Frequently asked questions

Our fee is R2,450 per applicant. That covers checking your paperwork, submitting the application to the SAPS Criminal Record Centre, following it up, and collecting the certificate. The SAPS fingerprint fee of R190 is a government charge we pass on at cost. Courier is quoted separately — R250 within South Africa, R800 to R1,300 internationally by zone. An apostille, if your destination country needs one, is R1,650. No VAT is added to any of these prices.

Two to four weeks is typical. The SAPS Criminal Record Centre controls the actual processing time and it varies with their workload, so we publish a realistic range rather than a guaranteed date. What we do control is that your application is complete before it is lodged, submitted without delay, followed up, and collected as soon as it is issued.

Yes, and many of our applicants do. Have your fingerprints taken locally — at a police station, a fingerprinting bureau, or a South African embassy or consulate — on the SAPS fingerprint form. Courier the completed form and a certified copy of your ID or passport to us in South Africa. We handle the submission, collection and any apostille, then courier the finished document to you anywhere in the world.

The certificate itself does not carry an expiry date — it is a statement of what was on the SAPS record on the day it was issued. In practice the authority you submit it to sets the rule, and most visa, immigration and registration bodies require it to be less than six months old on the date of submission. Check your destination's requirement before you apply, and try not to obtain it so early that it ages out before your appointment.

Usually, if the certificate is going to a foreign government. That authority needs proof the document is genuine. For countries in the Hague Convention that proof is an apostille, which we can add in the same run for R1,650. For countries outside the Convention, the document goes through a longer chain ending at that country's embassy. Tell us the destination when you start and we will confirm which route applies and quote it up front — it is much cheaper to plan for than to discover later.

The certificate will reflect what is on the SAPS database. We cannot change that, and neither can anyone else offering this service. If a minor offence is on your record and enough time has passed, it may be eligible for expungement — a separate legal process, R6,450. Ask us and we will give you an honest view on whether you are likely to qualify before you pay for anything.

Almost always for a technical reason rather than anything to do with your record. The most common cause is fingerprints that fail the SAPS optical scanner because they were smudged or not fully rolled. Others are a previous surname or maiden name left off the form, a mistyped identity number, or older records that were never fully linked in the database. If SAPS rejects your application and you return corrected paperwork within 30 calendar days, we re-submit for 50% of our admin fee.

No, and we would be misleading you if we did. The processing time belongs to the SAPS Criminal Record Centre. We can guarantee that your application is correct before it is lodged, that it goes in promptly, and that it is collected the day it is ready — but the middle of the process is not ours to guarantee. If you have a hard deadline, start three to four months ahead.

Yes. Schools, recruitment agencies, hospitals and immigration consultancies use us for batch submissions, with one coordinator and a single consolidated invoice. Our fee reduces with volume: 10% off for 5 to 10 applicants, 20% for 11 to 25, and 30% for 26 or more. The discount applies to our fee only, not to government fees or courier, and applications can be submitted together or accumulated over a 30-day window.

No. We are a private document service. Police clearance certificates are issued solely by the SAPS Criminal Record Centre. Our role is to prepare, submit, follow up and collect your application, and to arrange legalisation if you need it. You can apply directly to SAPS yourself; people use us to avoid the queueing, the follow-up and the risk of a rejected submission.