Police Clearance Certificates from South Africa

Many people contacted me during the last couple of days and requested information on how to obtain Police Clearance Certificates from South Africa. Maybe I should first explain what these certificates are and what they are used for.

A police clearance certificate is simply a record of your criminal history. In other words, it certifies whether you have committed any crimes. Different countries have different names for these certificates and although they say the same, if you ask for a Police Clearance Certificate in New Zealand, the Kiwi's won't know what you are talking about. In New Zealand you apply for a 'copy of your conviction records' while in the UK and India, you apply for a 'criminal record certificate'.

Now, why do you need them?

If you lived or worked in any country for longer than 6 continuous months and you are older than 18 years, you'll need to provide the country where you apply for a visa with details of your criminal history. In most of the cases these records have to be requested in person and must be accompanied by a verification of identity and an original set of fingerprints (ink - rolled)

To apply for a South African Police Clearance Certificate, you need the following:

1. An original set of fingerprints taken by the local police or Scotland Yard in the UK. The Embassy seldom provides this service. The official taking the fingerprints also needs to verify your identity.
   
2. A copy of your South African Identity document or if you don't have one, a copy of your passport.
   
3. An application form issued by the High Commission or Embassy, but it is not prescribed. It does speed up the process considerably as the form makes provision for your full details, including date of birth and place of birth.
   
4. A bankers draft for R59-00. I would advise anyone wanting to attempt this process from overseas to first phone the office of the Criminal Record Center in Pretoria and make sure which bankers drafts they do accept. Lately some of the bankers drafts were rejected causing applicants to wait much longer for the certificates to be issued.
   
5. If you want a courier to collect it, you have to include a pre paid courier envelope and waybill in the documents you sent to the South African Police Service.
   

The documents above must then be forwarded to:

Criminal Record Center - SAPS
1st Floor, Sanlam Plaza West
271 Schoeman Street
Pretoria 0001
Rep of South Africa

Tel. No's. (012) 393-3712/13/14/15
Fax No. (012) 393-3909.

Alternatively, you can make use of a courier company that specializes in the obtaining of Police Clearance Certificates from South Africa. One of these companies are DKP Investigations CC

They have branches in London and South Africa and has been in business for over 8 years.