# UK eSIM: SIM-Farm Offence Passed, Not in Force Yet

Source: https://esimrules.com/destinations/united-kingdom/
Author: Nadezhda Semenova — Entrepreneur, co-founder of the travel service Trippy (https://esimrules.com/about/)
Updated: 2026-09-04

> 29 October 2026 is the date Home Office names for the UK SIM-farm offence (Crime and Policing Act 2026, ss.151-153) — no commencement order confirms it yet.

## Does this apply to you? (no — and here is the number that decides it)

eSIM UK is Uki Mobile, a foreign-issued EE-network profile that counts as one SIM card, not five, so it sits nowhere near the “SIM farm” threshold that section 153 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026 sets for that offence. The UK’s SIM-farm offence does not reach a traveller carrying one eSIM for the UK.

A SIM farm is “a device which is capable of using five or more SIM cards simultaneously or interchangeably, for a purpose mentioned in subsection (2)”, section 153(1)(a) of the Crime and Policing Act 2026. One profile, two, or three sits below that count. That count is the reason the offence doesn’t reach you, not any claim about what your eSIM can or can’t do.

That distinction matters here specifically. One of the three UK profiles this page covers, Uki Mobile+, carries voice minutes and text messages alongside data (Airalo catalog data, checked 15 August 2026). An argument built on “an eSIM can’t make calls” would be false for that product. The count in section 153(1)(a) doesn’t ask what the device does with its SIMs, calling, texting, or neither. It asks how many the device can use at once or interchangeably, for calling or texting numbers on a numbering plan (section 153(2)). A single Uki Mobile+ profile making calls counts as one SIM under that test, the same as a single data-only profile making none.

A second, narrower point reinforces the first, and it carries a condition worth stating plainly. Section 153(3)(a) defines “SIM card” for this Act as “a removable physical subscriber identity module”, and an eSIM profile isn’t that: it has no removable physical form. That reading holds today. It stops holding the moment a minister uses the power the other branch of the same definition hands them, section 153(3)(b), covered below.

The offence isn’t switched on yet either, in any UK nation, on any device.

## The UK just criminalised SIM farms. The law is not in force yet

Parliament created two new criminal offences on 29 April 2026 and has not switched either one on. The Crime and Policing Act 2026 (2026 c. 20) received Royal Assent that day, the enactment date recorded in the Act’s own metadata on legislation.gov.uk (ukm:EnactmentDate, checked 15 August 2026).

Section 151(1) reads: “A person who possesses a SIM farm commits an offence.” Section 152(1) reads: “A person who supplies a SIM farm to another person commits an offence.” Both sit in Part 9, “Prevention of theft and fraud” (subheading “SIM farms”). Section 254(2)(z1) extends Part 9, except section 150(3), to England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland alike.

Commencement is a separate step from Royal Assent, and this Act says so directly. Section 255(1): “Subject as follows, this Act comes into force on such day as the Secretary of State may by regulations appoint.” The “subject as follows” points at the exceptions listed straight after it: some provisions started immediately on Royal Assent (section 255(2)) or two months after it (section 255(3)). Sections 151, 152 and 153 appear on neither list. Only a commencement regulation can switch them on, and as of 15 August 2026 none has named them. legislation.gov.uk carries an editorial note under each of the three sections: “S. 151 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 255(1)” — the same note, section number changed, under 152 and 153.

One commencement instrument exists for this Act: Statutory Instrument (SI) 2026/689, the Crime and Policing Act 2026 (Commencement No.1 and Saving Provision) Regulations 2026, made 25 June 2026 and in force from 29 June 2026. A full-text search of that instrument for “151”, “152” and “153” returns zero matches. It brings other parts of the Act into force. It does not touch the SIM-farm offences.

Home Office guidance, published 27 July 2026 as “Possession and supply of SIM farms,” names a start date anyway: “A six-month transition period will apply before the offences come into effect… From 29 October 2026, a person convicted of an offence may be liable, on summary conviction, to a financial penalty.” Royal Assent plus six months lands on 29 October 2026, and the arithmetic checks out. That date is the department’s plan, stated in guidance, not a commencement order. Nothing filed as of 15 August 2026 makes it binding. Recheck this page after 29 October 2026 — a commencement regulation could confirm that date, move it, or attach conditions the guidance doesn’t mention yet. None of this changes what you do today: buy and install your eSIM as normal, since neither offence is switched on.

