SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT ISSUED CERTIFICATES 101: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

The protracted lockdown in South Africa resulted in the Department of Home Affairs (“DHA”) offering limited emergency services. South African citizens and permanent residents seeking Civic Services such as unabridged birth and marriage certificates were left frustrated as existing applications were indefinitely delayed.

Even now that Civic Services have resumed post-lockdown, the backlog has created extended delays. However, this is not a “Covid-19” issue, with Civic service applications notorious for being both administratively burdensome to compile and almost always susceptible to delays where documentation is not first-time accurate.

What are Civic services and why the challenge?

Civic services refer to Government Issued Certificates and records of all South African citizens and permanent residents. This involves issuing enabling documentation after these citizens’ status have been confirmed, such as birth, marriage, and death certificates.

As simple as it may sound, we recognize that acquiring essential civic service documentation can be incredibly stressful and time-consuming, especially if you are not sure where to start or what is required. Many also misjudge how long it takes to acquire the documentation and are frustrated by delayed processes where they have an urgent need for such documentation.

These services, as it related to the reissuing of documentation by the Department, are often time not considered a high priority item coupled with the substantial backlog, processing times can be as long as 6 – 18 months. Where you use a service provider to assist and facilitate a proactive follow up process with such application, processing times are significantly shorter.

Types of Civic services and turnaround times

Some of the typical Civic services include unabridged birth certificates, unabridged marriage certificates, death certificates, apostilling/legalising of documents, letters of no-impediment, South African Police Clearances and expediting of any pending applications. Below we explore these in more detail and provide the expected turnaround time on applications when using a trusted and experienced service provider.

Unabridged Birth Certificate

A Birth Certificate is required for different legal and administrative purposes and they tell us who we are. A Birth Certificate is an essential document that guides our identity permitting us to receive a driver’s license, and a passport amongst other documents. It is often required by foreign Governments when processing permits or citizenship applications and may also be requested by foreign employers, it is also needed for first time ID and passport applications and minors travelling abroad.

Once we have received your information and the required documents, it will take approximately 15 – 25 working days for the Department to process and issue your certificate.

Unabridged Marriage Certificate

A Marriage Certificate is essential because it is used to prove a marriage registration.  The need for a Marriage Certificate occurs in the case where you would need to verify that you are legally married, especially for several categories of visa application both in South Africa and abroad and may also be required for several banking and other legal services.

Once we have received your information and the required documents, it will take approximately 15 – 25 working days for the Department to process and issue your certificate.

Unabridged Death Certificate

A death certificate is an important legal document. In addition to providing the decedent’s family with a cause of death, it has critical administrative and epidemiologic applications. Death certificates may be required to settle decedents’ estates and obtain insurance or other pensions/benefits.

Once we have received your information and the required documents, it will take approximately 3 – 6 months for the Department to process and issue your certificate.

Letter of no impediment

Certificate of non-impediment is issued to South African citizens who intend to get married outside the country. The purpose of the certificate is to confirm to foreign authorities that there are no impediments to enter a marriage by the citizen concerned.

Once we have received your information and the required documents, it will take approximately 6 – 8 weeks for the Department to process and issue this letter.

South African Police Clearance Certificate

A South African police clearance certificate, also known as a PCC, is an official document issued by the police authorities which is often required for a variety of immigration or emigration applications as well as by employers. The document states whether any criminal offence has been recorded against a South African citizen or a foreign national who has resided in South Africa.  The purpose of this document is to confirm an individual’s criminal status in the Republic of South Africa.

Once we have received your information and the required documents, it will take approximately 10 – 15 working days for the SA Police Service to process and issue your certificate.

Apostilling

An Apostille certificate simply means that your document that originates in South Africa has been authenticated or legalized by The Legalization Section at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (The Department of Foreign Affairs). Any document that you need for travel or work may need to be Apostilled.

Once we have received the documents that you need to be apostilled, it will take approximately 3 – 5 working days.

Expediting Pending Requests

We daily observe South Africans who are still waiting on pending Unabridged Certificate applications. If you are in a similar situation, having submitted all the documentation but since then, you have been in the dark regarding the outcome of your application and when it can be expected. There is a petition process one can follow that will process an outcome on your pending application.

Once we have received your information and the required documents, it will take on average 1 – 20 working days for the Department to process the application.

A professional in your corner

We maintain a long-standing professional relationship with the Department of Home Affairs and is well respected for following due process. Our professionals are well versed on the various South African Government Issued Certificates and will accordingly compile and submit your application, including facilitating the process on your behalf with the DHA in South Africa. We pride ourselves in our service delivery and approach each case in a professional and esteemed manner, tailored to your needs.

For more information or enquiries, please do not hesitate to contact us by visiting our website through the below link and we will gladly assist you.