Clearance Certificates

Clearance Certificates

A Police Clearance Certificate is issued only by SAPS Criminal Record and Crime Scene Management in Pretoria. It states whether convictions are recorded against the applicant. Foreign missions, employers, and emigration files usually require an original that is no older than six months.

What we do:

• Prepare the SAPS 91(a) fingerprint route and the supporting identity copies
• Lodge and track the Pretoria CR & CSM file
• Arrange DIRCO Apostille or authentication of the issued certificate when it must be used abroad

SAPS does not accept scanned fingerprints and will not email the finished certificate. The physical original is the document that matters. We also assist with letters of no impediment and other good-conduct certificates issued by Home Affairs or a court, where the destination country asks for them.

Record Checks

A record check is the enquiry behind a clearance: whether a name and identity number return a conviction, a pending case, or a clean result. Employers, professional councils, and some embassies ask for the check itself, not only the certificate.

• Name and identity-number searches for employment onboarding
• Support for a professional-council or visa file that asks for “no criminal record”
• Advice where a record exists and must be disclosed, or where expungement may be available

Results are only as good as the identity documents and fingerprints supplied. We will not certify a clean record we have not seen issued by the competent office.

Biometric Verification

SAPS and the Department of Home Affairs identify a person by fingerprints, not by a photocopy of an ID. Police clearance, some visa categories, and smart-ID or passport work still require a live biometric capture.

• Attendance at a SAPS station (or a South African mission abroad) for a full set of prints on the official form
• Home Affairs biometric enrolment for ID, passport, or visa where the Department requires it
• Checking that the print form is the one the receiving office will accept — SAPS 91(a) locally, or the host-country form from an embassy

Copies, scans, and photographs of fingerprints are refused. We diary the appointment and check the form before it leaves the station.

SAQA Verification

The South African Qualifications Authority verifies tertiary qualifications against the National Qualifications Framework. DIRCO will not apostille or authenticate a South African degree until SAQA has issued its verification letter and stamped copy.

• University degrees and diplomas for use abroad (work, study, or professional registration)
• Each separate qualification if a person holds more than one degree
• Older school qualifications that fall to SAQA rather than Umalusi (generally pre-1992 school certificates)

We lodge the original certificate and copies, obtain the SAQA covering letter, and take that pack to DIRCO. Matric / National Senior Certificates from 1992 onward go to Umalusi, not SAQA. Trade certificates go to the QCTO.