- Certified charging documents and judgment for every disqualifying conviction
- Proof that the sentence and all supervision are complete
- Any state relief, pardon, or restoration you have already received
- Government photo identification and residency history
Application
Start with five questions.
This screener is orientation, not a determination, and it is not legal advice. It takes about a minute and it will tell you honestly whether this program is worth your time right now.
Before you answer
The rule presumes against some records
The final rule sorts prior conduct into three presumptions. A presumption is not a bar — extraordinary circumstances can overcome one — but it tells you honestly what you are walking into.
PresumptionIndefinite
Death of another person · rape, sexual abuse, or sexual assault · human trafficking · kidnapping · domestic or intimate-partner violence · burglary · robbery · extortion · carjacking · arson · terrorism · stalking · witness tampering · discharging a firearm during another felony
Presumptive denial absent extraordinary circumstances, with no date on which the presumption lifts. Worth a conversation, not an assumption — but go in clear-eyed.
PresumptionTen years
Drug manufacturing or trafficking · threats of violence · explosives offenses · certain federal firearm offenses · animal abuse
Measured from the conviction or from completion of the sentence. Past ten years, the presumption is gone and the application is judged on its own merits.
PresumptionFive years
Felonies outside the categories above · certain misdemeanor assault or stalking offenses
This is where most people in this program sit. If more than five years have passed, no presumption applies to you at all.
Read this before you rule yourself out
These categories turn on how an offense was charged and coded, not on how it felt or how you describe it. People talk themselves out of applying over a record that does not actually fall where they think it does. That determination is ours to make with you, not yours to make alone at midnight.
Step one
Eligibility screener
Q1What is the basis of the prohibition?
Q2Are you currently serving a sentence, or on probation, parole, or supervised release?
Q3Do you have any criminal charges pending anywhere?
Q4How long since you finished the sentence, including supervision?
Q5Can you produce certified court records and two people who will write a character reference?
Step two
What you'll need
Start gathering now. The first public window is capped at 5,000, and the applications that land first are the ones that were already built.
DOCUMENTS
THE REST
- Electronic fingerprints
- Character references who will sign their names
- The $30 federal application fee — waivable or reducible, and we cover it either way
- Form 1123-0017, filed through the Office of the Pardon Attorney
Step three
Send it to us
Tell us enough to open a file. Nothing you send here is a legal filing, and sending it does not create an attorney-client relationship with anyone.
