Texas Nondisclosure Waiting Periods: Eligibility by Offense Type

Waiting periods for a Texas order of nondisclosure run from zero to five years, and which one applies to you depends on the offense, how the case was resolved, and — for DWI — whether you used an ignition interlock device. The clock starts on different dates depending on whether you completed deferred adjudication, community supervision after a conviction, or a straight sentence, and a new charge during the wait doesn’t pause the timeline. It disqualifies you.

Misdemeanor Deferred Adjudication

If you completed deferred adjudication on a nonviolent misdemeanor and have no prior criminal history beyond fine-only traffic tickets, there is no waiting period at all. Under Section 411.072 of the Government Code, the court issues the nondisclosure order automatically after you serve at least 180 days on deferred adjudication and receive your discharge and dismissal.¹ You pay a $28 fee to the clerk; you don’t file a petition.²

The automatic path excludes any misdemeanor involving DWI or boating while intoxicated, and any offense under Penal Code Chapters 20 through 22 (kidnapping, sexual offenses, assaultive offenses), Chapter 25 (offenses against the family), Chapter 42 (disorderly conduct), Chapter 43 (public indecency), Chapter 46 (weapons), or Chapter 71 (organized criminal activity). It also excludes anyone with a prior conviction or deferred adjudication for anything above a fine-only traffic violation.¹

If your misdemeanor doesn’t qualify for the automatic path, you fall under Section 411.0725, which requires a petition and splits into two timelines.³ If your offense is not under Chapters 20, 21, 22, 25, 42, 43, or 46, you can file as soon as the court signs your discharge and dismissal. This is the path for someone whose underlying charge was nonviolent but who has a prior offense that knocked them out of the automatic track. If your offense does fall under one of those chapters, you must wait until the second anniversary of your discharge and dismissal.

Felony Deferred Adjudication

Felony deferred adjudication carries the longest standard waiting period in the system. Section 411.0725 requires you to wait five years from the date the judge signs your order of discharge and dismissal.¹ Early termination of community supervision does not shorten this. The five-year clock runs from the discharge date, not from when supervision originally began.²

Not every felony qualifies even after a clean five years. The permanently barred list still applies, and any new offense during the wait ends eligibility for good.

DWI and BWI

DWI has three separate code sections covering three different resolutions, and each carries its own wait and its own disqualifiers.

Deferred Adjudication for DWI or BWI

Section 411.0726 covers DWI and boating while intoxicated cases resolved through deferred adjudication. The wait is two years from the date of your discharge and dismissal.¹ You are disqualified from this section if the offense caused an accident involving another person (even a passenger in your own vehicle), if your blood alcohol concentration was 0.15 or higher, if you held a commercial driver’s license or commercial learner’s permit at the time, or if the charge was enhanced under the repeat-offender provisions.²

Community Supervision After a DWI Conviction

Section 411.0731 applies when you were convicted of a Class B misdemeanor DWI and placed on community supervision. The wait depends on the ignition interlock condition:¹

Two years from completion of community supervision, if you had an interlock device for at least six months as a condition of supervision.
Five years from completion of community supervision, if the court did not order an interlock for that minimum period.

The same disqualifiers apply: no Class A misdemeanor or higher DWI, no BAC of 0.15 or above, and no accident involving another person.²

DWI Conviction Without Community Supervision

Section 411.0736 covers convictions served out directly — jail time, fines, costs, and restitution — without probation. The waits run longer than the community supervision path:⁴

Three years from completion of the sentence, if you had an interlock device for at least six months as a condition of the sentence.
Five years from completion of the sentence, if the court did not order an interlock for that period.

If the prosecutor shows at a hearing that the offense involved an accident with another person, the court cannot grant the order no matter how long you have waited.²

Misdemeanor Convictions Without Deferred Adjudication

Section 411.073 covers people convicted of certain misdemeanors and placed on community supervision that included a jail term as a condition. If you completed that supervision, including the jail component, the wait is two years from the date you finished supervision.¹

Section 411.0735 covers a different group: people convicted of a misdemeanor who were never placed on any form of community supervision, including deferred adjudication. This is the path for someone who paid a fine and served jail time without probation:²

No waiting period for a fine-only misdemeanor. You can petition as soon as you complete the sentence.
Two years from sentence completion for all other qualifying misdemeanors.

