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FOI release

SIA security guarding licence holders who are foreign nationals

Published 2 July 2026

© Crown copyright 2026

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sia-security-guarding-licence-holders-who-are-foreign-nationals/sia-security-guarding-licence-holders-who-are-foreign-nationals

Request

Please provide the following:

  1. Policy confirmation: Please confirm whether the SIA verifies that all individuals undertaking SIA training have a legal right to work in the UK before an SIA licence is officially issued to them.
  2. Total volume: The total number of SIA frontline “Security Guard” licences issued to foreign nationals (non-UK citizens) between 1st September 2019 and 30th April 2026.
  3. Breakdown by nationality: A specific breakdown showing the country of origin (nationality) of the individuals issued these licences during this exact timeframe.
  4. Temporal breakdown: If possible within the statutory cost limit, please present this data broken down annually (e.g., by calendar year or financial year) across the specified period.

Response

We can confirm we hold all the information you have requested. We have answered each part in turn below.

Policy confirmation

We can confirm that we check all applicants for front line licences have the correct right to work in the UK. We will not issue a front line licence to someone who does not have the right to work in the UK. We may grant a non-front line licence to an applicant if they do not have the right to work in the UK, but they are a Director of a UK registered company or one of its parent companies. There is information about this on pages 6 and 7 of our licensing criteria booklet ‘Get Licensed’

Total volume

The total number is 25,299

Breakdown by nationality and temporal breakdown

For parts 3 and 4 we have attached a .csv file containing the data requested. For this data the following caveats apply:

  • We are counting individual licences, not licence holders. An individual may have been granted more than one licence throughout the reported period.
  • This data is only for licences issued for the security guard sector. It does not include other sectors that we issue licences for.
  • The data is based on the start date of each licence
  • Nationality data is based on the main nationality disclosed by the individuals during the application process.
  • We have withheld the actual figure where it is less than 10 to avoid any risk of identifying individuals.
  • Information is correct as of 16 June 2026.

[Ref: FOI 0616]

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