Police Clearance Certificates

Urgent Police Clearance Certificate From South Africa – Facts to Consider

2011-02-22T11:24:00.000+02:00

We, at DKP Investigations CC get a lot of requests from people to expedite the issue of their police clearance certificate from South Africa. At the moment, obtaining a personal police clearance certificate from the South African Police Service takes anything from 4-8 weeks to do. Unless you want to go the bribery route, there is not much you can do about the time it takes to issue as many factors influence the delivery time.

These factors include, but are not limited to:
1. The time of the year the request is received. If your application is submitted during a holiday period, like Christmas or Easter, the processing thereof will inevitably be delayed;
2. The amount of staff available at the CRC to process the application;
3. The amount of overtime worked by the staff of the CRC and various other factors.

Should you however receive a work offer that is dependant on the results of the PCC from South Africa, you can request the CRC (Criminal Record Centre) to consider merits of your case and speed up the application. For this you will need documentary proof, in other words, a copy of the employment contract or letter from the prospective employer stating that you have to start work on a certain date.

You will also have to explain in writing why you couldn’t have applied for the certificate in good time. With these documents attached to your application, the CRC might consider the merits of the case and if they are convinced that you are not at fault, regard the matter as urgent. This is not a given and not all applications marked as urgent as treated as such.

The best advise when applying for a police clearance certificate in South Africa is to do it as early as possible and ensure that you receive the certificate on time.

DKP Investigations CC – UK Branch Updated Details

2011-02-08T09:01:00.001+02:00

Clients seeking a Police Clearance Certificate/behaviour certificate/ PCC from South Africa while residing in the UK, must contact our UK branch at:

Antoinette Haasbroek,

5C Raglan Road

Walthamstow

E17 9EE

Te.: 07757110928

on e-mail :antoinette.haasbroek@dkpinvestigations.com

The New Zealand branch managed by Sarah-Jane Morkel remains unchanged as well as the details of DKP Investigations CC Head Office in South Africa.

Clients seeking advice on obtaining a SA Police Clearance Certificate are welcome to contact our Head Office directly via e-mail: yolande.pienaar@dkpinvestigations.com if they require any further information.

SA Police Clearance Certificates - CRC Open 24 Hours

2010-08-04T08:02:00.000+02:00

The South African Criminal Record Center in Pretoria, South Africa is now open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This is good news for anyone having to obtain a Police Clearance Certificate from South Africa as this eliminates having to take off from work in order to get your application in or collect the personal police clearance certificate.

While I am not sure what the reasoning behind this move is, I welcome the extended operating hours with open arms. Finding parking during business hours in the vicinity of the CRC is a nightmare and with their previous operating hours, one was left with no choice in the matter. It also appears that the issuing of the police clearance certificates are happening more smoothly.

One has to commend the staff for their dedication to service delivery and making the process of obtaining a police clearance certificate a little less painful to the general public.

SA Police Clearance Certificates - UK Branch Relocated

2009-11-26T15:01:00.000+02:00

People in the UK requiring assistance in obtaining police clearance certificates from South Africa should note that we have recently relocated our branch of DKP Investigations in the UK, to the following address:

38 Marten Road,

Walthamstow,

London,

E17 4NN

The contact person there is Antoinette Haasbroek with telephone number 07757110928.

Also remember that DKP Investigations now have a branch in New Zeeland run by Sarah-Jane Morkel with telephone number 03 579 3268 and mobile 021 233 8064.

If you struggle to get hold of any of the agents above feel free to contact me through the web site.

Department of Foreign Affairs South Africa Changes Name and Location

2009-09-21T16:09:00.000+02:00

Since the last post, the Department of International Relations (previously the Department of Foreign Affairs) moved to a new location in Soutpansberg Road, Pretoria. The new premises is modern and state of the art with sufficient security to house all the required departments.

As previously, the staff at the Legalization Department is friendly and extremely competent. The office is spacious with ample seating for those preferring to wait and as usual, the wait is seldom as long as the notice predicts.

The move was definitely worth waiting for and people requiring their documents, also police clearance certificates from South Africa, to be legalized will find the process even less painful than before.

Police Clearance Certificates - Apostile and Authentication

2009-08-21T11:41:00.001+02:00

More and more embassies require Police Clearance Certificates from South Africa to have an Apostile attached and be authenticated by the local High Commission or Liaison Office of the country requesting the certificate. Here are a few pointers on how to go about the process:

Make copies of the original certificate.
Take the original police clearance certificate together with the copies to an attorney, which is also a Notary Public to have it notarized. Usually there is a fee payable to have this done, so come prepared.
Take the notarized certificate to the High Court where an Authentication seal will be placed upon it. Be sure to know which country requires the certificate as this influences the color of the ribbons used. This is a painless process as the High Court staff is friendly and extremely competent.
From here, the certificates must be taken to the Department of Foreign Affairs Legalization Department on the corner of Duncan and Church Street. The waiting period is 30-45 minutes, but if they are not busy, you might not even wait that long. The staff in the Legalization office is friendly and your application will be dealt with professionally and speedy. Note their office hours are from 8h30 to 12h30 only.
Once finished, the authenticated documents can be delivered to the relevant embassy for further legalization or authentication. Each embassy has their own operating hours that they stick to rigorously. Usually you wait a couple of days for this process to be finalized, depending on the amount of applications they receive and the process involves paying a fee.

