How it works in Nevada

The steps

1. Get fingerprinted

   Have your fingerprints taken on a standard FD-258 card by a certified fingerprinting technician — at a sheriff's office, a police department or a private fingerprinting site (the Records, Communications and Compliance Division lists both). The card must carry all ten prints taken at once, your name, date of birth, place of birth, sex, race, height, weight, hair and eye color, your signature and the technician's; only an original card is accepted. The site that takes your prints sets its fee.

   Fingerprint fee: Varies by provider — Set by the site that takes your prints — a sheriff's office, a police department or a private fingerprinting site (the Division lists both); the Division's own fee schedule names no fee for taking prints. Its $40.25 is the FBI $13.25 plus state $27.00 total for a fingerprint-based background-check submission, not this step. No fee for prints a state agency takes if you were being sex trafficked when the crime was committed (NRS 179.245(9)).

2. Request your record

   Mail the Records, Communications and Compliance Division its form DPS-006, your fingerprint card and the fee — a money order or certified check to the Nevada Department of Public Safety for the exact amount; no cash or personal checks. Allow about 45 days. You receive a letter saying no Nevada record was found, or a letter with the complete record. Under NRS 179.245 and NRS 179.255, your petition must carry this current, verified record from the Central Repository for Nevada Records of Criminal History. No fee is charged if you were being sex trafficked when the crime was committed — sign the form's certification. In Clark County the district attorney also accepts the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's SCOPE printout, which has its own fee, but the Repository record is the one required.

   Record request fee: $27.00 — Per applicant, by money order or certified check to the Nevada Department of Public Safety for the exact amount (no cash or personal checks), mailed with form DPS-006 and one original FD-258 fingerprint card taken by a certified technician; about 45 days; no fee if you were being sex trafficked when the crime was committed (NRS 179.245(9) — the form's page 3 certification).

3. Review your record

   Confirm there is no disqualifying information in your history. If something is wrong, challenge it with the Division's Nevada Criminal History Challenge form (DPS-008-X). If everything is accurate, make a copy for your file and keep the original somewhere safe.

4. Request certified documents

   Collect the court papers your petition rests on. Under NRS 179.255, a petition after a dismissal, a declined prosecution or an acquittal must include the disposition of the proceedings; under NRS 179.245 and NRS 179.255, a petition that references NRS 453.3365 (a possession conviction) must include a certificate of acknowledgment or the disposition from every agency that holds the records. Where your Central Repository record shows no final disposition for an arrest, get it from the court that handled the case or the arresting agency. In Clark County, the district attorney also asks for the judgment of conviction and proof you completed its terms when you petition under NRS 176A.265, 179.259 or 453.3365; judgments and discharge papers come from the clerk of the court. Certified copies come from the clerk of the court that handled the case.

   Certified copy fee: $3.00 — A district court clerk's certificate under the seal of the court, plus $0.50 a page for the copy (NRS 19.013(1)); the Eighth Judicial District Court's list prints the same figures; a justice or municipal court sets its own schedule; no fee if you were being sex trafficked when the crime was committed (NRS 179.245(9)).

5. Verify the final documents

   Review each document for accuracy. Confirm each one is certified and clearly shows you completed your obligations. Make copies of every original.

6. Prepare your petition

   Complete the petition for your type of charge and outcome — in Clark County, the district attorney's petition, affidavit and order forms, which list each arrest with its date, the arresting agency, the charge and the final disposition. Under NRS 179.245, a conviction's waiting period runs from your release from actual custody or your discharge from parole or probation, whichever is later: 10 years for a category A felony, a crime of violence or residential burglary; 5 years for a category B, C or D felony; 2 years for a category E felony; and 2 years for a gross misdemeanor. A misdemeanor's clock runs from release from custody or the end of a suspended sentence, whichever is later: 7 years for a driving-under-the-influence offense under NRS 484C.110 or 484C.120 that is not a felony, a battery that constitutes domestic violence that is not a felony, or an offense under NRS 422.540 to 422.570; 2 years for a battery, harassment, stalking or a violation of a temporary or extended order for protection; and 1 year for any other misdemeanor. In that period you must not have been convicted of any offense or charged with one still pending, apart from minor moving or standing traffic violations. No petition may be filed for a crime against a child, a sexual offense, invasion of the home with a deadly weapon, a felony DUI under NRS 484C.400(1)(c) or NRS 484C.430, a DUI homicide, or the boating offenses in NRS 488.410 (as a felony), 488.420 and 488.425. Under NRS 179.255, a dismissed charge or an acquittal can be petitioned at any time; a charge the prosecutor declined, once the statute of limitations has run, 8 years after the arrest, or by stipulation; a conviction set aside under NRS 458A.240, at any time after the set-aside. If your records sit in more than one court, NRS 179.2595 lets you file one petition in district court for all of them. The petition must carry your current, verified record from the Central Repository for Nevada Records of Criminal History, your date of birth, the specific conviction or charges and the arrest date for each record, and a list of every agency, company, official or other custodian known to hold the records, to whom the order will be directed; add a statement if you were being sex trafficked when the crime was committed, and, for a petition under NRS 453.3365, a certificate of acknowledgment or the disposition from every agency that holds the records.