## Five or more: how the Act actually defines a SIM farm

Section 153(1)(a) sets the count at “five or more SIM cards” used “simultaneously or interchangeably”, then puts a second condition on top of it: the device has to be capable of that for a purpose named in section 153(2). Two purposes qualify: “making telephone calls to persons at telephone numbers allocated in accordance with national or international numbering plans” (paragraph (a)), and “sending messages to, or receiving messages from, such telephone numbers” (paragraph (b)).

A device built for five-plus SIMs but used for neither purpose sits outside the definition.

“SIM card” gets its own definition, with two branches. Section 153(3): a SIM card is “(a) a removable physical subscriber identity module, or (b) an article specified in regulations made by the Secretary of State.” Branch (a) is what exists today, a plastic card removable from a tray. Branch (b) is a power, not yet used. Section 153(7) defines the word that branch turns on: '“Article” includes information in electronic form.' An eSIM profile is information in electronic form. Nothing in branch (a) reaches it. Branch (b) is built so that it could, if a minister chooses to use it.

That power isn’t open-ended. Section 153(6) limits what a minister can designate under branch (b) to something with “a similar function to removable physical subscriber identity modules.” An eSIM profile does exactly that: it authenticates a device to a mobile network the same way a physical SIM does. Whether that’s enough to bring eSIMs into a future regulation is a judgement call this page can’t predict. What’s provable today: no regulation under section 153(3)(b) has been made as of 15 August 2026. Until one is, an eSIM profile is not a “SIM card” under this Act, at any count. Section 153(1)(b) carries the same structure one level up: a minister can designate “an article” as a SIM farm outright, separate from the five-card count, limited by section 153(5) to articles that serve the section 153(2) purposes in a way similar to a five-SIM device. No such regulation exists yet either.

The offence is also built as a presumption with a reversed defence, worth naming even though it doesn’t change the traveller analysis above. Sections 151(2)-(4) and 152(2) require the accused “to prove” — the Act’s own phrase — that they had “a good reason or lawful authority” for possessing or supplying a SIM farm. The burden sits with the defendant, not the prosecution. Section 151(3) lists examples without closing the list: broadcasting, operating public transport, operating an electronic communications network under section 32 of the Communications Act 2003, and tracking or otherwise monitoring cargo. None of it reaches you at one, two or three profiles: you sit under the threshold before any defence has to be argued.

## Where the government’s own guidance differs from the statute

Home Office guidance describes the offence in narrower terms than the Act that creates it.

The guidance, published 27 July 2026, calls SIM farms “devices that are capable of using five or more physical SIM cards simultaneously or interchangeably” for the same two purposes the Act lists. That word “physical” is accurate today: physical is the only kind of SIM card the Act currently recognises, under section 153(3)(a). What the guidance doesn’t say is that the Act itself doesn’t stop at physical. Section 153(3)(b) lets the Secretary of State add “an article specified in regulations,” and section 153(7) defines article to include “information in electronic form.” The guidance says nothing about that mechanism, sitting one clause away from the definition it quotes.

This isn’t a contradiction between the guidance and the Act. Read together, the two are consistent. It’s a gap in what the guidance chooses to explain. A reader relying on the guidance alone would have no way to know a future regulation could redefine the term the guidance treats as fixed. This page states the mechanism because no eSIM seller covering the UK we’ve found cites section 153(3)(b) or 153(7) at all.

## What the penalty is, and why it depends which nation you are in

The penalty is a fine with no stated cap in England and Wales, but a fine capped at £5,000 — level 5 on the standard scale — in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Sections 151(5) and 152(5) set that same split for both possession and supply.

The penalty for both offences, possession under section 151 and supply under section 152, differs depending which UK nation hears the case. Both sections use identical wording for it. Section 151(5): “(a) on summary conviction in England and Wales, to a fine; (b) on summary conviction in Scotland or Northern Ireland, to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.” Section 152(5) repeats the same split for supply.

In Scotland and Northern Ireland, that cap has a number. Level 5 on the standard scale is £5,000 (Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, section 225(2), which sets levels 1 to 5 at £200, £500, £1,000, £2,500 and £5,000). A conviction there cannot exceed that figure under this offence.

