Origin
Nationality
You must be a British citizen to be eligible to apply. If you hold dual nationality, of which one component is British, you will nonetheless be considered. If successful, you will not normally be required to give up your non-British citizenship but, as a condition of your employment or secondment, MI5 may impose restrictions on your postings, work travel and/or general use of that nationality.
Age
18 or Over
You can apply from the age of 17 years. If successful you will not be offered a start date prior to your 18th birthday.
Living Situation
UK Resident
You’ll usually need to have been a resident in the UK for seven out of the last ten years before applying for a role with MI5. This is particularly important if you were born outside the UK. But we do assess each case individually. There are some common exceptions, like studying abroad, living overseas with parents, or serving with HM Forces. We’ll just need references for the time you lived abroad.Discretion is vital. You should not discuss your application, other than with your partner or a close family member.
Please note, you should only launch your application from within the UK. Applying from outside of the UK will impact on our ability to progress your application.
MI5 ready quizzes
Why not test your skills to see if you could join MI5 in one of our investigative roles?
Mobile Surveillance
We have developed some tasks that reflect the nature of the work of our Mobile Surveillance Officers to enable you to assess your suitability for the role. Take this challenge to check your observation skills and ability to recall detail.
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Investigative Challenge
We have developed a challenge to help you to assess your use of information and analytical skills.
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ARE YOU MI5 READY?
This quiz will give you some indication of MI5 values and culture and how well they match with you.
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Listening Quiz
Take this quiz, which reflects the nature of the work of our English Language Analysts, to check your listening skills and ability to recall detail, and to assess your suitability for the role.
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