If you get a felony conviction, the consequences reach well past the courtroom: on top of prison, probation, or fines, you can lose the right to vote, own a firearm, sit on a jury, hold certain jobs and licenses, rent some housing, receive certain public benefits, and in some cases travel abroad, and if you are not a U.S. citizen you can be deported. What happens if you get a felony depends heavily on the offense, the state you live in, and your immigration status, but the categories of fallout are consistent across the country.
Under federal law, a felony is any crime punishable by more than one year in prison.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3559 – Sentencing Classification of Offenses Every state uses its own labels (numbered degrees, letter classes, or named offenses), but the one-year threshold is nearly universal, and it is that threshold, not the label, that triggers most of the collateral consequences below.
The Sentence and What Comes With It
The direct penalty is set by the offense, the jurisdiction, your criminal history, and any mandatory minimums. It can include prison, probation, fines, community service, or a mix. Many states also have habitual offender statutes that sharply increase sentences for repeat felonies, and in some jurisdictions a third qualifying offense can carry a life sentence.
Probation for a felony is more restrictive than for a misdemeanor. Federal felony probation requires at least one substantial condition beyond staying out of trouble, such as community service, restitution, or a treatment program.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3563 – Conditions of Probation Drug testing is mandatory in most federal cases, and people convicted of sex offenses must register during probation.
Restitution is often the debt that lingers longest. Courts order it to compensate victims for financial losses, and it survives prison and probation. Unpaid restitution can affect your credit, your wages, and in some states your eligibility to vote or seal a record. If you are released on parole, you can also expect curfews, geographic restrictions, and regular check-ins with a parole officer.
Voting and Jury Service
Voting rights after a felony depend entirely on where you live. A small number of states allow voting from prison. Most take the vote away during incarceration and restore it later: some automatically on release, others after parole and probation end, and others only after fines, fees, and restitution are paid. A few states impose what is effectively a lifetime ban for certain offenses unless the person receives a pardon or clemency.
Even in states with automatic restoration, people often don’t realize their rights are back, or they get conflicting information about eligibility. The recent trend has moved toward automatic restoration at the end of a sentence, but the rules still vary state by state.
Jury service follows a similar pattern. Federal law disqualifies anyone with a felony conviction from serving on a grand or petit jury until their civil rights are restored.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S. Code 1865 – Qualifications for Jury Service Most states do the same, and jury eligibility typically returns at the same time voting rights return.
Firearms
Federal law prohibits anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison from possessing a firearm or ammunition.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 922 – Unlawful Acts What matters is the potential punishment, not the sentence you actually received. Even certain misdemeanors with a maximum term over a year can trigger the ban.
Some states offer a route back through a pardon, expungement, or a court petition after a waiting period. Federal restoration is much harder. Congress has defunded the ATF’s individual relief process for decades, so for people with federal convictions a presidential pardon is essentially the only path, and those are rare.
Jobs and Professional Licenses
Finding steady work is one of the most persistent obstacles. Many employers run background checks and hesitate to hire anyone with a felony, even when the offense has nothing to do with the job. That hesitation is not always lawful. The EEOC has taken the position that blanket refusals to hire anyone with a criminal record can violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act when they disproportionately exclude people of a particular race or national origin, and employers are expected to weigh the nature and severity of the offense, how much time has passed, and the job at issue.5U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions
More than half the states have “ban the box” or fair chance hiring laws that keep criminal history off initial applications and push background checks later in the process. The federal government applies a similar rule to its own agencies and contractors. These laws don’t stop employers from ever considering a conviction; they give you a chance to be evaluated on your qualifications first.
Licensed professions raise a separate barrier. Healthcare, finance, education, and law all involve character reviews that can disqualify someone with a felony, and an existing license can be suspended or permanently revoked after a conviction. Reinstatement rules vary by profession and state.
Federal Student Aid
One barrier is gone: drug convictions no longer affect eligibility for federal student aid.6Federal Student Aid. Eligibility for Students With Criminal Convictions A felony by itself will not block Pell Grants or federal student loans through FAFSA.
Housing
Housing is often harder to find than a job, and the barriers work differently in public and private settings.
Public Housing
Federal rules force housing authorities to deny some applicants outright. A permanent ban applies to any household that includes someone convicted of manufacturing methamphetamine on federally assisted housing property, and to any household with a member subject to lifetime sex offender registration.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 U.S. Code 13663 – Ineligibility of Dangerous Sex Offenders for Admission to Public Housing A three-year ban applies if any household member was evicted from federally assisted housing for drug-related activity, with exceptions when the person has completed drug rehabilitation or is no longer part of the household.8eCFR. 24 CFR 960.204 – Denial of Admission for Criminal Activity or Drug Abuse Beyond those required denials, housing authorities can turn away applicants for other criminal activity they deem a risk to residents.