In England and Wales, the Act names no such number. The text says “a fine,” full stop. This page does not read that as an unlimited fine. We have not read a separate source establishing a statutory cap on a summary fine of this kind in England and Wales, and the Act itself simply doesn’t state one here. The honest answer is a named cap in two nations and an unnamed one in the other two. Home Office’s own guidance flattens this into a single phrase, “a financial penalty,” and loses the split entirely.

## No SIM registration in the UK — what we checked to say that

No general duty to register a UK SIM card in the owner’s name turned up in the sources this page checked.

That’s a statement about what we searched, not a claim that no such rule could exist anywhere. Three checks, all run 15 August 2026, defined that search. A full-text search of legislation.gov.uk’s entire statute database for “subscriber identity module registration” returned 11 results, and none imposes a registration duty. The only telecom-relevant result is the Crime and Policing Act 2026 itself, the SIM-farm provisions above, not a registration rule. The same database searched for “register the subscriber before” returned zero results. The gov.uk Search API, queried separately for “SIM card registration” and for “pre-paid mobile phone registration,” returned no document describing a SIM registration requirement either time.

What this page has not checked is narrower, and worth naming: the terms individual carriers set at the point of sale, EE, O2, Vodafone and Three among them. A carrier can require an ID check as its own commercial policy, a contract term, without that being a law. So: nothing in the sources above requires you to register a SIM before you use it. Whether a shop counter asks you for ID anyway is a question this page did not test.

## What you get: Uki Mobile on EE, and the one profile that also calls

This page covers eSIM for the UK from Uki Mobile: three profiles, all roaming on the EE network, none requiring an ID check at checkout (Airalo catalog data, checked 15 August 2026). Two are data-only; the third, Uki Mobile+, adds voice minutes and text messages.

The unlimited data-only profile runs six tiers, three to thirty days, priced $11.49 to $62.99. It carries a fair-use cap that the catalog states as a lower speed rate of 1 Mbps after 3 gigabytes (GB) of usage per day. The limited data-only profile runs a separate six tiers by volume, from 1 GB over 7 days at $3.99 up to 20 GB over 30 days at $23.99. Its 5 GB, 30-day tier at $8.99 sits in the middle of that range. Uki Mobile+ runs fourteen tiers combining data, minutes and texts, from 1 GB with 10 minutes and 10 texts over 3 days at $4.99, up to 50 GB with 500 minutes and 500 texts over 30 days at $53.99. Its calling is scoped to local UK numbers only. That gives you a domestic line, not a way to call home.

| Profile | Type | Entry tier | 30-day tier | Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uki Mobile (unlimited) | data-only | Unlimited, 3 days — $11.49 | Unlimited, 30 days — $62.99 | 6 tiers, $11.49–$62.99 |
| Uki Mobile (limited) | data-only | 1 GB, 7 days — $3.99 | 5 GB, 30 days — $8.99 | 6 tiers, $3.99–$23.99 |
| Uki Mobile+ | data + voice + text | 1 GB, 10 min, 10 texts, 3 days — $4.99 | 5 GB, 50 min, 50 texts, 30 days — $11.99 | 14 tiers, $4.99–$53.99 |

*Prices in USD as charged on this site, checked 15 August 2026*

All three profiles share the same install and top-up terms. Each gives 365 days to install from purchase, and a rechargeable balance. A 180-day grace window lets a top-up attach to an existing profile instead of forcing a fresh install. The usage clock starts at first connection, not at purchase or install. APN configures itself automatically on both iOS and Android.

Coverage runs England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It does not reach Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man; Airalo sells a separate eSIM for those. One catalog detail is worth flagging rather than resolving: the unlimited profile’s own network field lists “EE 4G,” while its own description reads “5G data-only eSIM” (Airalo catalog data, checked 15 August 2026). The limited and Uki Mobile+ profiles both list EE 5G with no such conflict. This page doesn’t assert a network generation for the unlimited profile, since the catalog itself doesn’t agree on one. For a dated look at Airalo’s own track record across destinations, see [the Airalo review](/reviews/airalo/).

## Before you fly, and on landing

**Install the profile before you leave, on a working Wi-Fi connection, not at the airport.** The QR (Quick Response) code or install link needs internet to complete, and an airport connection on arrival in the UK isn’t guaranteed. The 365-day install window means buying weeks ahead costs nothing.

Nothing activates at install. A profile that shows installed but inactive before you board is expected, not a fault. The clock starts at first connection to the EE network, once you land and switch on data roaming.

