Jobs, Housing and Daily Life on Michigan's Sex Offender Registry

Michigan's registration act mostly imposes reporting duties; it does not itself list jobs a registrant cannot hold or places a registrant cannot live.^[5] The legal limits on work and housing come from other statutes: a school employment bar, a child care licensing bar, a federal assisted-housing rule for lifetime registrants, and conditions of probation.^[1][2][3][6]

Law as of 4 October 2026. Court rulings are changing registry law. 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 before relying on this page.

This page covers only restrictions verified in a statute. Employers, landlords, schools and licensing bodies also make their own decisions, and those vary.

Which rules follow the conviction and which follow registration?

The distinction decides who is affected and for how long.

Rule	What triggers it	Source
School employment bar	The person "has been convicted of a listed offense"	MCL 380.1230c[1]
Child care license and staff bar	The person "is registered, or is required to be registered" on a state or national registry	MCL 722.115r[2]
Federally assisted housing admission	A household member is "subject to a lifetime registration requirement" under a state program	42 USC 13663[3]
1,000-foot residence, work and loitering conditions	The person is placed on probation for a listed offense	MCL 771.2a[6]
Reporting a change of employer or address	The person is required to be registered	MCL 28.725[10]

This matters after the September 2026 removals. The State Police legal update states that People v Smith "has no effect on the validity of the underlying conviction for any removed offender."^[11] A rule triggered by the conviction is not written in terms of current registration.^[1]

Employment

Schools

If a school official of a school district, intermediate school district, public school academy or nonpublic school has notice from an authoritative source that a person has been convicted of a listed offense, the governing board must take steps to verify that information using public records. If it is verified, the school "shall not employ that individual in any capacity or allow that person to regularly and continuously work under contract in any of its schools."^[1] "Listed offense" has the registration act's meaning: any Tier I, Tier II or Tier III offense.^[1][12]

For a verified conviction of a felony other than a listed offense, the school may not employ the person or allow the person to regularly and continuously work under contract in its schools unless the superintendent or chief administrator and the governing board each specifically approves the employment or work assignment in writing.^[13]

Child care

A person who is registered, or is required to be registered, on a state sex offender registry or repository or the national sex offender registry is ineligible to receive a child care license, to be an adult member of a licensed child care household, or to be a child care staff member.^[2]

Other jobs

The registration act as now in force contains no work restriction of its own. Its former student safety zone sections, which barred working within 1,000 feet of school property, were repealed effective March 24, 2021.^[5] A person on probation for a listed offense is treated differently: the court must order the person not to work within a student safety zone, unless the person was working there on January 1, 2006 or only intermittently or sporadically enters a zone for work.^[6][14]

Licensed professions have separate rules, covered in sex offense convictions and professional licenses. This guide has not verified any general statute that bars registrants from private employment outside the settings above; private employers set their own hiring policies.

What the registry shows about a job

A registrant must report a change of employment, or the end of employment, within 3 business days, and "employee" includes self-employment, contract work and volunteering.^[10][15] For a person on the public website, the site must contain the address of each of the individual's employers.^[4] It must not show the registrant's tier classification.^[16]

Not every registrant is on the public site. A person registered solely for a single Tier I offense, other than the listed exceptions, and a person registered solely on a juvenile disposition in a non-designated case are excluded from it.^[17][18] See public versus non-public registration.

Housing

Federally assisted housing

Under 42 USC 13663(a), "an owner of federally assisted housing shall prohibit admission to such housing for any household that includes any individual who is subject to a lifetime registration requirement under a State sex offender registration program."^[3] Three features of that sentence are worth noticing: it applies to the whole household, it is limited to lifetime registration, and it speaks of admission.^[3] In Michigan the lifetime period is Tier III.^[19]

Where a registrant may live

The registration act no longer contains residency restrictions.^[5] A person on probation for a listed offense must be ordered not to reside within 1,000 feet or less of school property, with exceptions for certain students living with a parent or guardian and for people who were residing in the zone on January 1, 2006.^[6][14] Those rules, and the fact that this guide has not verified any local ordinance, are covered in residency and school zone rules.

Address and identification

A registrant must report a change of residence within 3 business days and must maintain a Michigan driver's license or state identification card with the current address, unless the registrant is homeless.^[10][20] For a homeless registrant, the act treats the village, city or township where the person spends a majority of his or her time as the residence.^[21] For a person on the public website, the home address is displayed.^[4]

Private landlords make their own screening decisions, and this guide has not verified a Michigan statute on that subject.

Schools and children

With the registration act's zones repealed, this guide has not verified any statewide statute that bars a registrant, as such, from entering school property.^[5] Individual schools set visitor policies, and those vary. The verified rules are narrower:

• A person on probation for a listed offense must be ordered not to loiter within a student safety zone, and "loiter" means to remain for a period of time and under circumstances that a reasonable person would determine is for the primary purpose of observing or contacting minors.^[6][22]
• When a student at a school is convicted of or adjudicated for criminal sexual conduct, the court must order that the student is prohibited from attending the same school building that is attended by the victim and from using a school bus if the student will have contact with the victim during its use.^[23]
• A registrant who enrolls at an institution of higher education, or discontinues enrollment, must report that within 3 business days, unless enrollment and participation is solely through the mail or the internet from a remote location.^[24]

Family court is a separate system. If a person is convicted of criminal sexual conduct and the victim is that person's child, the court may not award the person custody of that child or a sibling of that child unless the child's other parent consents, along with the child or sibling if the court considers him or her old enough to express a preference. A parallel rule applies to parenting time.^[25][26] See sex offense convictions and child custody.

Costs and other everyday effects

• Fees. Registration costs $50 initially and $50 annually, capped at $550 in total, with a 90-day waiver for a registrant who proves indigence.^[27][28]
• Time. In-person verification is required once, twice or four times a year depending on tier.^[29]
• Travel. A registrant must report in person not later than 21 days before traveling to another country for more than 7 days, and federal law requires a unique identifier on a passport issued to a "covered sex offender."^[30][31] See travel and passports.
• Firearms. A person convicted of a felony may not possess or purchase a firearm in Michigan until the statutory period after completing the sentence has passed, and for that statute a felony is an offense punishable by imprisonment for more than 1 year.^[32] See gun rights after a sex offense conviction.
• Immigration. For non-citizens, the federal definition of aggravated felony includes "sexual abuse of a minor."^[33] See immigration consequences.

Can the record be cleared?

For the offenses named in this paragraph, no. A conviction for first-degree, second-degree or third-degree criminal sexual conduct, assault with intent to commit criminal sexual conduct, or a child sexually abusive material offense cannot be set aside.^[34] A fourth-degree conviction entered on or after January 12, 2015 cannot be set aside either.^[35] Whether a set-aside ends registration is itself unresolved.^[36] See setting aside a sex offense conviction.

What people get wrong

"Registrants cannot work near a school." That restriction left the registration act on March 24, 2021; it remains as a condition of probation for a listed offense.^[5][6]

"Any registrant is barred from public housing." The federal admission rule is written for a person subject to a lifetime registration requirement.^[3]

"Employers can see my tier." The public website must not show it.^[16]

Organizations and official contacts are listed in resources for people accused and registrants, and the reporting rules in what registrants must report.