Utah issues concealed firearm permits through the Bureau of Criminal Identification (BCI), inside the Department of Public Safety. The standard permit...
Reviewed by Will Luker, Founder of CCW Hub. USCCA Training Counselor, USCCA Certified Instructor, NRA Certified Instructor, Law Enforcement.
Utah issues concealed firearm permits through the Bureau of Criminal Identification (BCI), inside the Department of Public Safety. The standard permit goes to applicants 21 and older and runs five years statewide under Utah Code 53-5a-303. The provisional permit goes to applicants 18 to 20 and expires on the holder's 21st birthday under Utah Code 53-5a-304. Utah also allows most adults 21 and older to carry concealed without a permit under Utah Code 53-5a-102.2, so a permit is worth holding for what it adds: fewer place restrictions, a dealer background check exemption, and recognition in other states.
The scheme was renumbered effective May 7, 2025. Permits now sit in Utah Code Title 53, Chapter 5a, Part 3, and the weapons offenses a permit protects you from sit in Title 76, Chapter 11. Any outline, manual, or website still citing 53-5-704 or 76-10-504 is built on repealed numbering.
| Permit | Who it is for | How long it lasts | Authority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard concealed firearm permit | Applicants 21 or older | Five years, statewide | Utah Code 53-5a-303 |
| Provisional concealed carry permit | Applicants 18 to 20 | Until the holder turns 21 | Utah Code 53-5a-304 |
| Temporary permit | Pending applicant showing extenuating circumstances | 90 days, or until the full permit issues | Utah Code 53-5a-305 |
| LEOJ certificate | Judges, court commissioners, listed law officials | Until revoked, annual requalification | Utah Code 53-5a-311 |
The LEOJ certificate is not a fancier permit: Utah Code 53-5a-311(2) opens "To qualify for an exemption in Section 53-5a-108," and Utah Code 53-5a-108(1)(d) through (f) lifts Chapter 5a Parts 1 and 3 and Title 76, Chapter 11 off a certificate holder, except Utah Code 76-11-207, 76-11-209, and 76-11-210.
BCI must issue a standard permit to a qualified applicant 21 or older within 60 days of receiving the application, unless it finds proof the applicant is not qualified under Utah Code 53-5a-303(2) or (3). The same deadline applies to provisional permits under Utah Code 53-5a-304(1)(a). There is no county sheriff step. Applications go to BCI in Taylorsville.
Utah Code 53-5a-303(6) requires a permanent residence address, a recent dated photograph, one set of fingerprints, and evidence of firearms familiarity. Rule R722-300-4 adds the bureau's form, a driver license or state ID photocopy, an FBI fingerprint card (Form FD-258), the fees, and any mitigating information. BCI will not accept an application more than 90 days before the eligibility date.
Under Utah Code 53-5a-303(5), BCI shall also issue a permit to a former peace officer who departs full-time peace officer employment in an honorable manner, within five years of departure, if the officer meets the section's other requirements.
Utah is shall-issue with a defined list of disqualifiers. Under Utah Code 53-5a-303(2)(a), BCI may deny, suspend, or revoke a permit if the applicant or holder has been or is convicted of a felony, a crime of violence, or an offense involving the use of alcohol, the unlawful use of narcotics or other controlled substances, moral turpitude, or domestic violence. It also reaches an applicant adjudicated mentally incompetent by a state or federal court, unless that adjudication was withdrawn or reversed, and one barred from purchasing and possessing a firearm under Title 76, Chapter 11, Part 3, or federal law.
Watch the definition of "conviction" in Utah Code 53-5a-301(6). It reaches a guilty plea, a no contest plea, a plea held in abeyance pending probation, a pending diversion agreement, and a conviction later reduced under Utah Code 76-3-402.
BCI must consider mitigating circumstances under Utah Code 53-5a-303(2)(b). For convictions that are not registerable sex offenses, Rule R722-300-4(5)(b) sets the standard at five years elapsed for a class A misdemeanor, four for a class B, and three for any other misdemeanor or infraction, measured from conviction or from release from incarceration, parole, or probation, whichever came last. That path is closed to anyone barred from possessing a firearm.
