Check your PSiRA status
PSiRA publishes its register publicly. You can see whether your application is still moving, whether it has been sent back, and what grade sits on your record, without logging in and without paying anybody. Most people never find it, and the ones who do usually get no result because of one small formatting rule. This sends you to the right page with the right search term.
What the register actually shows you
There are two separate searches, because PSiRA registers people and businesses separately. A person is a security service provider in their own name. A business is a separate registration that can only happen once its directors are individually registered. Looking in the wrong one is the second most common reason people conclude, wrongly, that they are not on the system.
| Search | What you can search on | What comes back |
|---|---|---|
| People | Application number, PSiRA number, or identity number | Name, registration status, employment status, employer, certificate status and expiry, and the grade |
| Businesses | Company name, or PSiRA number | Application number, PSiRA number, company name, trading name, registration status and date |
The formatting rule that stops most searches. An application number only matches with its prefix. Searching 4195863 returns nothing at all. Searching APP-4195863 returns the record. There is no error message telling you this, just an empty result, so people assume the application has vanished.
What the statuses mean
| Status | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| In Progress | Lodged and moving through PSiRA's reviews. Nothing is wrong. | Wait. Each of the three review levels is allowed two working days, and the infrastructure inspection takes one to three weeks. |
| Provisionally Rejected | Sent back for correction, not refused. The application stays open. | Fix what PSiRA flagged and resubmit the same application. Do not start a new one. |
| A PSiRA number is shown | Registered. The number in that column is your registration number. | Watch the certificate expiry date in the next column. Registrations lapse. |
| No record found | Usually the prefix or the wrong field, not a missing application. | Add APP- to an application number, and check you used the right one of the two searches. |
A blank grade column on a person's record is worth noticing. It means no training grade is recorded against that person, and for a director that is the thing that blocks a company registration no matter how good the paperwork is.
The grades, in the right order
People get this backwards constantly, usually because A comes first in the alphabet. It does not work that way here.
| Grade | Typical role | Who needs it |
|---|---|---|
| Grade E | Patrol officer | Entry level, the first course anyone does |
| Grade D | Access control officer | Gate and reception posts |
| Grade C | Asset control officer | The normal working level for a security officer |
| Grade B | Junior supervisor, control room | Supervisors, control room operators, and every company director |
| Grade A | Senior supervisor or manager | Site managers and senior management |
The grades are cumulative and Grade A is the highest. Section 20(2) of the Private Security Industry Regulation Act requires every director, member or partner to be registered as a security service provider before the business can be registered, and PSiRA requires each of them to hold at least Grade B. So a director holding Grade A is comfortably over the line, not under it.
Holding a grade is not the same as being registered. A training certificate from an accredited provider proves you passed the course. Registration is a separate application in your own name. Both must be true before the company can apply, and the register will show you which one is missing.
If two rows come back for one business
Search your company name and you may find two applications rather than one. It usually happens when somebody starts a fresh application instead of correcting the one already lodged, or when a slightly different version of the name gets entered.
Two live applications for the same business is a real problem. They can hold each other up, and PSiRA may work on whichever it sees first. One of them needs to be withdrawn so the other can finish. Check both rows and note which application number carries the correct registered company name, because that is usually the one worth keeping.
Sent back and not sure why?
If the register says Provisionally Rejected, PSiRA has told you what is wrong, but the reason sits on the portal rather than arriving as a letter, and the wording is not always plain. PSiRA states that most provisional rejections come down to the suretyship form: every director must sign it, every page must be initialled by all directors and both witnesses, and there may be no deletions or corrections anywhere on it. After that the usual causes are the SARS compliance PIN sent instead of a screen print, a uniform using blue or camouflage, and a contact number registered to somebody other than the business or a director.
We rebuild rejected files and resubmit them on ePSiRA for a fixed R3 490, and we check the register before quoting so you are not paying us to fix something that is not actually broken. If the blocker turns out to be a director without Grade B, we will tell you before doing anything further, because no amount of paperwork fixes that.
PSiRA renewals lapse quietly
Registrations and certificates expire on their own clocks, and the first sign is usually an inspector on a client site. We send what changes in the rules.