibility

Clearing a criminal record in Oregon is done through a court process called a set-aside under ORS 137.225. A granted set-aside seals the record of an arrest, dismissed charge, or conviction, and the law then treats the event as though it never happened. You can answer “no” when asked whether you have been arrested or convicted. Eligibility turns on the class of the offense, how much time has passed, and whether your record has stayed clean since. The court charges no filing fee; your out-of-pocket cost is essentially the $30 background check fee and fingerprinting.

What a Set-Aside Does to Your Record

Oregon does not use the word “expungement” in its statute, but a set-aside is the same idea. Once a judge signs the order, every official record in the case is sealed, from the original arrest or citation through the judgment. For legal purposes the conviction is treated as though it never occurred, and you may lawfully answer “no” to questions about whether you have ever been convicted of a crime.¹

For arrests and dismissed charges, the effect is even broader. The court’s order deems you not to have been arrested, cited, or charged at all. The clerk sends certified copies of the order to relevant agencies so their records match.¹

One important boundary: a state set-aside does not automatically remove the record from federal databases. The FBI keeps its own criminal history file, and updating it requires a separate step described later on this page.

Waiting Periods by Offense Class

The clock starts on the later of your conviction date or your release from prison, and you must have completed every term of your sentence, probation included, before you can file.¹

Class B felony: 7 years
Class C felony: 5 years
Class A misdemeanor: 3 years
Class B or C misdemeanor, violation, or contempt finding: 1 year

These are the current waiting periods. Older guides sometimes still list longer ones, so check against the statute itself rather than relying on a dated resource.

What Cannot Be Set Aside

Some records are permanently excluded from relief regardless of how much time passes.

Class A felonies never qualify. Traffic convictions, including DUII under ORS 813.010, stay on your driving record permanently and cannot be reached through ORS 137.225.¹

Most sex crime convictions are also excluded. Oregon allows set-aside for a narrow category of sex offenses only where the person was under 16 at the time, the victim was at least 12, the age gap was small, and the person has already been relieved of sex offender reporting obligations through a separate court process.¹

Several specific offenses are also carved out:

Class B felony person crimes as defined by the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission, and felonies involving firearm use under ORS 166.429
Criminal mistreatment of a victim who was 65 or older at the time
Endangering the welfare of a minor when the offense constitutes child abuse
Criminally negligent homicide charged as a Class C felony
Third-degree assault under ORS 163.165(1)(h)

The classification on the original judgment controls. If the legislature later reclassified the offense, use the class that applied at sentencing.

Arrests, Dismissals, and Acquittals

Cases that did not end in conviction move on a faster track. If you were acquitted at trial or the court dismissed the charges, you can file immediately with no waiting period.¹

If you were arrested but the district attorney declined to prosecute, you can file 60 days after that decision. The 60 days runs from the prosecutor’s decision, not from the arrest.¹

Clearing these non-conviction records matters. An arrest that shows up on a background check can create the same practical problems as a conviction, even though you were never found guilty.

The Clean Record Requirement

Beyond the waiting period, you need no new criminal convictions during a lookback window that matches the waiting period for your offense:¹

Class B felony: no new convictions in the prior 7 years
Class C felony: no new convictions in the prior 5 years
Class A misdemeanor: no new convictions in the prior 3 years
Class B or C misdemeanor or violation: no new convictions in the prior year

Ordinary traffic violations do not count against you, and neither does a conviction for simple drug possession classified as a drug enforcement misdemeanor under ORS 475.896. Any other criminal conviction inside the lookback window disqualifies you until enough clean time has passed.

Old Marijuana Possession Cases

Oregon Laws 2025, chapter 395, created a shortcut for pre-legalization marijuana cases. If you were convicted before July 1, 2015 in a municipal or justice court for possessing less than one ounce of marijuana, any remaining monetary obligations on that judgment expired automatically on September 26, 2025. Once those obligations are satisfied, even by operation of this law rather than by payment, the conviction counts as complete for set-aside eligibility.¹

If unpaid fines were the only thing blocking you on one of these old cases, that barrier is gone. You still need to file the motion and go through the normal process.

