Michigan Background Check Guide · 2025
Detroit's auto plants, Grand Rapids hospitals, Lansing state offices, and Traverse City's growing tourism sector all run background checks before they hire. So do most landlords and licensing boards. What they pull is your Michigan State Police record through a system called ICHAT, the Internet Criminal History Access Tool, and you can pull the same report on yourself for ten dollars.
This guide walks through how to run your own ICHAT check, what shows up (and what doesn't, thanks to Michigan's Clean Slate Act), and what employers can legally do with the information they find.
People run background checks on themselves for one practical reason: they want to know what the next hiring manager is going to see, and they want time to react if the report says something wrong.
Michigan's criminal records are maintained by the State Police, but the data flowing into ICHAT comes from county courts, sheriff's departments, and city police agencies across all 83 counties. With that many feeds, mistakes happen, a dismissed case still listed as "pending," a Wayne County arrest tagged to the wrong person, an old conviction that should already have been auto-expunged under Clean Slate. Catching these before an employer pulls your file means you get to dispute them on your timeline, not theirs.
The Clean Slate Act is automatic in theory. In practice, the State Police processes records in batches, and gaps occur, especially for older convictions or out-of-county cases. Running an ICHAT on yourself is the easiest way to verify your eligible records are gone. If something that should be sealed is still visible, you can file a complaint with the MSP Criminal Justice Information Center.
Michigan employers in healthcare, education, and finance routinely run criminal checks. If you have an old conviction, knowing exactly how it appears on a report lets you prepare a short, factual explanation rather than being caught off-guard in the room.
Landlords in Ann Arbor, Detroit, and Lansing pull background reports through tenant screening services that lean on ICHAT data. Michigan licensing boards, nursing, real estate, insurance, security guard, all check criminal history. Surprises here can delay a license by months.
An ICHAT report pulls from Michigan's Criminal History Record (CHR), which is fed by every law enforcement agency and court in the state. Depending on what an employer or you pulls, the report may show:
Felonies and serious misdemeanors processed in any Michigan court will appear unless they've been expunged or sealed under the Clean Slate Act or by court order. ICHAT shows the offense, date, county of conviction, and disposition.
Active cases, meaning charges that have been filed but not yet resolved, show up on ICHAT until a court enters a final disposition. If your case was dismissed but still appears as "pending," that's an error worth disputing.
Standalone arrest records (where no charges were filed or the case was dismissed) generally do not appear on ICHAT, which by statute reports adjudicated cases. They may still appear on individual county court records, which is one reason a thorough self-check looks at both the state and county levels.
Juvenile records (with rare exceptions), records sealed by court order, records automatically expunged under Clean Slate, civil infractions, and most traffic offenses (except DUI/OWI) are not part of ICHAT. Credit history, civil lawsuits, and federal court records also aren't included, those require separate searches.
There are three practical paths: do it yourself through ICHAT, use a professional service, or combine both for the most complete picture.
The Michigan State Police runs ICHAT at apps.michigan.gov/ICHAT. You'll need to create an account, enter your full name, date of birth, and Social Security number (optional but improves accuracy), and pay $10 per search by credit card. Results are returned immediately and downloadable as a PDF.
Pros: Cheap, fast, official State Police data.
Cons: ICHAT is name-based, it can miss records if you've used a maiden name or alias, and it doesn't include federal cases, civil records, or out-of-state convictions.
Each Michigan county runs its own court database. The state's One Court of Justice portal (courts.michigan.gov/case-search) aggregates many of them and is free. For full coverage, search the circuit court (felonies and major civil) and the district court (misdemeanors and traffic) in any county where you've lived.
If you want a single report that combines state, county, federal, and out-of-state records, plus civil litigation and sex offender registry checks, a paid service is the fastest route. Background-Check.com runs a multi-source search across all 50 states for a flat fee.
For federal-level coverage and any out-of-state records tied to your fingerprints, request an Identity History Summary from the FBI ($18, fingerprint-based). This is the most thorough check available but takes 3–4 weeks.
Signed in October 2020 and fully implemented April 11, 2023, Michigan's Clean Slate package automatically expunges:
Certain offenses, assaultive crimes, serious misdemeanors, traffic offenses causing injury, and any offense punishable by 10+ years, are excluded. Expungement runs through the Michigan State Police; you don't have to apply, but you should verify it happened.
For records not eligible for automatic expungement, you can still petition the court that handled your case. Recent reforms expanded eligibility to include up to three felonies and unlimited misdemeanors (with restrictions), and let you bundle multiple convictions from a single 24-hour period as one offense.
Executive Directive 2018-04, signed by Governor Snyder, removed the criminal history question from initial state job applications. Many Michigan cities, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Ann Arbor, have ordinances extending similar protections to private employers within city limits.
When a Michigan employer uses a third-party background check company, the federal FCRA applies. Employers must get your written consent before running the check, give you a copy of any report they intend to act on, and let you dispute errors before final hiring decisions.
The Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act doesn't explicitly cover criminal history, but EEOC guidance (adopted by Michigan's Department of Civil Rights) discourages blanket bans on hiring people with records and requires individualized assessment of how a conviction relates to the job.
Yes, especially if any of the following apply: you have an older conviction you believe should be expunged under Clean Slate, you've lived in multiple Michigan counties, you've ever been arrested even briefly, or you're applying for a licensed profession or a job that involves children, finances, or vulnerable adults. The $10 ICHAT fee buys you a lot of certainty.
If you'd rather get a comprehensive multi-state report in one place, covering Michigan ICHAT plus federal databases, sex offender registries, and out-of-state records, you can run a complete personal background check through Background-Check.com.
The most direct way is the Michigan State Police ICHAT system at apps.michigan.gov/ICHAT. It costs $10 and returns results immediately. For broader coverage including federal and out-of-state records, use a professional service or request an FBI Identity History Summary.
Michigan has no state-specific cutoff, convictions can appear indefinitely unless expunged. The federal FCRA limits non-conviction records (arrests without conviction) to 7 years on third-party reports, but convictions themselves can be reported for any time period regardless of age.
Records expunged under Clean Slate or by court order should not appear on ICHAT or on any compliant employer background check. If you see an expunged record on your own ICHAT report, contact the MSP Criminal Justice Information Center to correct it.
ICHAT name-based searches are $10. Fingerprint-based checks (required for certain licensed professions) run $30 for the state portion plus $13.25 for federal/FBI. An FBI Identity History Summary is $18. Professional comprehensive checks range from $20 to $80.
Yes, if they use a third-party background check company. The federal FCRA requires written authorization before the check is run. State agencies acting on their own (without a third-party reporter) are governed by the Michigan Public Records Act but generally also notify applicants. Either way, you have the right to see any report used in a hiring decision and dispute errors.