What you can do with a felony record

It depends on the state and where someone is in their sentence. See every state's rule, from its own law and election office.

Usually not without doing something first: almost any felony conviction can make you inadmissible to Canada, but you may get in if enough time has passed to be deemed rehabilitated, if Canada approves your application for rehabilitation (possible 5 years after your sentence ends), or if an officer issues you a temporary resident permit for a specific trip.

Mexico's law has no list of banned offenses and no waiver to apply for; the ground it gives for refusing someone over their record is that the record, in Mexico or abroad, would compromise national or public security, so a felony conviction is not an automatic bar, but an immigration officer decides at the border, case by case.

A felony conviction by itself doesn't stop you from getting a U.S. passport, but a few situations do, such as some drug-trafficking convictions while you're still serving the sentence, an open felony warrant, or a court or supervision condition that bars you from leaving the country.

Leaving the U.S. mainly takes a valid passport and, if you're still under supervision, permission, but the bigger hurdle is that other countries, Canada especially, can refuse to let you in because of a criminal record.

Federal law bars enlisting anyone convicted of a felony, but each service can grant an exception in "meritorious cases," decided one applicant at a time.

Under federal rules a felony that had nothing to do with driving doesn't by itself stop you from getting a commercial driver's license; the bars are tied to driving offenses and felonies committed using a vehicle, and a hazmat endorsement needs a separate TSA background check.

The FAA has no general felony bar for pilot certificates, but drug convictions can delay or cost you a certificate, alcohol- or drug-related driving offenses must be reported and are reviewed for your medical certificate, an airline transport pilot certificate requires good moral character, and flying for an airline means passing a TSA background check that disqualifies listed crimes from the last 10 years.

Often yes, but specific felonies disqualify you: TSA bars a short list of serious crimes permanently and others until at least 7 years after conviction and 5 years after release from prison, and you can ask TSA for a waiver for all but a handful of them.

It depends on the state and the department: there's no single national rule, and some states or departments bar felony convictions while others review each applicant's record.

State peace-officer standards commonly bar anyone convicted of a felony, as every state rule checked here does (Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, California), and federal gun law adds more limits for armed jobs.

A felony doesn't automatically bar most federal jobs, agencies generally can't ask about your record until after a conditional job offer, and OPM's own form says that in most cases you can still be considered, but a few crimes carry legal bars, and jobs needing a security clearance or a law enforcement badge screen much harder.

A felony doesn't automatically disqualify you, because adjudicators weigh criminal conduct case by case under the 'whole-person' guidelines, but being on probation or parole counts against you, current illegal drug use is an absolute bar, and a conviction with a prison sentence of more than a year, of which you actually served at least a year, blocks the highest-level access (SCI, special access programs, Restricted Data) unless the agency grants a waiver.

Federal rules bar nursing homes from employing anyone a court has found guilty of abuse, neglect, exploitation, mistreatment or misappropriation of property, and states add their own lists of disqualifying offenses, some permanent and some time-limited, often with a waiver route.

State medical boards decide case by case, but you also have to get through medical school background checks, some states automatically deny licenses for certain drug, fraud and Medicaid-related felonies for years, and some convictions block federal prescribing rights and Medicare/Medicaid work.

There's no national ban, and each state's bar admission authority judges your character and fitness case by case, but a few jurisdictions bar felony applicants outright and several presume against them for a set period.

There is no national ban, and each state's board of nursing reviews your record case by case, but some states automatically deny licenses for certain offenses, and a felony stops you getting a multistate (compact) license.

Each state's real estate commission decides whether your record disqualifies you, focusing mostly on fraud, theft and other dishonesty offenses, and some states will give you an answer before you pay for classes.

It depends on the state and the offense: every state we checked fingerprints teaching applicants, and some offenses (sex offenses, violent felonies and crimes against children especially) bar certification by law, but other felonies are often reviewed case by case, sometimes after a waiting period.

A felony doesn't bar you from federal student aid, drug convictions no longer affect it, and the Common App dropped its criminal history question in 2019, but some colleges still ask, and while you're incarcerated you can get a Pell Grant only through an approved prison education program and can't get federal student loans.

Most felony convictions don't affect SNAP, but a felony drug conviction can disqualify you depending on your state (in USDA's latest count, 28 state agencies have no ban, 24 have a modified one and South Carolina keeps a lifetime ban), and you can't get SNAP while you're fleeing a felony warrant or wanted for a probation or parole violation.

Often yes, but it depends on the housing agency: federal law requires denial in only a few situations (a lifetime sex-offender registration requirement, a conviction for making meth in federally assisted housing, a drug-related eviction in the last 3 years, and current illegal drug use or alcohol abuse that threatens other residents), and each public housing agency may also deny people for recent drug-related, violent or other dangerous criminal activity under its own written lookback period.

Federal law bars approval for foster and adoptive parents with certain felonies (child abuse, spousal abuse, crimes against children and violent crimes like rape or homicide at any time, and assault, battery or drug felonies within the last 5 years), and states add their own rules, but many other records are reviewed case by case.

Federal courts disqualify anyone with a conviction punishable by more than a year unless their civil rights have been restored, and each state sets its own rule, from eligibility once your sentence is finished (California) to a lifetime bar unless you are pardoned (Pennsylvania).

Federal law bars people convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison (with a few exceptions, such as some state misdemeanors punishable by two years or less) from having a gun or ammunition, and the ways out (a pardon, an expungement or a rights restoration that doesn't keep the firearm ban, or federal relief that DOJ is only now starting to open) are narrow.