South African police clearance for US immigration
If you are applying for a US immigrant visa or green card, the National Visa Center requires a police certificate from South Africa if you lived here for a qualifying period. Here is exactly what that means and how we get it for you.
- Our fee
- R2,450per applicant
- Timeline
- 2–4 weeksSAPS controls it
When the US requires a South African PCC
For immigrant visas processed through the National Visa Center, US rules require a police certificate from every country where you lived for one year or more since the age of 16, and from your country of current residence and country of nationality if you lived there more than six months. If South Africa is on that list — which it is for most South African applicants — you need a SAPS police clearance.
Non-immigrant visas (visitor, most work and student categories) generally do not require one; this is an immigrant-visa and adjustment-of-status requirement. If you are unsure which applies to you, your immigration attorney or the NVC checklist will tell you.
Do you need an apostille for the USA?
This is where South Africans get conflicting advice. USCIS and the NVC generally accept the SAPS certificate itself and do not mandate an apostille for the police certificate. However, some applicants are asked to apostille supporting South African civil documents (unabridged birth and marriage certificates), and a few consulates prefer legalised documents. Because the USA is a Hague Convention country, an apostille is always valid if requested — it is never wrong to have one, and it is R1,650 if you decide you want it. We will flag whether your specific documents are likely to need it.
The catch that delays US applications
Validity. A police certificate for US immigration must generally be valid at the time of your interview, and the NVC treats it as valid for a limited period. Order it too early and it can expire before your interview date; too late and you delay the whole file. For most applicants, three to four months ahead of a scheduled interview is the right window — tell us your interview date and we will time it.
How we do it
Fingerprints taken locally (in the US, at a police station or a fingerprinting service, on the SAPS form we send you), couriered to us, submitted to the SAPS Criminal Record Centre, and the finished certificate — apostilled if you want it — couriered to your US address. Zone 3 courier to the USA is R1,050. Full detail on applying from abroad and pricing.