Section 411.0735 has strict eligibility limits. You must be a first-time offender with no other convictions or deferred adjudications beyond fine-only traffic violations. The offense cannot be a felony, DWI, boating while intoxicated, minor in possession of alcohol, or an organized crime charge. The court must also find that the offense was not violent or sexual in nature, though a simple assault conviction under Penal Code Section 22.01 can still qualify.

Veterans Treatment Court

Section 411.0727 provides a separate pathway for people who successfully complete a veterans treatment court program. The wait is two years from the date you finished the program.⁵ You must have no felony convictions during those two years, no prior conviction for certain serious offenses listed in the Code of Criminal Procedure, and no sexually violent offense history. This section does not apply if you entered the veterans court program because of a DWI conviction.

When the Clock Starts

The start date matters as much as the length of the wait, and it varies by section:

Deferred adjudication cases (Sections 411.072, 411.0725, 411.0726): the date the court signs your order of discharge and dismissal.
Community supervision after conviction (Sections 411.073, 411.0731): the date you complete community supervision.
Straight sentence cases (Sections 411.0735, 411.0736): the date you complete the sentence, including any jail time, fines, costs, and restitution.
Veterans treatment court (Section 411.0727): the date you complete the program.

For felony deferred adjudication, the five-year clock runs from the discharge date. It does not run from the day supervision began, and early termination does not move the start date forward.²

A New Offense During the Wait Ends Your Eligibility

A new criminal charge during the waiting period does not pause the timeline and does not restart it. Under Section 411.074, any conviction or new deferred adjudication during the wait — for anything other than a fine-only traffic offense — makes you permanently ineligible for the nondisclosure order on that case.² The disqualification reaches back to the date the court placed you on deferred adjudication or community supervision, so a new charge picked up during supervision itself blocks you too, even though it happens before the waiting period technically starts.

Fine-only traffic violations are the sole exception. Speeding, expired registration, and similar infractions that carry no jail possibility do not count. Anything above that threshold, including Class C misdemeanors that carry potential jail time, does.

Offenses That Can Never Be Sealed

No waiting period matters if your offense, or any offense in your criminal history, falls on the permanently barred list under Section 411.074. If any of the following appear anywhere in your record, you cannot get a nondisclosure order for any offense:²

Murder or capital murder
Aggravated kidnapping
Trafficking of persons or continuous trafficking
Injury to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual
Abandoning or endangering a child
Stalking
Any offense requiring sex offender registration
Violating a protective order in a family violence, sexual assault, or trafficking case
Any offense involving family violence as defined by the Family Code, or any case with an affirmative finding of family violence

The family violence bar catches people off guard. Even if you completed deferred adjudication and the charge was dismissed, an affirmative finding of family violence in the court records permanently blocks nondisclosure — not just for that case, but for any future offense as well.¹

Nondisclosure Is Not Expunction

If you pleaded guilty or no contest, even under deferred adjudication, nondisclosure is generally the remedy available to you and expunction is not. Expunction under Chapter 55A of the Code of Criminal Procedure requires the destruction of records by every agency that holds them, and it is typically limited to cases dismissed without a plea, acquittals, arrests that never led to charges, and pardons. Nondisclosure seals the record from public view but keeps it available to law enforcement and to state licensing boards. Filing for the wrong one costs you the fee and the time.

1
State of Texas. Texas Government Code Chapter 411 – Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas
2
Texas Courts. Overview of Orders of Nondisclosure
3
Texas Judicial Branch. Petition for Order of Nondisclosure Under Section 411.0725
4
State of Texas. Texas Government Code GOVT 411.0736
5
State of Texas. Texas Government Code 411.0727 – Procedure Following Successful Completion of Veterans Treatment Court Program