Helping Children Adjust to Immigration

2009-07-21T18:49:00.000+02:00

Children are often neglected when parents decide to relocate overseas. This may lead to irreparable trauma to the child. Taking precautions and including your child in the whole process will decrease the trauma and help your child adjust to new circumstances.

For further reading see: How to Take the Sting Out of Immigrating

Immigration and Visa Consultants Invited

2009-05-05T16:01:00.001+02:00

I received so many enquiries about reliable immigration and visa consultants during the last couple of weeks, that it is clear people have no idea where to begin searching for these services. We deal only with the issue of police clearance certificates from South Africa, but people from other countries visit the website and blog to gain information about the processes to be followed when in countries like the USA, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and many more.

It might be a good idea to furnish readers with a list of consultants dealing in obtaining Visa's and assisting with immigration. Thus, I would like to invite any immigration agency and visa consultants to furnish me with their details and a short synopsis of the services they offer to share with our readers. Besides being to the advantage of the readers, this will also provide back links to the relevant websites where prospective clients may browse further.

Please send me an e-mail through the profile page to have your agency included in the blog.

DKP Investigations CC - Office in New Zealand

2009-04-20T12:10:00.001+02:00

DKP Investigations CC assists people in obtaining Police Clearance Certificates from South Africa. They have today opened their office in New Zealand to simplify the process of applicants residing there. Applicants now forward the applications to the office in Blenheim, Marlborgough
and the personnel of DKP Investigations deals with the courier to South Africa and receiving the documents back from South Africa.

This would mean a lot less hassle for clients - no more struggling with arranging for courier services and ensuring the documents are picked up in time and no more expensive phone calls to South Africa to follow up on the status of the applications.

For more information, visit the DKP Investigations web site.

SAPS Criminal Record Center Still Behind

2009-04-16T08:59:00.000+02:00

Just a quick update on the previous post. It appears the Easter holidays and other public holidays in South Africa are definitely taking its toll on service delivery in our country. The issue of Police Clearance Certificates are further delayed, causing people to wait up to 10 weeks for the certificates to be issued.

If you are going to need a police clearance from South Africa anytime in the next three months, I would strongly advise you to apply as soon as possible to avoid having to move the dates of your applications at the Embassies forward.

Just for interest sake, if you want to know why the embassies require the police clearance certificate, you can read an explanation at Suite 101.

SA Police Clearance Certificates

2009-04-01T18:36:00.000+02:00

Many clients contacted me during the previous couple of weeks complaining about the long waiting periods to obtain a police clearance certificate from South Africa. These clearances are required for immigration and visa purposes and most people can't obtain work before handing in the personal police clearance certifying their criminal record - or lack thereof.

During the months of December 2008 and February 2009 the South African Police built a backlog due to holidays and intermittent interruptions of service.

It appears the office of the Criminal Record Center in Pretoria managed to sort this out and applications should flow normally from here on.

Another complaint was the inability to reach this office by phone. Many a client requested DKP Investigations to inquire on their behalf. In most cases we followed the progress and mailed the certificates back to the clients after finalization.

Clients should also bear in mind that the upcoming Easter Holidays will also effect the time frame wherein the certificates are processed.

Obtaining Police Clearance Certificates from Qatar

2008-12-01T09:27:00.001+02:00

I recently received a query of how to obtain Police Clearance Certificates from Qatar. After a bit of research I found the information on the web site of www.infocubic.net

Here is a copy of the information on their web page.

Qatar Police Record

HOW TO OBTAIN A POLICE CLEARANCE CERTIFICATE FROM QATAR:

Current residents should apply in person at the Department of Public Security and General Administration, Ministry of Interior, P.O. Box 920, Doha, State of Qatar (located on Suhaim bin Hamad Street, opposite the Gulf Air building in Al Saad area) with the following documents:

1. A letter requesting the issuance of a Police Clearance Certificate from the State of Qatar. The letter should include the purpose in requesting the Police Clearance Certificate, the first date of arrival of the person in Qatar and the last date of departure.

2. Original passport and a complete photocopy of all pages of the passport (include copies of all pages, regardless of entries).

3. 3 passport-size photographs.

The authorities will then take fingerprints and the Police Clearance Certificate will be issued in about two weeks.

Former residents should write to the Department of Public Security and General Administration, Ministry of Interior, P.O. Box 920, Doha, State of Qatar supported by the following documents:

2. A complete photocopy of all pages of the passport (include copies of all pages, regardless of entries).

3. A set of fingerprints taken by a competent government authority from the applicant's current place of residence.

4. 3 passport-size photographs.

5. A self-addressed return envelope large enough to hold an A4 size document.

The Police Clearance Certificate will be issued in about two weeks and will be mailed to the applicant.

Just a note of caution - make sure you have your fingerprints taken by an official who can affix an official stamp and his designation on the fingerprint form. The authorities usually need to be sure it is indeed your fingerprints they received.

Police Clearance Certificates from South Africa

2008-11-24T13:47:00.001+02:00

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:

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.
A copy of your South African Identity document or if you don't have one, a copy of your passport.
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.
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.
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.