Forms, Fingerprints, and Cost

The Oregon Judicial Department publishes a set-aside packet for adult criminal cases. It includes the Motion to Set Aside and a Declaration in Support, which is a sworn statement confirming you meet the requirements. No order form is needed; the court generates the order if the motion is granted.²

Accuracy on the forms matters. You will need the exact case number, the date of arrest or citation, and the specific ORS violation code from the original charge. If any of that is wrong or missing, the court is likely to reject the filing. If you no longer have the paperwork, the clerk’s office in the county where the case occurred can help you pull it.

You also need a completed fingerprint card. The Oregon State Police or another law enforcement agency can fingerprint you on a standard FD-258 card. The Oregon State Police charges $30 for the required background check.³

The court itself charges no filing fee for a set-aside motion.⁴ For a self-filed case, your total out-of-pocket cost is essentially the $30 fingerprint processing fee plus a small amount if documents need notarization. An attorney typically adds several hundred to a few thousand dollars, depending on the case.

What Happens After You File

File the motion, declaration, and fingerprint card with the clerk of the circuit court in the county where the arrest or conviction occurred. After the clerk accepts the filing, you must serve an exact copy of the motion and fingerprint card on the district attorney’s office in that same county. The court cannot act on your motion until the DA has been served.

The district attorney then has 120 days from the filing date to investigate and file an objection.¹ If no objection lands in that window, the court must grant the set-aside without a hearing. For arrests, dismissals, and acquittals, the court likewise grants the motion automatically once the filing requirements are met.

If the DA does object, the judge schedules a hearing where both sides argue. Common objections involve a claimed disqualifying conviction, the wrong waiting period, or ineligible offense classification. This is the point in the process where an attorney is most useful, because you will be arguing statutory interpretation.

After the Order: Rights, Firearms, and Federal Records

Voting rights in Oregon are restored automatically once you are released from incarceration; you do not need a set-aside to vote. You will need to re-register after release. If you are later reincarcerated for a parole violation, voting rights are suspended again until your next release.

Firearms are more complicated. Because a granted set-aside means you are “deemed not to have been previously convicted,” it should remove the state-law barrier to possessing firearms. At the federal level, the Department of Justice has taken the position that when a state restores civil rights or treats a conviction as nullified, the federal prohibition on firearm possession under 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1) generally does not apply.⁵ There is real nuance here. If the underlying conviction involved domestic violence, or if a separate federal firearms disability applies that does not turn on state classification, a state-level set-aside may not resolve the federal issue. Anyone in that situation should consult a firearms attorney before purchasing or possessing a weapon.

To clear your FBI record, the agency that originally submitted your fingerprints must file an FBI Expungement Form (FD-1114) on your behalf. The form requires your name, date of birth, the Universal Control Number from the FBI record, and the specific scope of what should be sealed or deleted.⁶ Skipping this step can undermine the whole point of the set-aside, because federal background checks for government jobs, security clearances, and some professional licenses pull from FBI data.

Private background check companies are a separate problem. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, they must follow reasonable procedures to ensure maximum accuracy in their reports. The Federal Trade Commission has said reporting expunged or sealed records is evidence that a company’s procedures are not reasonable.⁷ If a sealed conviction still appears on a background report after your set-aside is granted, dispute it directly with the reporting company. They are legally required to investigate and correct the error, and failure to do so can support a claim under the FCRA.

1
Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes 137.225 – Order Setting Aside Conviction or Record of Criminal Charge
2
Oregon Judicial Department. Criminal or Arrest Record Set Aside – Forms Center
3
Oregon State Police. Criminal History Record Checks
4
Oregon Judicial Department. Circuit Court Fee Schedule
5
U.S. Department of Justice. Post-Conviction Restoration of Civil Rights
6
FBI.gov. FBI Expungement Form FD-1114
7
Federal Trade Commission. What Employment Background Screening Companies Need to Know About the Fair Credit Reporting Act