Moving To or From Michigan on a Sex Offender Registry

Crossing a state line does not end a registration duty; it adds deadlines. A person who comes to Michigan with a registrable conviction or an out-of-state registration requirement must register here within 3 business days, and a Michigan registrant must report in person not more than 3 business days before moving to another state.^[1][2] Federal law runs alongside both states' rules.^[5]

Law as of 4 October 2026. Court rulings are changing this area, and the rules for out-of-state convictions are the least settled part of it. On September 9, 2026 the Michigan Supreme Court held that the 2021 SORA may not be applied retroactively to registrants whose offenses predate the 2011 amendments, and the Michigan State Police reported on September 11, 2026 that it had removed more than 20,000 people from the registry, with numbers that could change.^[7][8] A federal appeal was still pending when the State Police published its September 2026 legal update.^[9] A registrant should confirm current duties with the Michigan State Police Sex Offender Registry Unit or an attorney, and with the registration authority of any other state involved, before relying on this page. The unit's telephone number is (517) 241-1806.^[10]

This page covers people arriving in Michigan, people leaving, international travel, the federal layer, and what is unsettled for out-of-state convictions.

Moving to Michigan

Who the statute covers

The registration act applies to people who are domiciled or temporarily reside in Michigan, who work here with or without compensation, or who are students here.^[11] Two provisions reach people whose cases began elsewhere:

• Each tier list includes an offense "substantially similar" to a Michigan listed offense under a listed federal law, the law of any state or country, or tribal or military law.^[12]
• The act also covers a person from another state "who is required to register or otherwise be identified as a sex or child offender or predator under a comparable statute of that state."^[13]

A juvenile adjudication from another state or country counts only if the person was 14 or older at the time of the offense and the offense would classify the person as a Tier III offender.^[14]

The deadline

A person in either group must register with the local law enforcement agency, the sheriff's department or the State Police "not more than 3 business days after becoming domiciled or temporarily residing, working, or being a student in this state."^[1] The definitions are broad. "Employee" includes a self-employed person and a volunteer, and "student" includes a person enrolled part-time.^[15] "Residence" means the place where a person habitually sleeps, keeps personal effects and has a regular place of lodging.^[16]

Once registered, the person is assigned to a tier and follows the Michigan schedule: verification once, twice or four times a year, and reports within 3 business days of a change of residence, employment, higher-education enrollment or name.^[17][18] See what registrants must report and SORA tiers in Michigan.

What is unsettled for out-of-state convictions

This is the area where the statute, a federal judgment, a state appellate decision and a State Police statement do not line up. Each is set out here with its source.

Source	What it says	Status
MCL 28.723 and 28.724	People with substantially similar convictions or another state's registration requirement must register within 3 business days	Statute text in force[1][13]
Does v Whitmer, Amended Judgment (April 22, 2025)	Michigan's process for, and harsher treatment of, people with non-Michigan convictions is unconstitutional; registration based on a non-Michigan conviction enjoined	Appealed by the State and stayed[19][4]
Court-approved class notice (December 31, 2025)	People with non-Michigan convictions must keep registering during the appeal	Reflects the stay[4]
In re Harder, Michigan Court of Appeals (2025)	Declined to adopt the federal "categorical approach"; an Iowa conviction stayed registrable as Tier II after Iowa ended the registration	State appellate decision[20]
State Police Legal Update No. 172 (September 2026)	A person registered in Michigan solely because another state requires registration, for conduct committed in that state before July 1, 2011, is similarly required to be removed because of People v Smith	Agency position stated to officers; not a court holding[21]

Three cautions follow from that table.

First, the federal ruling in favor of people with non-Michigan convictions has not taken effect. The court-approved notice explains that the stay "means that the relief ordered by the Court will not go into effect until after the appeals are done."^[4] The belief that out-of-state registrants no longer have to register in Michigan is a misreading of that ruling.^[4]

Second, People v Smith was decided on Michigan convictions for acts in 1995 and 2010.^[22] The State Police have stated their own position on people registered because of another state's requirement for pre-July 2011 conduct, but how that position is applied in individual cases has not been confirmed in the sources this guide relies on, and no court decision on the point was found.^[21][20] This guide treats the question as unsettled.