Running a UK eSIM alongside a home SIM works on any dual-SIM phone. Set the UK profile as your data line, or, on Uki Mobile+, as your data and calling line for UK numbers too. Turn off cellular data, not the whole line, on your home SIM, so nothing pulls an expensive home-carrier roaming charge by accident.

The two data-only profiles carry no UK phone number, no SMS and no calling minutes. Anything that verifies you by SMS to a UK number, a delivery app, a UK bank’s one-time code, a loyalty sign-up, sits outside what either one does. Uki Mobile+ is the exception: it carries a UK number and can receive that kind of SMS within the package’s own text allowance, but its calling reaches local UK numbers only, not a call home.

If this is your first eSIM install, the steps are the same regardless of destination. [The iPhone install guide](/guides/install-esim-iphone/) and [the Android install guide](/guides/install-esim-android/) cover the QR-scan and manual-entry paths in full.

## FAQ

## Sources and freshness

*Checked directly against the Crime and Policing Act 2026 (2026 c. 20), sections 151-153, 254 and 255, on legislation.gov.uk, and against Home Office guidance “Possession and supply of SIM farms,” published 27 July 2026. Both were read 15 August 2026. Also checked: SI 2026/689 (made 25 June 2026), the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 section 225(2) for the level 5 figure, and Airalo’s own UK catalog data, checked the same day.*

*Recheck this page after 29 October 2026. That’s the date Home Office guidance names for the offences to come into effect, and as of 15 August 2026 no commencement regulation has been filed to confirm it. A regulation filed between now and then could also use the section 153(3)(b) or 153(1)(b) powers described above; if one does, this page’s own reading — that an eSIM is not a SIM card under this Act — stops being current and needs rewriting.*

*Several things this page has not verified. Ofcom’s own site returned a 403 error on a plain request, so this page cites no Ofcom source. Schedule 16 of the Act, covering powers of entry and seizure and referenced in section 153(9), has not been read here. The ID-check terms EE, O2, Vodafone and Three set at the point of sale have not been checked. The exact text of any future commencement regulation, or of a section 153(3)(b) or 153(1)(b) regulation, is by definition unknown until one is made public. Product details for an eSIM for the UK — packages, pricing, coverage, install and top-up windows — come from Airalo’s own catalog, checked 15 August 2026, and can change on Airalo’s side without notice.*

> *Sources cited only — expert review pending. For individualized advice, consult a licensed professional.*

## FAQ

Does the UK's new SIM-farm law apply to eSIM users?
Not by the count that defines the offence. Section 153(1)(a) of the Crime and Policing Act 2026 sets the threshold at five or more SIM cards in one device. A traveller running one, two, or three eSIM profiles sits below it — an eSIM for the UK bought before a trip stays under that count by design.

Is the UK SIM-farm offence in force yet?
No. Sections 151 and 152 received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026 but need a separate commencement regulation under section 255(1). None has been made as of 15 August 2026. Home Office guidance names 29 October 2026 as the intended start date; that's the department's plan, not yet a binding order.

What's the penalty for the SIM-farm offence?
It depends which UK nation hears the case. Section 151(5) sets "a fine" for England and Wales, with no cap named in the text. For Scotland and Northern Ireland it sets "a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale," which is £5,000 (Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, section 225(2)).

Could an eSIM ever count as a "SIM card" under this law?
Only if the Secretary of State makes a regulation under section 153(3)(b), which lets the definition extend to "an article specified in regulations," and section 153(7) defines article to include "information in electronic form." No such regulation exists as of 15 August 2026. Today, the Act covers only "a removable physical subscriber identity module" (section 153(3)(a)).

Do I need to register my SIM card when I arrive in the UK?
No registration duty turned up in the sources this page checked: a legislation.gov.uk full-text search and a gov.uk Search API check, both run 15 August 2026, found no statutory SIM-registration requirement. Individual carrier ID checks at the point of sale, for a physical SIM bought in person, weren't checked here and may differ.

Which of the three UK eSIM profiles should I pick?
That depends on whether you need a UK number for your trip. The unlimited profile suits heavy data use, capped to 1 Mbps after 3 GB a day. The limited profile suits a lighter trip on a fixed budget. Uki Mobile+ is the only one that gives you a UK number, with local calling and texting alongside data.