State Resources
Virginia
Virginia has a statewide case search, a good free business search, and a Freedom of Information Act that mostly does not apply to you unless you live there. Two of those are useful and one is a wall.
At a glance
| Record | Held by | Cost | Online |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business and entity search | State Corporation Commission — Clerk’s Information System | Free to search | Yes |
| UCC filings | State Corporation Commission — UCC | Free to search | Yes |
| Professional licenses | Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, and health boards | Free | Yes |
| Property and land records | Circuit court clerk (land records) and city or county assessor | Varies | By jurisdiction |
| Court records | Virginia Judicial System — Online Case Information | Free | Yes |
| Criminal records | Virginia State Police | Fee; consent required | Consent required |
| Vital records | Department of Health, Office of Vital Records | Certified copies carry a fee | Yes |
| Unclaimed property | Department of the Treasury | Free | Yes |
| Voter and resident records | Department of Elections | Free | Yes |
Worth knowing about Virginia
The FOIA only works if you’re a Virginian
This is the single most important thing to know about Virginia and it stops a lot of people cold.
The Virginia Freedom of Information Act gives its rights to citizens of the Commonwealth and to media outlets with Virginia circulation or broadcast. An out-of-state requester has no enforceable right to Virginia records under the Act.
Agencies may honor an outside request as a courtesy, and plenty do. But they aren’t obliged to, and if they refuse you have nothing to appeal. Virginia is one of a small number of states that still does this.
The practical workaround is that the record types investigators actually want — court files, land records, business filings, UCC — are open to anyone under different rules. The residency wall bites on agency records: police reports, personnel data, correspondence, contracts. Plan around it.
Two court systems, and the online search only really covers one well
Virginia splits its trial courts and the split matters for searching.
General District Courts handle misdemeanors, traffic, civil claims up to $25,000 and unlawful detainer — which is eviction. This is the high volume tier and it’s well covered online.
Circuit Courts handle felonies, larger civil cases, divorce and probate, and they’re also the land records office for the county or city.
The statewide case information system reaches both, but circuit court coverage has historically been more uneven, and some jurisdictions run their own separate portal. If a circuit search looks thin, go to that court’s own site before you conclude anything.
Also remember Virginia’s independent cities. A city isn’t inside a county here, and Fairfax City and Fairfax County are different jurisdictions with different records.
Record by record
Business and entity search
Open business search →- Held by
- State Corporation Commission — Clerk’s Information System
- Cost
- Free to search
Free search of Virginia entities returning status, formation date, registered agent and principal office, with filed documents viewable.
Virginia requires an annual registration fee and, for corporations, an annual report. An entity in good standing has been touched within the year. Note that Virginia regulates business entities through the State Corporation Commission rather than the Secretary of State, which is unusual.
UCC filings
Open UCC search →- Held by
- State Corporation Commission — UCC
- Cost
- Free to search
UCC financing statements are filed with the SCC and searchable free by debtor name.
A UCC-1 names the debtor, the secured party and the collateral. The secured party is usually a lender, which makes this one of the few free routes to where a business banks.
Professional licenses
Open license lookup →- Held by
- Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, and health boards
- Cost
- Free
DPOR covers the trades, real estate, and most occupational licenses with a free public lookup. Health professions are licensed separately through the Department of Health Professions.
Property and land records
- Held by
- Circuit court clerk (land records) and city or county assessor
- Cost
- Varies
Land records are held by the circuit court clerk in Virginia, not a separate recorder’s office. Assessment sits with the city or county commissioner of the revenue or assessor.
Many circuit courts put land records behind a paid subscription rather than a free index, which is a real cost difference from a state like Maryland. The assessment side is usually free.
Court records
Open case search →- Held by
- Virginia Judicial System — Online Case Information
- Cost
- Free
Free case information search covering general district and circuit courts. Criminal, traffic and civil, searchable by name.
Unlawful detainer filings in the general district courts are the underused part. An eviction case gives you a dated address, a landlord, and usually a money judgment — three useful things from one record.
Criminal records
Open State Police →- Held by
- Virginia State Police
- Cost
- Fee; consent required
Virginia does not sell a name-based criminal history to the general public the way Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Pennsylvania or Washington do. A dissemination request generally requires the subject’s notarized consent or a statutory entitlement.
The practical route is therefore the courts. The case information system is free and covers criminal cases in both trial court tiers.
Vital records
Open vital records →- Held by
- Department of Health, Office of Vital Records
- Cost
- Certified copies carry a fee
Births, deaths, marriages and divorces from the state office. Virginia restricts certified copies to the subject, immediate family and those with a demonstrated legal interest.
Unclaimed property
Open unclaimed property →- Held by
- Department of the Treasury
- Cost
- Free
Free name search. The holder named on a reported item is the useful part on a locate — a confirmed bank, insurer or employer relationship, reported with a last known address.
Voter and resident records
Open voter lookup →- Held by
- Department of Elections
- Cost
- Free
Individual registration lookup for the registrant themselves. Virginia restricts voter list data tightly and limits it to political and governmental purposes.
Public records requests in Virginia
- Statute
- Va. Code § 2.2-3700 et seq. (Virginia Freedom of Information Act)
- Response deadline
- Five working days
- Appeal to
- FOIA Advisory Council for opinions; circuit court to enforce
- Appeal window
- No fixed deadline
The Act applies to citizens of the Commonwealth and to media with Virginia circulation or broadcast. If you aren’t one of those, you have no enforceable right to compel a Virginia agency to produce anything.
For those it does cover, the deadline is short: five working days, with a possible seven-day extension that must be claimed in writing. That’s one of the tighter clocks in the country.
Virginia runs a FOIA Advisory Council that issues written and informal opinions for free, to requesters and agencies alike. It can’t order release, but its opinions are well regarded and citing one moves most disputes.
If you’re working a Virginia file from out of state, build the case from court records, land records and SCC filings — all open to anyone — and use a Virginia-based client or colleague where an agency record is genuinely needed.
What Virginia will not give you
- Agency records, if you aren’t a Virginia citizen. The Freedom of Information Act grants rights to residents and Virginia media only.
- Name-based criminal history. Not sold to the public. Dissemination generally needs notarized consent.
- Driver and vehicle records. Closed under the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act.
- Juvenile records. Not public.
- Voter list data. Restricted to political and governmental purposes.
Related
- Maryland — next door, and far more open
- North Carolina — a newly unified statewide court search
- A FOIA request letter that works
- State public records acts
- Tracing an LLC to a human being
Fees and procedures verified August 2026. Clerks change their counter rules more often than the statutes change — call before you drive.