{"id":12267,"date":"2015-02-11T06:53:29","date_gmt":"2015-02-11T06:53:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalpardon.org\/?p=12267"},"modified":"2015-02-11T06:53:29","modified_gmt":"2015-02-11T06:53:29","slug":"criminal-records-expire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/?p=12267","title":{"rendered":"When do Criminal Records Expire?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>When do Criminal Records Expire?<\/h1>\n<p>When do criminal records expire? Unfortunately the answer is never, or at least not until you are old enough that you probably don\u2019t care anyway.<\/p>\n<p>If you really just want to wait until it goes away you will be waiting a long time. The RCMP will maintain your criminal record until you are 80 years of age. Furthermore they only remove it if there is no criminal activity to report in the past 10 years. I\u2019ve never actually spoken to anyone who has witnessed this kind of removal happen, but there it is.<\/p>\n<h2>For more information on criminal record retention at the RCMP level click below:<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca\/cr-cj\/rs-ed-eng.htm\">RCMP Criminal Record Retention Policy<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Once you have been convicted of an offence it remains a part of your adult criminal record until you are granted a Canadian pardon (now known as a Record Suspension), or \u2013 as mentioned above \u2013 you turn 80 years of age. Since no one wants to wait this long let\u2019s just pretend it stays forever.<\/p>\n<p>Since you are not willing to wait until your 80th birthday you need to apply for a record suspension.<br \/>\nA lot of individuals inquire with the National Pardon Centre regarding whether or not they \u201cstill have\u201d a criminal record. We frequently hear from people that they were convicted so many years ago that they think they can\u2019t possibly still have a criminal record.<\/p>\n<p>It is a common belief that your criminal record will expire after an extended period of time &#8211; technically it&#8217;s true &#8211; but I\u2019ve never spoken to anyone who knows what that period of time is.<\/p>\n<p>There are two simple questions you should ask yourself:<\/p>\n<p>1 \u2013 Have you been convicted of a criminal offence?<br \/>\n2 \u2013 Have you received a record suspension or a pardon?<\/p>\n<p>If you answered yes to being convicted of a criminal offence and no to receiving a record suspension \/ pardon, then your criminal record still exists and can negatively affect you in many ways. Among other things, a criminal record can impact work opportunities, US travel, and volunteering \u2013 not to mention peace of mind.<\/p>\n<h2>Applying for a Canadian Pardon<\/h2>\n<p>To ensure that you no longer have a criminal record in Canada, you must apply for a Canadian pardon \/ record suspension to seal your criminal history from public record. You can start the process any time, even if you are not yet <a title=\"Pardon Eligibility\" href=\"\/?page_id=3812\">eligible<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>More questions about the process? Ready to open a file? Don\u2019t hesitate to contact our office by <a href=\"18662422411\u2033&gt;18662422411&lt;\/a&gt;\">phone<\/a>, drop by one of our <a title=\"Contact Us\" href=\"\/?page_id=938\">walk-in centres<\/a>\u00a0or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalpardon.org\/applyonline\/\">apply online<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re here to help!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When do Criminal Records Expire? When do criminal records expire? Unfortunately the answer is never, or at least not until you are old enough that you probably don\u2019t care anyway. If you really just want to wait until it goes away you will be waiting a long time. The RCMP will maintain your criminal record [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,6,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-criminal-records","category-pardon","category-record-suspension"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>When do Criminal Records Expire? | National Pardon Centre<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Information on criminal record retention policies in Canada and what to expect regarding criminal information following an arrest.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When do Criminal Records Expire? 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