Third, the State Police update reported that the federal appeal had been argued on July 21, 2026 and was pending.^[9] Whether the Sixth Circuit has ruled since should be checked before relying on any of this. The rulings are explained in the SORA court rulings guide.

Asking a Michigan court to end registration on an out-of-state conviction

The petition statute has a venue rule for these cases. If the conviction occurred in another state or country and the person is a Michigan resident, the petition may be filed in the circuit court in the county of residence, "for an order allowing him or her to discontinue registration under this act only."^[23] The order therefore addresses Michigan registration; it does not address the other state's requirements.^[23] A copy goes to the prosecuting attorney for the county of residence at least 30 days before the hearing.^[24] The grounds are the same limited ones that apply to everyone; see petitioning to be removed from the registry.

Non-residents with a Michigan case, job or school

• Convicted in Michigan, living elsewhere. A non-resident convicted in Michigan of a listed offense on or after July 1, 2011 must register and have a photograph taken, but the continued reporting requirements do not apply while the person remains a non-resident and is not otherwise required to report.^[25]
• Working in Michigan. A registrant who is not a Michigan resident but has a place of employment here must report in person to the registering authority where the job is located, or the State Police post, not more than 3 business days after changing the place of employment or after employment is discontinued.^[26]
• Studying in Michigan. A non-resident registrant who enrolls at an institution of higher education, or discontinues enrollment, must report in person to the registering authority with jurisdiction over the campus not more than 3 business days afterward. This does not apply to enrollment and participation solely through the mail or the internet from a remote location.^[27]

Leaving Michigan for another state

A registrant who is a Michigan resident must report in person and notify the registering authority not more than 3 business days before changing domicile or residence to another state, and must indicate the new state and, if known, the new address.^[2] The State Police then update the databases and promptly notify the appropriate law enforcement agency and any applicable sex or child offender registration authority in the new state.^[2]

The other state's registration law decides what is required there, and this guide has not verified any other state's rules. Federal law supplies a floor: within 3 business days after a change of residence, employment or student status, a sex offender must appear in person in at least one jurisdiction involved and inform it of all changes.^[5]

Shorter trips are different from moves. Under the court-approved notice in Does v Whitmer, domestic travel must be reported if the registrant stays at one place for more than 7 consecutive days, and it does not need to be reported in advance.^[28]

Moving or traveling abroad

A registrant who is a Michigan resident must report in person not later than 21 days before changing domicile or residence to another country or traveling to another country for more than 7 days.^[3] Federal law makes it a crime, punishable by up to 10 years, to knowingly fail to provide required notice of intended international travel and then travel.^[29]

Passports are covered by a separate federal statute. The Secretary of State "shall not issue a passport to a covered sex offender unless the passport contains a unique identifier, and may revoke a passport previously issued without such an identifier of a covered sex offender."^[30] Entry rules of other countries are outside this guide's sources. See travel and passports with a sex offense conviction.

The federal layer: SORNA

The federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act requires a sex offender to register, and keep the registration current, in each jurisdiction where the offender resides, is an employee, or is a student.^[5] Its registration periods are 15 years, 25 years and life by federal tier.^[31]

A person required to register under the federal act who travels in interstate or foreign commerce and knowingly fails to register or update a registration faces up to 10 years in federal prison.^[29] For a non-citizen, a conviction under that statute is a ground of deportability.^[32]

The Sixth Circuit has held that "federal SORNA obligations are independent of state-law sex offender duties."^[6] No source read for this guide addresses whether or how a person removed from Michigan's registry under People v Smith could still face federal obligations, so that question should not be assumed either way, particularly by someone planning an interstate move.^[6]

What people get wrong

"Out-of-state registrants no longer have to register in Michigan." The federal ruling in their favor is stayed pending appeal.^[4]

"My home state let me off, so Michigan must." The Court of Appeals in In re Harder tied the Michigan requirement to the out-of-state conviction, not to the other state's registration requirement.^[20]

"Moving away cancels a Michigan failure-to-register problem." A failure to register may be prosecuted in the judicial district of the person's last registered address or residence, among other places.^[33] See failure-to-register penalties.

"Removal from the Michigan registry clears the record everywhere." The State Police legal update on People v Smith says the order has no effect on the validity of the underlying conviction.^[34]