Governor's Pardon · Out-of-State Applicants
You left Pennsylvania. The conviction didn't.
A Pennsylvania conviction stays on the Pennsylvania record no matter how long ago you moved, and it keeps surfacing on licensing applications, employer re-screening, and housing checks in whatever state you live in now. Residency has nothing to do with pardon eligibility: the Board of Pardons has jurisdiction over the conviction, not over you. Here is what the process actually looks like from out of state — including the one trip it usually requires.
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Residency is not an eligibility factor
Applying for a Pennsylvania governor's pardon from another state.
The Governor's clemency power comes from Pa. Const. art. IV, § 9 , and it runs to Pennsylvania convictions. Nothing in the constitutional provision or the Board of Pardons' application requirements conditions eligibility on living in Pennsylvania when you apply. People who moved to Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, New York, Florida, Texas, or across the country are eligible on exactly the same terms as someone who never left Harrisburg.
What being out of state actually changes is logistics, not law: how records get collected, how we work together, and planning travel for a hearing date. It can also help the substance of the application — years of settled employment, family, and community involvement somewhere else is precisely the rehabilitation evidence the Board's merit review weighs.
And since June 11, 2024, what happens after a pardon is simpler than it used to be. Under 18 Pa.C.S. § 9122(a.1) , added by Act 36 of 2023, expungement of a pardoned conviction is automatic: the Board transmits pardoned cases to the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts quarterly, and the county court that entered the conviction expunges it without any petition. You do not have to hire someone to go file in a Pennsylvania courthouse after the fact — a real improvement for anyone living a thousand miles away.
Records come to us, not to you
Certified dockets and dispositions from the county that convicted you, plus your Pennsylvania State Police criminal-history record, are obtained on your behalf. Old records frequently contain errors — wrong grading, missing dispositions, duplicate dockets — and those get reconciled before anything is filed.
The forum never changes
Every application goes to the Board of Pardons in Harrisburg under Pa. Const. art. IV, § 9. There is no out-of-state filing, no local counsel requirement in your current state, and no county court step at the front end.
One trip, planned around the Board's calendar
Hearings are scheduled by the Board, typically with enough lead time to book travel. Your own testimony is usually the most persuasive part of the record, so appearing matters — we prepare you by video beforehand for the questions the Board actually asks.
Distance does not slow the clock
Living elsewhere adds no delay to the process. Long-settled residence, steady employment, and community ties in another state are affirmative evidence of exactly what the Board's merit review is looking for.
Do you have to come back to Pennsylvania?
Once, most likely — for the public hearing. Applications that clear the Board's merit-review screening are scheduled for a hearing in Harrisburg, where the applicant testifies and Board members ask questions. Skipping it is possible in theory and a bad idea in practice: your own account of the intervening years is typically the strongest evidence in the file, and the Board is being asked to recommend clemency on the strength of who you are now.
Everything else is remote. Application drafting, records collection from the county that convicted you, Pennsylvania State Police record requests, employer and community letters, and hearing preparation all happen without travel. If the hearing trip is a hardship — cost, health, caregiving, or an overseas move — raise it early so it can be addressed with the Board rather than after a date is set.
One caution for people whose Pennsylvania case is not actually finished: the Board expects sentences to be completed, with a period of stability afterward. If you left the state with an unpaid balance, unresolved supervision, or an open bench warrant, that gets cleaned up first — see unresolved Pennsylvania cases and license consequences before anything else.
Where to go next.
The PA pardon process
Application, merit review, hearing, Board vote, and the Governor's decision.
Automatic expungement after a pardon
What changed on June 11, 2024 — and whether it reaches older pardons.
Pardon vs. expungement
Which relief actually reaches your record.
Expungement & pardon hub
Every Pennsylvania record-clearing route in one place.
Expungement eligibility
Check whether a faster mechanism covers part of your record.
Out-of-state drivers
PA citations and license consequences when you live elsewhere.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions.
Common questions from people who moved away from Pennsylvania and still carry a Pennsylvania conviction.
Yes. The Governor's pardon power under Pa. Const. art. IV, § 9 attaches to the Pennsylvania conviction, not to where you live. Current residency is not an eligibility requirement, and a large share of applicants have long since moved out of state — often decades ago, which is frequently why they can finally point to a settled, verifiable life when they apply.
Usually once: the public hearing before the Board of Pardons, which is held in Harrisburg for applications that clear merit review. Preparing the application, obtaining certified court records and your Pennsylvania State Police criminal-history record, and assembling rehabilitation documentation can all be handled without you setting foot in the state. If travel to a hearing is a genuine hardship, that is worth raising with us early rather than at scheduling.
None — the application is filed with the Board of Pardons in Harrisburg regardless of your address or the county that convicted you. The county of conviction only matters at the end: that court enters the automatic expungement after a pardon is granted.
It clears the Pennsylvania record. Once a pardon is granted, 18 Pa.C.S. § 9122(a.1) triggers automatic expungement of the pardoned conviction, so the Pennsylvania court and State Police records that out-of-state employers and licensing boards query are cleared. Private background-check databases that already copied the old record can lag, and any separate conviction in your current state is unaffected.
Not automatically. A pardon removes the Pennsylvania conviction, but firearm eligibility is a separate analysis under 18 Pa.C.S. § 6105, federal law, and your current state's own law. Do not assume the answer — ask before you purchase or apply for a permit.
We handle it as a remote engagement: video intake, records collection by mail and through the county clerk of courts, documentation gathered from your employer and community references wherever they are, and a hearing-preparation session by video before you travel. The only in-person date is the Harrisburg hearing.
Yes. There is no residency or domicile requirement. International applicants face the same process, with the practical wrinkles being records collection and planning travel for a hearing date that the Board sets.
The same as for a Pennsylvania resident: plan in years, not months. Application preparation, merit-review screening, waiting for a hearing date, the Board's vote, and the Governor's discretionary decision each add time, and the automatic expungement afterward arrives on the AOPC's quarterly transmission cycle.
Sources & statutory citations
- [1]Pa. Const. art. IV, § 9 — The Governor's pardon and commutation power — exercisable only on the written recommendation of a majority of the Board of Pardons.
- [2]37 Pa. Code Ch. 81 — Board of Pardons regulations — application, merit review, public hearing, and recommendation procedure.
- [3]18 Pa.C.S. § 9122 — Expungement of criminal history record information.
- [4]18 Pa.C.S. § 9122(a.1) — Automatic expungement pursuant to pardon — added by Act 36 of 2023, effective June 11, 2024. The Board of Pardons transmits pardoned cases to the AOPC quarterly, the AOPC forwards them to the county courts, and the court orders expungement without a separate petition.
Statutes are summarized for public reference. Confirm current text at palegis.us. This page is attorney advertising, not legal advice.
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