Your Illinois requirements
What you will learn
- Identify the authority for your location
- Explain your next training and application steps
- Know which details to confirm before starting work
Connect the shared foundations to your state entry route and official next steps.
Your shift starts here
What would you do next?
You have finished the online foundations lessons and found an employer in Illinois. The employer asks when you can start.
Choose a response to see what happens.
Put it into practice
Verify your training next step
You are considering paying for a course. Build this verification plan in dependency order: define your target, establish the relevant requirements, check the exact course against them, then use the confirmed answers to decide.
Select the steps in the order you would take them.
- Choose step 1 below
Lesson notes & sources
Your state entry route
Ordinary agency security employees use a Permanent Employee Registration Card, known as a PERC. Applicants for unarmed work must be at least 18.
Complete 20 hours of qualified basic training within 30 days of employment, plus eight additional hours within six months.
Apply for your PERC
Follow IDFPR's current application instructions and complete fingerprint-based security clearance.
Join a licensed agency
Confirm the employer's security contractor agency license and your authorized start date.
Complete basic training
Use a qualified instructor and retain evidence of the required 20 hours.
Track employer training
Schedule the additional eight hours and later annual refresher training with your employer.
Confirm your situation
PERC registration and training are separate obligations.
General career preparation is supplementary. Complete the required training through a qualified instructor.
Prepare for your assessment route
Illinois security-agency employees complete at least 20 hours of basic training within 30 days of employment, followed by eight additional hours within six months. A qualified instructor delivers the training, and the employer certifies and retains the records.
Confirm any assessment with your employer or instructor. Complete the separate PERC registration requirements and check how the employer records your course completion.
Keep your sources current
These sources were checked on 2026-09-16. Check the linked regulator for changes before applying.
The Get Licensed foundations course is supplementary preparation. Follow the required approved training and authorisation process for your location.