Utah Code 53-5a-303(3)(a) also lets BCI act on reasonable cause to believe the applicant is a danger to self or others, based on a past pattern of unlawful violence or threats, participation in violent incidents, or a Title 76, Chapter 11 conviction. A single infraction-level conviction there cannot by itself support the action, per 53-5a-303(3)(b).
Nonresidents can hold a Utah permit. If the applicant lives in a state that recognizes the Utah permit or has reciprocity with Utah, Utah Code 53-5a-303(4)(a) requires a current home-state concealed firearm or weapon permit and a copy of it, on renewals as well as new applications, and knowingly and willfully giving false information there bars a Utah permit for 10 years. Active duty service members reporting for duty in Utah, and spouses stationed with them, are excused on presenting the duty orders.
Utah Code 53-5a-303(8)(a) defines general familiarity as training in the safe loading, unloading, storage, and carrying of the firearms to be concealed, plus current law on lawful use by a private citizen, including self-defense, deadly force, transportation, and concealment. An applicant satisfies it through a bureau-approved training organization, a bureau-certified instructor, or equivalent experience in shooting competition, law enforcement, or military service. Under Utah Code 53-5a-303(8)(c), student instruction must be in person and not through electronic means. Rule R722-300-4(2) requires the signed certificate to bear the instructor's official seal and to have issued within a year of the application date.
Utah Code 53-5a-303(1)(c) makes the standard permit valid statewide for five years, without restriction, except as provided by Utah Code 53-5a-102.2. Under 53-5a-102.2(1)(c), a permit holder may open or conceal carry a loaded or unloaded firearm in a vehicle in which the holder is lawfully present, on a public street, and in any other place not prohibited by state statute or federal law.
The limits run through Utah Code 53-5a-102.2(2)(c), which has two halves. Under (2)(c)(i), a permit holder may not carry in any manner in a posted secure area under Utah Code 76-8-311.1, an airport secure area under 76-11-218, a house of worship or private residence where dangerous weapons are prohibited under 76-11-219, or any other place prohibited by, or pursuant to, another state statute or federal law. That catch-all pulls in every other statutory place restriction, so the list is not closed. Under (2)(c)(ii), the same holder may not openly carry, unless lawfully responding to an active threat under Utah Code 76-2-402, 76-2-405, or 76-2-407, on or about the premises of a public or private elementary or secondary school under 76-11-205 or an institution of higher education under 76-11-205.5.
The permit also exempts the holder from several Title 76 offenses:
Utah Code 53-5a-102 reserves firearm regulation to the state and bars local governments from requiring a permit or license.
A provisional permit is not a junior version on eligibility: the same Utah Code 53-5a-303(2) disqualifiers apply. Four things differ. It expires at 21 rather than running five years. Under Utah Code 53-5a-102.2(2)(d)(i), a provisional holder may not carry in any manner on or about the premises of a public or private elementary or secondary school. A standard permit holder may carry concealed on those premises, but no permit holder may carry openly there under Utah Code 53-5a-102.2(2)(c)(ii)(A) absent a lawful active-threat response. It cannot be renewed, per Rule R722-300-6(7). And it does not let the holder buy a handgun from a licensed dealer, because 18 U.S.C. 922(b)(1) sets that floor at 21.
Conversion runs through Utah Code 53-5a-303(1)(b). Within the 90 days before turning 21, a provisional holder may apply for the standard permit, BCI has 60 days to issue it, the permit is not valid until the applicant is 21, and the training is not retaken. Out-of-state recognition splits by permit type too: BCI's table shows whether a state honors the standard permit, the provisional, both, or neither, and the provisional is recognized in materially fewer states.
