Your Virginia 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 Virginia. 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
Virginia requires unarmed security officer registration with DCJS. A conditional employer-authorized start is available while completing initial training.
Complete 18 hours of 01E core training. A qualifying employee may finish within 90 consecutive days of hire. Later in-service training is four hours of 01I.
Choose the unarmed category
Review DCJS eligibility and registration instructions with your prospective employer.
Submit fingerprints and apply
Follow DCJS's criminal-history and registration process and retain submission evidence.
Complete approved training
Use a DCJS-certified school and meet the 18-hour course requirement within the applicable deadline.
Verify authority before duty
For an early start, fingerprints must be submitted by hire and the employer must issue the required authorization.
Confirm your situation
Carry the employer authorization and photo ID during an authorized pending-registration period.
General career preparation supplements DCJS-approved training.
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.