Criminal record expungement checker

A conviction from years ago can still cost you a job, a firearm licence, a visa or a professional registration. Many people assume the record falls away with time. It does not. It stays on the criminal record the police keep until somebody applies to have it removed, and that application can only be made once a waiting period has run.

This checker works out the date that period ends, and tells you whether the ordinary route applies to you at all.

What this tool works out and who it is for

You enter five things: the date of the conviction, whether you were an adult or under 18 at the time, the sentence the court imposed, whether you have since been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment without the option of a fine, and whether the conviction is linked to the National Register for Sex Offenders or the Child Protection Register.

The tool returns the waiting period that applies, the earliest date you can apply, how many days are still to run, and any warnings about your particular situation. It gives you a date to diarise, not a decision.

It is for anyone carrying an old conviction. A shoplifting charge at 19. A fine for a scuffle outside a nightclub. A suspended sentence from a bad year. If you were convicted, the record exists, and this tells you when you can start getting rid of it.

It is also for people who are not sure a record exists at all. That is more common than you would think. Many people who complete a diversion programme believe they have a criminal record when they were never convicted.

How the checker decides

The service works through a fixed sequence.

It starts with the waiting period. If you were 18 or older at the time, the period is ten years from the date of the conviction. If you were under 18, the period is five years. The tool adds that number of years to the conviction date and shows you the result as the earliest application date. That is the whole arithmetic: a date, plus ten years or plus five.

Note the date it uses. It is the date the court convicted you, not the date of the offence and not the date of your arrest. Those can be a long way apart, and using the wrong one will give you the wrong answer.

For a person convicted as a child the tool applies five years, and adds a note that a more serious matter can take up to ten years to clear. The five-year figure is the starting point, not a guarantee for every childhood conviction.

It then compares the earliest application date with today, and tells you either that the waiting period has passed or how many days are still to run. If the period has not passed and nothing else blocks you, it warns you that applying early simply wastes the application, and tells you to diarise the date.

Next it applies the blockers. Three answers stop the ordinary route.

The first is the register. If the conviction is connected to the National Register for Sex Offenders or the Child Protection Register, the ordinary expungement route does not clear it. The tool says so and tells you to get advice before applying.

The second is diversion. If you tell the tool you were diverted rather than convicted, it explains that diversion is not a conviction, so there is usually no criminal record to expunge in the first place. What exists is a record of the diversion itself, which is handled separately and clears on its own timeline. Before you apply for anything, ask the clerk of the court or the prosecutor what is actually on your record.

The third is a later conviction. If you have since been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment without the option of a fine, that interrupts the ordinary ten-year route. The period generally has to run without such a conviction, so the date the tool shows you will not be the operative one. It tells you to get advice on where you actually stand.

There is a fourth situation that is flagged but does not block the result. If the sentence for the conviction you are asking about was itself imprisonment without the option of a fine, the tool warns you that such a sentence is treated more strictly than a fine or a suspended sentence, and that some records of that kind are not expunged on the ordinary route at all.

The tool records the sentence you selected in the result, whether it was a fine, a wholly or partly suspended sentence, correctional supervision, imprisonment with the option of a fine, imprisonment without the option of a fine, a caution and discharge, or diversion.

The law behind it

Expungement of an adult criminal record is dealt with in the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977, in the provisions that practitioners refer to by number as section 271B. Those provisions set the ten-year waiting period, require that the period run without a further conviction carrying imprisonment without the option of a fine, and give the decision to the Director-General of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.

Records of people convicted as children are dealt with under the Child Justice Act 75 of 2008, which treats a child offender differently throughout and provides for records to clear sooner. Diversion also comes from that Act. Diversion is a route away from prosecution, usually into a programme, and it ends without a conviction being entered.

The rate table on this site records those two Acts as the source for the waiting periods, with an effective date of 6 August 2009. If Parliament changes the waiting periods, the table changes and the tool changes with it, so treat the years shown as current practice to confirm rather than as something permanent.

