A Suspended Imposition of Sentence in Missouri does show up on a background check while you are on probation, but once you finish probation successfully the court closes the record and it disappears from standard commercial screenings. It is not erased, though. Fingerprint-based checks run by licensing boards, law enforcement, healthcare employers, and childcare agencies can still reach it, and federal immigration law treats an SIS as a conviction regardless of how Missouri labels it. Full removal takes a separate expungement petition after a waiting period.
What an SIS Is
When a Missouri judge grants an SIS, the court accepts your guilty plea but stops short of entering a conviction or imposing a sentence. You serve a period of probation with conditions, and if you complete it cleanly, no conviction is ever entered. The authority comes from Missouri’s sentencing statute, which allows this disposition for felonies, misdemeanors, and infractions.1Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 557.011 – Authorized Dispositions
This is the feature that makes an SIS valuable. A Suspended Execution of Sentence is different: the judge enters a conviction and a sentence, then suspends the time. That conviction stays on your record. With an SIS, no conviction is ever entered in the first place, which is why its visibility on background checks changes dramatically once probation ends.
Visibility While You Are on Probation
During the probation period the case is open and active, and any background check will find it. The Missouri Automated Criminal History Site, the state highway patrol’s portal for criminal history searches, provides public access to that information and will show the arrest, charge, guilty plea, and probation status.2Missouri Automated Criminal History Fingerprint Portal. MACHS Home Commercial background check companies pulling Missouri court records see the same thing. To an outside screener, an open SIS looks much like any other pending criminal case.
After You Complete Probation
Once probation ends and the court closes the case, Missouri law requires that official records related to the charge become closed records. They are removed from public access and held as confidential files. They are not destroyed. They are inaccessible to the general public and to standard name-based background searches.
For most everyday purposes, that is the end of the story. You can truthfully say you have not been convicted of a crime, because no conviction was ever entered. Routine employer background checks that search court records by name will generally return nothing.
Who Can Still See a Closed SIS
Closed is not the same as gone. Several categories of government agencies and authorized entities can still reach closed records through fingerprint-based requests to the state highway patrol’s criminal records repository. State agencies handling professional licensing, the department of social services, the department of education, the gaming commission, and municipal agencies screening applicants for employment or permits all have statutory authority to run checks that bypass the closure. The statute specifically overrides the closed-record protections and makes all criminal history information found through those fingerprint searches accessible to the requesting agency.3Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 43.543 – Certain Agencies to Submit Fingerprints, Background Search Procedure
Qualified private entities can also conduct criminal record reviews through the highway patrol for the purpose of evaluating an applicant’s suitability for a permit, license, or employment.4Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 43.540 – Criminal Record Review, Certain Applicants and Qualified Entities If your career path runs through any of these gatekeepers, a completed SIS will surface.
Some industries also require you to disclose an SIS yourself, closed record or not. Anyone applying for a position involving contact with patients or residents at a healthcare facility must disclose their full criminal history, and Missouri law explicitly defines that criminal history to include any suspended imposition of sentence. Knowingly failing to disclose is a class A misdemeanor on its own.5Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 192.2495 – Background Checks for Patient Contact Positions
Commercial Background Checks and the Seven-Year Rule
When a private employer uses a third-party background check company, that company is regulated by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. Because a completed SIS does not result in a conviction, the arrest and case information is a non-conviction record. Under the FCRA, non-conviction arrest records cannot be reported if they are more than seven years old, measured from the date the record was filed.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c – Requirements on Consumer Reporting Agencies
One exception matters: the seven-year limit does not apply when the job pays $75,000 or more per year.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c – Requirements on Consumer Reporting Agencies For higher-paying positions, a background check company can report non-conviction records indefinitely. In practice, once Missouri closes the record after probation, commercial companies that rely on court record searches may not find it at all.
Immigration Treats an SIS as a Conviction
This catches people off guard. Under federal immigration law, a conviction exists whenever two things are true: the person entered a guilty plea or was found guilty, and the judge imposed some form of punishment or restraint on liberty.7Legal Information Institute. 8 USC 1101(a)(48)(A) – Definition of Conviction An SIS satisfies both. You pled guilty, and probation is a restraint on liberty.
USCIS policy makes this explicit: where adjudication has been withheld but the person pled guilty and a judge ordered a restraint on liberty, the case qualifies as a conviction for immigration purposes.8USCIS. USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 12, Part F, Chapter 2 – Adjudicative Factors An SIS can affect naturalization, visa renewals, green card petitions, and deportation proceedings. If you are not a U.S. citizen, talk to an immigration attorney before accepting an SIS plea.
What Happens If Probation Is Revoked
Everything above assumes you finish probation. If you violate a condition, the court can continue probation, modify it, extend it, or revoke it outright.9Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 559.036 – Probation Revocation, Procedures and Consequences Because your guilty plea is already on file, revocation lets the judge impose any sentence available for the original charge, up to the statutory maximum. The moment that sentence is imposed, your case converts from a non-conviction disposition into a conviction that appears on every standard background check from then on.
Expungement: The Only Way to Fully Erase It
Expungement is the only route that removes the underlying record so that fingerprint checks and immigration searches also come up empty. Missouri’s expungement statute lets you petition the court to seal records of arrest, plea, and case disposition.10Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 610.140 – Expungement of Certain Criminal Records
You have to wait at least one year after completing probation for a misdemeanor, or three years for a felony. During that waiting period you cannot have been found guilty of any new misdemeanor or felony (minor traffic violations do not count). All fines, restitution, and other court-ordered obligations must be paid, and you cannot have open criminal charges when you file. The judge must also find that your conduct shows you are not a threat and that expungement serves the public welfare.10Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 610.140 – Expungement of Certain Criminal Records
Lifetime limits apply: no more than two felonies and three misdemeanors that carry potential jail time. Infractions have no limit. A long list of offenses is ineligible regardless of disposition, including class A felonies, dangerous felonies, sex offenses and any crime requiring registration, felonies where death is an element, assault and domestic assault felonies, felony kidnapping, and DWI and intoxication-related traffic or boating offenses.10Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 610.140 – Expungement of Certain Criminal Records If your charge falls into one of those categories, the SIS still protects you from a conviction, but the closed record stays reachable by fingerprint-based screening indefinitely.
You file a Petition for Expungement (Form CR360) with the circuit court clerk in the county where the charge was prosecuted. Filing in the wrong county results in dismissal. The petition has to list every agency that may hold related records, including the arresting department, the county sheriff, and the Missouri State Highway Patrol. A mandatory $250 state surcharge applies, which the judge can waive if you cannot pay.11Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 488.650 – Expungement Surcharge, Amount, Waiver Local filing fees push the typical total to roughly $250 to $350.
After filing, you serve the petition on the prosecuting attorney and every law enforcement agency named. Those parties have 30 days to object. If no objections come in and the legal requirements are satisfied, the court can grant the expungement without a hearing. Once granted, every agency named in the petition must remove or seal its records.10Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 610.140 – Expungement of Certain Criminal Records