Nebraska Background Check Guide · 2025
From a meatpacking plant in Grand Island to a tech role in Omaha's Aksarben district or a faculty job at UNL in Lincoln, Nebraska employers turn to the same source when they need to know your history: the Nebraska State Patrol's Criminal Identification Division. The NSP runs a name-based "limited criminal history" check that anyone can request, including you, on yourself.
This guide explains how Nebraska's criminal record system works, what shows up on a personal report, and how the state's set-aside law (Nebraska Revised Statute 29-2264) can nullify convictions even though Nebraska does not yet offer true expungement.
Nebraska's criminal records are gathered from 93 counties and dozens of municipal police agencies, then funneled into the NSP's Patrol Criminal History (PCH) database. Coverage is generally strong in Douglas and Lancaster counties, but rural counties can lag on disposition reporting. Running your own check is the only way to know what made it into your file.
The PCH pulls in data from county sheriffs, municipal police, and court clerks. Common errors include cases listed as "pending" long after they were dismissed, name-confusion matches (especially for common Nebraska surnames), and arrests where the prosecutor never refiled but the record never closed. Catching these on a $30 self-check is much easier than fixing them after a job offer evaporates.
A set-aside under §29-2264 doesn't erase the conviction, but it does annotate it on your record. If a judge granted you a set-aside, that annotation has to make its way from the court to the NSP. Verifying it actually got there, by running a self-check, prevents employers from seeing a stale "active conviction" notation.
Nebraska's DHHS runs background studies for anyone working in childcare, with the elderly, or in healthcare. Boards of nursing, medicine, real estate, and others all check criminal history. Knowing what they'll see lets you address concerns proactively in your application.
Landlords across Nebraska use commercial screening services that pull NSP data and aggregate it with court records. Errors flow downstream. Fixing them at the NSP source means future tenant screening reports start from clean data.
Felony convictions and most misdemeanor convictions processed in Nebraska district, county, and municipal courts appear on the PCH record. The report shows offense, court, conviction date, sentence, and any set-aside status.
Nebraska's PCH includes arrest records, including arrests that did not result in conviction. This is one reason Nebraska is sometimes considered a "more open" record state, employers using FCRA-compliant screeners are still limited in how they can use arrest-only records, but the data is on the state report.
Active cases that have been filed but not yet resolved are shown on the PCH record as pending. If a case was dismissed without the court communicating the disposition to the NSP, the record may still show "pending" until you raise the issue.
Federal court records, out-of-state convictions, juvenile records (sealed by default), most traffic offenses (excluding DUI), and civil cases fall outside the NSP system. A thorough self-check usually combines the state report with federal and multi-state sources.
The fastest official route is the nebraska.gov Apps portal at nebraska.gov/apps-nsp-limited-criminal. Enter your name and date of birth, pay $30 by credit card, and receive results instantly. This is the same source most Nebraska employers use for name-based checks.
You can also submit a paper Criminal History Record Request to the NSP Criminal Identification Division in Lincoln. Turnaround is 2–3 weeks.
For the most accurate record and what licensed professions require, schedule a fingerprint appointment through the NSP. The $45.25 covers both state and FBI portions. Useful for catching aliases or preventing identity-mismatch errors.
The Nebraska Judicial Branch's JUSTICE system (nebraska.gov/justice) provides public access to district, county, and juvenile court records. This catches cases that may not yet be in the PCH and shows full case histories.
For a single report combining Nebraska data with federal courts, multi-state records, and sex offender registries, a professional service is the simplest route. Background-Check.com consolidates all of this in one report.
For nationwide coverage based on fingerprints, request an Identity History Summary from the FBI. Essential if you've lived or been arrested in multiple states.
Nebraska doesn't have traditional expungement, but its set-aside statute offers a meaningful alternative:
Set-asides do not prevent federal courts, immigration authorities, or out-of-state employers from seeing the underlying conviction.
For convictions where set-aside isn't available, including most non-probationary sentences, a pardon from the Nebraska Board of Pardons is the only post-conviction relief option. Pardons require a waiting period (typically 3–10 years from completion of sentence) and are discretionary.
Nebraska state agencies cannot ask about criminal history on initial job applications. The question can be asked later in the hiring process. This applies to state government only, not private employers, except in Omaha, where a 2014 city ordinance extends similar protections to private employers within city limits.
Third-party employment background checks in Nebraska are governed by the FCRA: written consent required, pre-adverse-action notice required, right to dispute errors, and 7-year cap on non-conviction reporting.
The NFEPA prohibits discrimination based on protected classes but does not specifically protect criminal history. EEOC guidance on individualized assessment of criminal history applies in Nebraska and is increasingly cited by Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission investigators.
For $30 online with instant results, there's no real argument against running a self-check. If you have any older conviction, any arrest without a final disposition you've confirmed, or a set-aside you've never verified at the state level, the NSP online portal pays for itself in five minutes.
For a comprehensive personal report combining Nebraska NSP data with federal records, sex offender registries, and out-of-state convictions, run a multi-source check through Background-Check.com.
The fastest route is the NSP online Limited Criminal History at nebraska.gov/apps-nsp-limited-criminal: $30, instant results. For broader coverage, run a fingerprint-based check ($45.25), search Nebraska courts via JUSTICE, or use a professional multi-state service.
Nebraska has no state cap on how far back convictions can be reported. The federal FCRA caps non-conviction records (arrests not leading to conviction) at 7 years on third-party employment reports. Convictions can be reported indefinitely.
Yes, but they will be marked "set aside" rather than appearing as active convictions. Some employers and licensing forms accept this as equivalent to expungement; federal employers and out-of-state employers may still treat it as a conviction.
NSP online Limited Criminal History: $30. Fingerprint-based check (state + FBI): $45.25. FBI Identity History Summary: $18. Professional comprehensive multi-state checks: $20 to $80.
Yes, when they use a third-party background check company, the federal FCRA requires written authorization. State agencies and Omaha employers covered by ban-the-box rules also cannot ask about criminal history on the initial application. You always have the right to see any report used in a hiring decision and dispute inaccuracies.