Public Trust does not last a universal number of years like a license with an expiration date. It describes a position’s risk designation and associated trust requirements. The current federal rule uses continuous vetting for covered employment; an older five-year reinvestigation cycle is not a promise that a favorable decision remains transferable for that period.

How many years does Public Trust last?

There is no single Public Trust expiration period that answers whether you can start a new job. The relevant questions are whether you remain in covered employment, how continued vetting applies, what the new position requires, and whether the receiving agency must accept your prior investigation and determination.

Separate the events in your record. Completing a questionnaire, closing an investigation, receiving a favorable decision, and entering a position are different events. A date from one does not establish the others. If a recruiter asks when your Public Trust expires, explain what date you actually know and ask personnel security to verify the rest.

The SF-85P, revised December 2017, assigns the final suitability determination to OPM or the federal agency requesting the investigation. Completing that form is not an applicant-issued certification of continuing status.

That distinction protects the value of your experience without overstating it. A prior favorable decision is useful information for a receiving office. It is also a historical decision associated with particular work and a record the office needs to locate, rather than your personal guarantee of immediate entry elsewhere.

Does the position keep its own risk designation?

Yes. Under 5 CFR 731.106(a) and (b), the agency designates the position’s risk, and moderate- or high-risk positions are Public Trust. Your previous favorable result does not determine the risk designation of your next position.

The rule links risk to the position’s potential adverse impact on the efficiency or integrity of the service. It identifies duties such as policy making, public safety, fiduciary responsibilities, and access to financial records. The label reflects the responsibilities of the work, not an employee’s seniority or a ranking of professional worth.

Position sensitivity is a complementary designation under 5 CFR 731.106(c)(2), and it can affect investigative requirements. This is why a new job’s security section deserves a fresh reading even when its title resembles your current role. Similar occupational titles do not establish identical vetting requirements.

The explanation of Public Trust positions and investigation tiers can help you interpret those terms. For a particular move, ask the receiving office for the position’s risk and sensitivity designations before drawing conclusions from the investigation you previously completed.

What happened to the five-year reinvestigation cycle?

The five-year cycle explains older guidance, but it is not the current fixed regulatory schedule. OPM’s December 18, 2024 final rule expressly removed the fixed five-year periodic reinvestigation requirement for Public Trust positions. The current regulation instead addresses continuous vetting and agency implementation requirements.

The October 3, 2023 OPM memorandum described the then-existing requirement for reinvestigation and a continued-employment determination at least once every five years for the covered positions it identified. It also announced the transition toward continuous vetting. Read it as a transition document with a date.

The later final rule’s discussion of the removed interval prevents a misleading shortcut: “Public Trust expires after five years.” A periodic review requirement was never the same thing as a guaranteed period of personal portability.

Under 5 CFR 731.106(d)(1), covered individuals are subject to continuing background checks at regular intervals, with the type of check, position risk, and sensitivity taken into account. Continuous vetting requires a signed authorization permitting the relevant information disclosure. Agencies must ensure checks occur and make continued-employment determinations.

The regulation also requires agencies to notify covered employees about continuous vetting. Ask your personnel security office whether you are enrolled, whether an authorization or information update is outstanding, and what instructions govern your position. The existence of a governmentwide rule does not establish your individual enrollment status.

What changes when you leave federal or contract service?

A service gap changes the questions the receiving agency must resolve. The current reciprocity rule refers to a qualifying break defined in supplemental guidance, the level of the previous investigation, new relevant information, required checks, and continuous vetting enrollment on re-entry. A gap does not justify an automatic answer either way.

Under 5 CFR 731.104(a)(2), acceptance of an appropriately scoped prior investigation is required when the qualifying conditions apply, unless new information calls suitability or fitness into question. The same provision directs agencies to request implementing-guidance checks and enroll re-entering individuals into continuous vetting.

Give the receiving office an accurate service history. Include federal employment, contract assignments supporting agencies, and periods outside that work. Ask how it classifies the transition; an employment change and a break from covered service are not necessarily the same event.

Avoid importing a familiar clearance rule into a Public Trust move. National-security eligibility and suitability or fitness are different determinations. The overview of security clearance levels helps establish the terminology, but its clearance labels do not supply a Public Trust expiration date.

When must a receiving agency accept previous vetting?

For employment within the rule’s scope, reciprocity is an obligation when its conditions apply. Separate acceptance of the investigation from acceptance of the favorable determination. The receiving agency must check the record, the new position, and the rule’s exceptions before telling you what remains necessary.

Under 5 CFR 731.104(a)(1), an agency must accept a prior investigation for the specified moves between employment subject to investigation without a break in service, unless the new employment has a higher risk level. That is more specific than saying every agency may choose whether to recognize any prior work.

The decision record also matters. Under 5 CFR 731.104(c)(1), if an accepted investigation lacks a recorded favorable suitability or fitness determination, the agency must review the investigation to make that determination. A completed investigation and a favorable adjudication therefore should not be treated as interchangeable evidence.

Under 5 CFR 731.104(c)(2), an accepted investigation with a favorable adjudication generally brings required acceptance of the prior determination. The stated exceptions concern conduct incompatible with the new position’s core duties and additional permitted agency factors not addressed before. For the additional-factor exception, the new adjudication is limited to those factors.

When discussing reciprocity during a job change, identify the determination being considered. A recruiter may use “transfer” loosely. Ask the personnel security office whether it is accepting investigative coverage, a favorable determination, or both.

What records should you prepare for a new sponsor?

Prepare the information that helps the receiving office locate and evaluate the official record: agency, employer, assignment dates, known investigation and decision dates, and a previous personnel security contact. Provide what you know, identify uncertainty, and use the office’s approved channel for sensitive information.

The SF-85P instructions explain that the form is a permanent document and that later responses may be compared with earlier questionnaires. Keep your own authorized copy secure. When asked to complete updated paperwork, use accurate current information rather than reproducing an old answer simply to preserve consistency.

Ask which missing item the office needs and why. A new authorization, clarification, or identity check does not by itself prove the earlier investigation was discarded. Conversely, finding an old questionnaire does not establish that the investigation finished or that a favorable determination followed.

How should you describe a prior favorable decision?

Use the agency’s terminology and identify the history: “Prior favorable Public Trust suitability determination with the sponsoring agency; receiving-agency verification required.” For contractor work, use “fitness” if that is the determination your agency documented. Add verified dates in your private application record.

Avoid “active Public Trust clearance” when you cannot substantiate what “active” means. If an application forces a security-clearance selection, ask the recruiter how to represent a Public Trust history accurately. Keep national-security eligibility in its own description if you also have it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Public Trust automatically expire after five years?

No. The fixed five-year reinvestigation requirement was removed, and the current regulation provides for continuous vetting. Older reinvestigation guidance does not establish a personal expiration date or guaranteed acceptance at a different agency.

Will changing contractors always require a new investigation?

No. The agency must evaluate the applicable reciprocity requirements and your actual record. Ask whether the agency sponsor or position requirements change, whether there is a qualifying service gap, and whether it can locate the favorable determination as well as the investigation.

Does continuous vetting mean I never complete paperwork again?

No. Continuous vetting is ongoing assessment under the applicable requirements, not an exemption from agency instructions. Ask your personnel security office which authorizations, updates, or checks are required in your case and when it needs them.

What should I confirm before relying on prior Public Trust for a start date?

Confirm that the receiving office has located your record, identified the investigation and determination it will accept, and specified any remaining entry conditions. Send that office your agency and service history, then request a written explanation of what remains before your proposed start.