Louisiana Expungement Certificate of Compliance and NCIC Update

The Judge Signed Your Order — Now What

Getting the judge to sign your expungement order is the climax of the filing process, but it is not the finish line. Between that signature and the moment your record actually disappears from background checks, there is a multi-agency enforcement phase that most people do not know about — and it is where expungements stall or fail to deliver the clean background check you filed for.

Understanding this phase means understanding three separate systems: the Louisiana State Police internal database, the FBI's national database, and the private background check industry. Each one updates on its own timeline, and none of them automatically synchronize with the others.

The Certificate of Compliance

After the judge signs the Order of Expungement, the Clerk of Court serves certified copies to all parties under La. C. Cr. P. Article 982: the District Attorney, the arresting law enforcement agency, the Parish Sheriff, and the Louisiana State Police Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information (BCII).

When LSP BCII receives the order, they modify your state criminal history record — removing the arrest, booking, and disposition from the public-facing portion of the database. Once the modification is complete, LSP sends you a physical document called the Certificate of Compliance. This certificate confirms that the records have been removed from public access in the state repository.

The Certificate of Compliance typically arrives 30 to 60 days after the judge signs the order. Some filers report longer waits during periods of high volume. If you have not received your certificate within 90 days, contact LSP BCII directly at (225) 925-6095 to check the status.

Keep this certificate. It is your proof that the state has processed the expungement, and you will need it if you ever need to verify your sealed status to an employer, landlord, or licensing board.

The NCIC and FBI Update

The Louisiana State Police are responsible for transmitting the expungement to the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and the Interstate Identification Index (III). This transmission is supposed to happen as part of the standard compliance process, but it is not instantaneous — and it is not always reliable.

The NCIC database is what drives the federal background check system. It is what a gun dealer queries when you fill out ATF Form 4473, what an employer running a federal-level check sees, and what immigration authorities access during visa and naturalization processing.

If LSP fails to transmit the update — or if the transmission is delayed — your record continues to appear in federal searches even after it has been sealed at the state level. There is no automatic notification when the FBI record has been updated. The only way to verify is to request your own FBI Identity History Summary (commonly called a "rap sheet") by submitting fingerprints and a request form to the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) division.

The Right to Review

Before filing your expungement, you were required to obtain a "Right to Review" background check from LSP BCII — the fingerprint-based rap sheet that shows your complete Louisiana criminal history. This is the document that proved your arrest date, booking charges, and disposition matched what you put on the motion.

After the expungement is processed, you can request a new Right to Review check to confirm that the sealed record no longer appears. This costs $26 (or $50 in Jefferson Parish) and requires a new fingerprint submission through the Louisiana Applicant Processing System (LAPS).

Running this verification check gives you a clean state-level document you can present to employers or landlords if a private background check company is still reporting the old record.

Clearing Private Background Check Databases

This is the part of post-order enforcement that requires your direct action. Private background check companies — TransUnion, GoodHire, Checkr, Sterling, HireRight, and hundreds of smaller services — maintain their own databases. They do not automatically update when Louisiana processes an expungement. Many of them pull records from county courthouses, state repositories, and public record aggregators on a periodic schedule, which means your sealed record can keep appearing for months or even longer.

Under La. C. Cr. P. Article 974, you have the right to force these companies to stop reporting your expunged record. The process:

1. Get a certified copy of the signed Order of Expungement from the Clerk of Court.
2. Mail it via certified mail, return receipt requested, to every background check company that has reported or might report the record.
3. Keep the return receipts as proof of delivery.

Once a company has been formally notified, any continued disclosure of the expunged record violates Article 974 and the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The company becomes liable for civil damages and attorney fees.

If you recently failed a background check and know which company ran it, start with that company. If you do not know which companies have your record, the three largest consumer reporting agencies — TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian — are a good starting point, along with the specialty screening companies most commonly used by employers in your industry.

Timeline Summary

Here is what the full post-order enforcement timeline looks like:

• Day 0: Judge signs the Order of Expungement.
• Days 1–14: Clerk of Court serves certified copies to DA, arresting agency, Sheriff, and LSP BCII.
• Days 14–60: LSP BCII processes the order and modifies the state repository.
• Days 30–90: LSP transmits the update to FBI NCIC (timeline varies).
• Days 30–60: Certificate of Compliance arrives in your mail.
• Ongoing: You mail certified copies of the order to private background check companies that are still reporting the record.

Total time from signed order to a genuinely clean background check: three to six months for thorough enforcement, assuming you actively follow up with private companies.

The Louisiana Expungement & Record Sealing Guide includes a post-order enforcement checklist with the mailing addresses of major background check companies and template language for your certified-mail notice.

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