A standard permit renews for another five years. Rule R722-300-6(2) allows a renewal packet no earlier than 90 days before expiration; Rule R722-300-6(3)(b) refuses one on a permit expired more than a year, and the holder starts over. Utah Code 53-5a-307(4)(b) adds a late fee on a permit expired more than 30 days but less than a year. Utah Code 53-5a-309 requires the holder to watch BCI's firearm safety and suicide prevention video, capped at 10 minutes, and submit proof. Utah Code 53-5a-303(8)(d) does not require retaking the course on a permit unexpired or expired less than a year.
Utah Code 53-5a-307 fixed the standard permit fee at $25 and the renewal at $20 before July 1, 2026, with nonresident surcharges of $35 and $30. Those surcharges are standard-permit only. The provisional permit is priced by its own statute, Utah Code 53-5a-308: $25 before July 1, 2026, an additional $10 for a nonresident, and a $10 replacement fee, all remitted to the Concealed Weapons Account. Utah Code 53-5a-307(1)(c) waives the initial standard-permit fee for a law enforcement officer, an active duty service member, that member's spouse, and a school employee.
Do not quote $25 as the out-the-door cost. Utah Code 53-5a-307(6)(a) and 53-5a-308(4)(a) let the bureau collect fees an outside agency charges for services a statute requires before a permit issues, and BCI's application page lists $52 for residents and $87 for nonresidents. Utah Code 53-5a-303(17)(a) then directs the bureau, beginning July 1, 2026, to set the Part 3 fees under Utah Code 63J-1-504, and each fee subsection in 53-5a-307 and 53-5a-308 switches on that date to a fee set by the bureau.
Under Utah Code 53-5a-303(16), a denial must be in writing and state the general reasons. The applicant or holder has 60 days from receipt by certified mail to petition the Concealed Firearm Review Board, created inside BCI by Utah Code 53-5a-302. The bureau carries the burden of proof by a preponderance of the evidence, and the board must issue a final order within 30 days, which is final agency action for judicial review under Utah Code 63G-4-402.
Two wrinkles. First, a conflict rather than a rule: Utah Code 53-5a-305(6)(b) says a temporary permit decision may not be appealed to the board, while Utah Code 53-5a-302(7) directs the board, on a timely petition, to review the denial, suspension, or revocation of "a permit or a temporary permit." Preserve the deadline, petition anyway, and treat judicial review as the certain route. Second, under Utah Code 53-5a-303(3)(d), BCI must suspend a permit if the holder becomes a temporarily restricted person under Utah Code 53-5a-504, with automatic reinstatement on removal from that list unless the permit was separately revoked, suspended, or expired, or the holder became a restricted person under 76-11-302 or 76-11-303.
Knowingly and willfully providing false information on a permit application is a class B misdemeanor under Utah Code 53-5a-303(15), and the application may be denied or the permit revoked on that basis alone. Going the other way, Utah Code 53-5a-310 makes a holder's name, address, phone number, birth date, and Social Security number protected records, and knowingly disclosing them in violation of the Government Records Access and Management Act is a class A misdemeanor under 53-5a-310(1)(d).
First, the 2025 recodification left conflicting cross-references over which number carries the provisional permit and which the temporary permit. Part 3 assigns the provisional permit to Utah Code 53-5a-304 and the temporary permit to 53-5a-305, and Utah Code 76-11-202(2)(b) and 53-5a-602(11)(a) and (b) follow it. But Utah Code 53-5a-102.2(1)(c), 76-11-204(6), and 76-11-220(4) reverse the labels. Read to the substance of each permit, not the number in the cross-reference.
Second, BCI's frequently asked questions page states flatly that the permit allows carry into daycares and public schools. That holds under Utah Code 53-5a-102.2 for concealed carry by a standard Utah permit holder, but not for open carry at a school, not for a provisional holder at a school, and not for someone carrying on an out-of-state permit alone, who is barred in any manner at both schools and daycares by Utah Code 53-5a-102.2(2)(d)(ii). Teach the permit type and the carry mode.
This page covers one part of our Utah concealed carry guide.
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