How Long an OWI Stays on Your Record in Michigan

In Michigan an OWI stays on your driving record permanently, according to the Secretary of State, and stays on your criminal record unless a court sets it aside.^[1][3][4] The criminal record and the driving record are kept by different agencies under different laws, and many other laws use their own look-back periods, so the honest answer to "how long" depends on which record and which question.

Two records, two agencies

	Driving record	Criminal record
Kept by	Secretary of State, as the master driving record.[9]	Michigan State Police, from fingerprints and court reports.[10][11]
How it gets there	The court sends an abstract within 5 days of conviction.[12]	Police send fingerprints within 72 hours of arrest.[10]
How long	Permanently for impaired driving, per the SOS manual.[1]	Unless set aside; OWI is never set aside automatically.[3]
Can a set-aside remove it?	No.[13]	One first-offense OWI, on application, after 5 years.[4][5]

The driving record

Within 5 days after a conviction, the court must send the Secretary of State an abstract of the record.^[12] Each abstract must be entered on the person's master driving record.^[9] For OWI-type charges, the court must also "immediately" report a dismissal or an acquittal.^[8]

A court cannot keep an OWI off the driving record. It may not take a reportable driving offense under advisement, and such a conviction "must not be masked, delayed, diverted, suspended, or suppressed by a court."^[14] A court also may not order expunction of a violation reportable to the Secretary of State, except as the Vehicle Code provides.^[15]

As for how long the entry stays, the SOS driver manual says most convictions stay on the record at least seven years, certain convictions and licensing actions at least 10 years, and "a conviction for a fatality or for impaired driving remains on your driving record permanently."^[1] That rule comes from the SOS manual rather than a statute section, so this guide cites the manual.

Points are not the same as the conviction

Points are a separate count. The SOS manual says points remain on the record for two years from the date of conviction.^[16] An OWI under 625(1) carries 6 points; OWVI and the under-21 zero-tolerance offense carry 4.^[2] A common mistake is to think the OWI disappears when its points do. It does not: the two-year period applies to the points, and the SOS manual says an impaired-driving conviction stays permanently.^[1][2] Points are explained on points on your driving record.

Convictions from other states

The SOS central file includes convictions reported by other jurisdictions, and convictions from other states appear on the Michigan driving record with Michigan points.^[17] See out-of-state OWI and your Michigan license.

The criminal record

The criminal record begins at the arrest. For a felony, or a misdemeanor whose maximum penalty exceeds 92 days, the arresting agency must collect fingerprints and other biometric data and send them to the State Police within 72 hours; the State Police forward them to the FBI.^[10] A first OWI carries up to 93 days, so it falls within that rule.^[10][6]

When a jury or court finds that the defendant was under the influence of, or impaired by, a controlled substance (alone or combined with alcohol or another intoxicating substance), the court also forwards to the State Police a record of the penalties imposed. That record is a public record, and the State Police must keep it for not less than 7 years.^[18] That provision does not apply to an alcohol-only OWI.

The State Police's public search tool, ICHAT, searches public criminal history record information.^[11] The State Police say ICHAT does not include suppressed records, traffic records, juvenile records, local misdemeanors or other states' records.^[11] The page does not say how it classifies an OWI conviction, so this guide does not say whether a particular OWI appears there.

If OWI charges are dismissed before trial, the arrest record must be removed from ICHAT, and the arrest record and fingerprints are destroyed if the prosecutor agrees or neither the prosecutor nor the judge objects within 60 days of the dismissal order.^[19] The domestic violence guide's page on what shows on your record after an arrest, dismissal or acquittal covers these criminal-record rules in more depth.

Is there any way to clear it?

Only one, and only for some cases. Michigan's automatic set-aside provision does not apply to OWI.^[3] A person may apply to set aside one first-violation OWI in a lifetime, at least 5 years after sentencing or the end of probation, parole or imprisonment, whichever is last.^[4][20][5] Second offenses and offenses causing injury or death cannot be set aside.^[21][22] Even then, the set-aside conviction can still count as a prior if the person is charged again.^[23] The details are on setting aside an OWI conviction and what a set-aside does.

The other clocks that matter

Separate laws ask about an OWI over their own time periods. The table collects the ones covered in this guide.

Question	Look-back or duration
Points remain on the driving record	Two years from conviction.[16]
Reexamination for 12 or more points	12 points within 2 years.[24]
A new OWI charged as a second offense	Within 7 years of a prior conviction.[6]
A new OWI charged as a felony third offense	Two or more priors, "regardless of the number of years."[6]
Mandatory license revocation	Two convictions within 7 years, or three within 10 years.[25][26]
Not an "eligible person" for auto insurance	Convicted under section 625 in the preceding 3 years.[7]
Concealed pistol license barred	3 years for a misdemeanor OWI; 8 years for a second offense.[27][28]
Federal job application question	Convictions during the last 7 years.[29]
CDL disqualification	1 year for a first offense (3 years if hauling hazardous materials in a commercial vehicle); life for a second in a separate incident.[30]
Earliest OWI set-aside application	5 years after the latest of sentence, probation, parole or imprisonment.[5]
State Police penalty record after a drug-impairment finding	Kept not less than 7 years.[18]

More on each: how prior convictions are counted, license revocation for repeat OWI, OWI and car insurance, OWI and gun rights and OWI and your job.

Who can look at the driving record

The SOS manual says personal information on the driving record is private under Michigan's Driver Privacy Protection Act and is released only for permissible uses, such as insurance rating, recalls and rental-car driver verification.^[31] By statute, insurers may use it for claims, antifraud, rating and underwriting; employers may use it to verify a commercial or chauffeur's license; and a motor carrier employer may get the record only after the driver is notified.^[32] A driver can buy a copy of their own record at any Secretary of State office.^[31] See also papers and records to keep.