Private Rentals
Private landlords have less freedom to use criminal records than most people realize. HUD’s Office of General Counsel has stated that because of racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system, blanket criminal screening policies can violate the Fair Housing Act even without discriminatory intent, and denials based on arrests without a conviction are not allowed.9HUD Office of General Counsel. Guidance on Application of Fair Housing Act Standards to the Use of Criminal Records Landlords can still weigh convictions, but they are expected to look at each applicant individually, considering the offense and how long ago it happened. The one carve-out written into the Fair Housing Act itself lets housing providers deny applicants convicted of manufacturing or distributing illegal drugs.
Public Benefits
A 1996 federal law imposes a lifetime SNAP ban on people convicted of certain felony drug offenses, but states can opt out of that ban or scale it back. Some enforce the full lifetime ban, some tie eligibility to completing drug treatment, and some have dropped the restriction entirely. A separate disqualification applies to people convicted of certain serious violent federal crimes, including murder and specified offenses against children, when they are not complying with their sentence.
TANF cash assistance works the same way: states decide whether to keep, modify, or waive the drug felony ban. Two people with identical convictions can end up with different results based purely on state lines.
Passports and Travel Abroad
A federal drug felony can cost you your passport. Federal law bars the State Department from issuing a passport to anyone convicted of a federal or state drug felony if the person crossed an international border or used a passport in committing the offense, and it requires revoking any passport already issued. The bar lasts as long as the person is imprisoned or on supervised release, with limited emergency and humanitarian exceptions at the Secretary of State’s discretion.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 22 U.S. Code 2714 – Denial of Passports to Certain Convicted Drug Traffickers
Having a passport is not the same as being able to use it. Canada, the most common example for U.S. travelers, treats a person as inadmissible if they were convicted of an offense that would also be a crime under Canadian law. You may be “deemed rehabilitated” after ten years, apply for a rehabilitation determination after five, or seek a temporary residence permit for a specific trip. None of these is automatic.
If You Are Not a U.S. Citizen
For non-citizens, the immigration fallout can outweigh the criminal sentence. Immigration law defines an “aggravated felony” much more broadly than the phrase suggests, sweeping in murder, rape, drug trafficking, firearms trafficking, money laundering over $10,000, theft or burglary offenses carrying a sentence of at least one year, fraud offenses causing losses over $10,000, and many others.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 U.S. Code 1101 – Definitions Some offenses labeled as misdemeanors under state law still count as aggravated felonies for immigration purposes when the sentence hits certain thresholds.12U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual – Permanent Bars to Good Moral Character
A non-citizen convicted of an aggravated felony after being admitted is deportable, and the conviction blocks asylum, cancellation of removal, and most other discretionary relief even when deportation would devastate U.S. citizen family members.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 U.S. Code 1227 – Deportable Aliens Non-permanent residents convicted of an aggravated felony can be removed through an expedited process without a hearing before an immigration judge.
Even convictions that don’t qualify as aggravated felonies can carry immigration consequences. A “crime involving moral turpitude,” which broadly covers offenses involving fraud, theft, or intent to cause serious harm, can make you inadmissible. So can any conviction tied to a controlled substance.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 U.S. Code 1182 – Inadmissible Aliens A narrow exception exists for a single crime of moral turpitude committed under age 18, or where the maximum possible sentence did not exceed one year and the actual sentence was six months or less.
A plea deal that looks favorable on jail time can still trigger automatic deportation. Any non-citizen facing felony charges should talk to an immigration attorney alongside a criminal defense lawyer before agreeing to anything.
Cleaning Up the Record Later
Two legal tools can reduce the long-term weight of a conviction: expungement and record sealing. Neither is available in every case, and they work differently.
Expungement erases the conviction for most purposes. Once expunged, it generally does not need to be disclosed on job or housing applications and will not appear in a standard background check. Most states limit expungement to nonviolent offenses and require a waiting period after the sentence is fully completed. You typically file a petition, pay a filing fee, and show rehabilitation. Filing fees range from nothing in some places to several hundred dollars, and attorney fees add to that.
Expungement has real limits. Some government agencies and law enforcement still see expunged records. Federal convictions generally cannot be expunged except in narrow situations. And in immigration proceedings, an expunged conviction can still count as a conviction, so the immigration consequences described above can survive it.
Record sealing hides a conviction from most public searches, employers, and landlords without erasing it. Law enforcement and some government agencies keep access. Eligibility rules are often looser than for expungement, which makes sealing a real option when full erasure is off the table. A growing number of states have “clean slate” laws that automatically seal certain records after a set period without a petition. At the federal level, similar legislation has been proposed but not enacted. For now, most people seeking relief still file on their own or with a legal aid organization, and for many the restored access to jobs and housing is worth the effort.