7. Finalize your petition

   Take the completed petition from Step 6, the documents collected in Step 4, and the background check from Step 2, and put them together in a complete package. Double-check every file in the package is the original and ensure you have a copy of the complete package for your personal file. In Clark County, take the signed originals and at least one copy of the petition (with its affidavit) and of the order, with your Central Repository record, to the district attorney's office at 200 Lewis Avenue first, within 30 days of receiving your record; the office reviews them for a stipulation and calls or writes when they are ready — allow three to four weeks, then call (702) 671-2765.

8. File your sealing petition

   File the petition with the court that handled the case — under NRS 179.245 the court in which you were convicted; under NRS 179.255 the court where the charges were dismissed or the acquittal was entered, or the court with jurisdiction over a charge the prosecutor declined. If your records sit in more than one court, NRS 179.2595 lets you file one petition in district court, which can seal the justice and municipal court records too. In Clark County the Eighth Judicial District Court can seal every justice and district court charge in the county, but the district attorney cannot stipulate to a municipal court case — that petition goes to the municipal court, and the stipulation request to the city attorney. Ask the clerk whether a filing fee applies to a sealing petition and how to pay it. No court or agency may charge you any fee — to file, for fingerprints, for records or for certified copies — if you were being sex trafficked when the crime was committed. If you cannot pay, apply on the court's form to proceed as an indigent litigant: the court must allow it if you receive public assistance, your household net income is at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty guidelines, your necessary expenses exceed your income, or you show another compelling reason; a legal-aid client files a statement of representation instead (NRS 12.015).

   Filing fee: $270.00 — The Eighth Judicial District Court's (Clark County) total for a general civil petition — $56 under NRS 19.013 plus the state and county add-ons under NRS 19.020, 19.030, 19.0302, 19.0303, 19.031, 19.0312, 19.0313 and 19.0315 and the Clark County Code; the court's list names no sealing petition, and the district attorney's page says to ask the clerk whether a filing fee applies. Another county's district court adds its own amounts to the $56 base; a justice or municipal court charges by its own schedule. No fee if you were being sex trafficked when the crime was committed (NRS 179.245(9)); an indigent petitioner may apply to proceed without costs (NRS 12.015).

9. Work with the court

   After you file, the court notifies the agency that arrested you and the prosecutor who handled your case (the Attorney General, if that office prosecuted). Under NRS 179.245 and NRS 179.255, if the prosecutor stipulates, the court seals the records; if the prosecutor neither stipulates nor files a written objection within 30 days, the court may seal them without a hearing once it makes the required findings; otherwise a hearing is held, and at the hearing the court applies the presumption of NRS 179.2445 that your records should be sealed unless the objector presents evidence enough to rebut it — the presumption does not apply after a dishonorable discharge from probation. In Clark County, if the district attorney has not signed the order, correct what the office asks for or take the petition to the clerk and request a hearing, and tell the district attorney's office the date. Respond promptly to anything the court asks for.

10. Receive the court's order

    Once the judge rules, the court issues a written order granting or denying your petition. Review the order — it names every agency whose records are covered. Ask the clerk for as many certified copies of the signed order as you have agencies to serve, plus one for your files. If the petition is denied, NRS 179.265 lets you appeal, or petition for a rehearing two years or more after the denial. On your request the court may also seal the records of the sealing case itself.

11. Verify the record is sealed

    Under NRS 179.275, a copy of the order must go to the Central Repository for Nevada Records of Criminal History and to every agency and custodian named in it, and each must seal its records, advise the court of its compliance and then seal the order. The statute names no sender — in Clark County the order itself says the petitioner serves each agency — so send a certified copy to every agency named, the Repository first; the Division says its part can take up to six months after it receives the order, and it handles the FBI itself. Under NRS 179.285, once the records are sealed the proceedings are deemed never to have occurred, and you may answer any inquiry accordingly — including on an employment application — about the arrest, the conviction, the dismissal or the acquittal. You are restored to the right to vote, to hold office and to serve on a jury if they had not been restored already, and you must be given an official document saying so, together with a written notice that the right to bear arms is not restored unless a pardon restores it. NRS 179.301 lets the Gaming Control Board and Gaming Commission (a gaming-related matter), the Division of Insurance (an insurance-related matter), a prosecuting attorney (a new arrest under NRS 202.485), the Central Repository (sexual offense information and the NRS 179B registry) and the State Board of Pardons Commissioners (a pardon application) inspect sealed records; under NRS 179.295 you may ask the sealing court to let a named person inspect them, a prosecutor may ask after a new arrest on newly discovered evidence, and a court may consider the sealed case when it rules on a later petition. If a background-check provider later produces an outdated report, your certified copy of the court's order is your authoritative reference.

If you have to mail anything, remember to keep a copy of whatever you send and to use a method with a tracking number like the USPS Flat Rate Envelope.