One point that is often confused. Expungement removes the conviction from the criminal record the police keep. It does not undo the conviction, and it does not erase the court record or anything published about the case at the time.

Worked example

This example is illustrative. Lerato was convicted of theft on 15 June 2020. She was 24 at the time, so she was an adult. The court fined her. She has not been convicted of anything since, and the conviction has nothing to do with either register.

The tool applies the adult waiting period of ten years. It adds ten years to 15 June 2020 and gives 15 June 2030 as the earliest application date. That is the calculation in full, and you can check it on a calendar.

Because that date is still in the future, the tool tells her how many days remain and warns her not to waste an application by sending it early. It shows the sentence as a fine, which does not raise the extra warning that imprisonment without the option of a fine would.

What Lerato can usefully do now is find out what is actually on her record, by applying to the South African Police Service Criminal Record Centre for a police clearance certificate.

Change one fact and the answer changes completely. If Lerato had been 16 at the time, the period would be five years and the date would be 15 June 2025, subject to the note that a more serious matter can take up to ten years. If she had been convicted in 2023 and sentenced to prison without the option of a fine, the 2030 date would no longer be the operative one and she would need advice.

What this tool does not decide

The Director-General of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development decides every expungement application, on its own facts. Nothing on this page binds that decision and nothing here promises an outcome.

The tool works out a waiting period. It does not assess whether your particular conviction is one that can be expunged at all, it does not know what is on your record, and it does not know about convictions you did not tell it about. The registers, a later prison sentence and the seriousness of a childhood matter are all things it can flag but cannot resolve.

It also does not tell you how long the application will take. Allow months rather than weeks. The Department works through applications in turn and will write to you.

When to get advice, and the free route

Almost all of this you can do yourself, at no cost.

Start with the record. Apply to the South African Police Service Criminal Record Centre for a police clearance certificate. You do this yourself at a police station or through the Centre, and you do not need an attorney. Everything else depends on knowing what the record actually says.

Then the application. It goes to the Director-General of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development on the prescribed form, with a certified copy of your identity document and your police clearance certificate. There is no charge for the application itself and no attorney is required. Our guide on how to clear your criminal record in South Africa walks through the forms and where to send them.

Get advice from a person if the conviction is linked to either register, if you have a later conviction carrying imprisonment without the option of a fine, if you are unsure whether you were convicted or diverted, if the record shows something different from what you remember, or if an application has already been refused. Those situations turn on detail this tool cannot see.

If you cannot afford an attorney, Legal Aid South Africa can be reached on 0800 110 110. Our guide on whether you qualify for legal aid in a criminal case explains the means test, and the legal aid page has the wider picture.

LawMatch is not a law firm and this page is general information, not legal advice. Confirm your position with the Department of Justice or an attorney before you rely on the date.

Frequently asked questions

Does a criminal record fall away on its own after ten years?

No. The waiting period is when you become entitled to apply. The record stays on the police system until the Director-General grants an expungement and the entry is removed. Nothing happens automatically.

Which date do I use, the offence or the conviction?

The conviction. The tool counts from the date the court convicted you, not the date of the offence and not the date of the arrest. If the case ran for a year, those dates differ and the answer differs with them.

I completed a diversion programme. Do I have a record?

Usually not, because diversion ends without a conviction being entered. There may still be a record of the diversion itself, which is dealt with separately and clears on its own timeline. Ask the clerk of the court or the prosecutor what is on your record before you apply for anything.

I was convicted again after the first conviction. Does that reset the clock?

If the later conviction carried imprisonment without the option of a fine, it interrupts the ordinary route and the date this tool shows will not be the operative one. A later fine or suspended sentence is treated differently. Get advice on your specific history.

Do I need an attorney to apply?

No. The police clearance certificate and the expungement application are both things you can do yourself, and there is no charge for the application. An attorney is worth the money only where a blocker applies or an earlier application has been refused.

What does expungement actually remove?

It removes the conviction from the criminal record the police keep, so a future clearance certificate comes back clean. It does not undo the conviction itself and it does not erase court files or anything that was published about the case.