How to get a police clearance certificate

What the certificate is

A Police Clearance Certificate, PCC for short, is an official statement from the Criminal Record and Crime Scene Management unit of SAPS saying whether any criminal convictions are recorded against you. SAPS describes it as the document for people who need to confirm their criminal status for emigration, travel or work abroad. Home Affairs asks for it in many visa and permit applications, foreign governments ask for it in theirs, and employers in security, finance, schools and care work ask for it too.

Only the unit in Pretoria issues it. Your local police station takes your fingerprints and, if you ask, forwards the application, but it cannot issue the certificate itself. That single point of issue is why the queue exists.

What you need

• A full set of fingerprints on form SAPS 91(a), taken by a SAPS member at a police station. Copies or scans of fingerprints are not accepted; the prints must be the originals.
• The completed application form, which you can download from SAPS and fill in before you go. Give a South African cell number if you have one, because that is how SAPS tells you your reference number and, later, that it is ready.
• A certified copy of your identity document or passport, and the original with you at the station, because you have to prove who you are.
• Proof of the maiden or other surnames you want printed, such as a certified copy of a marriage certificate, if your name has changed. Ask for them on the form or they will not appear.
• Proof of payment of R190. Cash at the police station, or an electronic payment into the SAPS account in favour of the National Commissioner: ABSA cheque account 4054522787, branch code 632005, SWIFT ABSAZAJJXXX, with the reference “PCC” followed by your initials and surname.

SAPS says plainly that incomplete applications are not processed. You get an SMS telling you so, and the clock starts again when the missing item arrives.

How to apply, step by step

1. Download and complete the application form. Decide who will collect the certificate: you, a person you name, or a courier. SAPS hands it only to that person.
2. Go to any police station with your ID or passport, the certified copy, the form and R190 in cash or your EFT proof. Have your fingerprints taken on the SAPS 91(a).
3. Choose how the application reaches Pretoria. The station will forward it for you at no extra cost, or you can deliver it yourself to the CRC Client Service Centre, 1st Floor, Room 14, Bothongo Plaza West, 271 Francis Baard Street, Pretoria, or post or courier it to The Head: Criminal Record and Crime Scene Management, for attention Police Clearance Certificates, Private Bag X308, Pretoria, 0001.
4. Wait for the SMS with your reference number. That is your proof the application was received, and the number you use to check progress.
5. Check progress on the SAPS online enquiry page. A second SMS arrives when the certificate is finished.
6. Collect it in person with your ID, or have your nominated person or courier collect it. If you asked for it to be returned to your police station, collect it there with proof of identity. Uncollected certificates are destroyed after three months.

How long it really takes

SAPS states that finalisation takes approximately 15 working days from the date all required documents are received in Pretoria, excluding postal time. The same SAPS page carries a standing notice that the unit is experiencing a backlog that has extended the waiting period. Read those two sentences together: 15 working days is the target, the backlog is the reality, and the postal or forwarding time from your station is on top of both. If you are applying for a visa with a deadline, apply the day you learn you need the certificate.

There is no urgent, express or premium service. SAPS does not offer one, and the certificate cannot be emailed or scanned to you; SAPS only hands over originals. Anyone selling “urgent police clearance” is doing three things you can do yourself: driving the application to Pretoria instead of waiting for the station to forward it, checking the status page, and collecting the certificate as your nominated person. That saves the forwarding time and the collection trip. It does not move you up the queue.

Applying from outside South Africa

• Fingerprints can be taken at any police station in the country you are in, or at a South African embassy, on that country’s official fingerprint form or on a SAPS 91(a) if the office has one.
• Send the application directly to Pretoria: the prints, the completed form, a certified copy of your passport or ID, and proof of the R190 payment by international transfer using the SWIFT code above.
• SAPS will not send it back. Applications received from abroad are not returned. Name a person in South Africa or a courier service on the form to collect the finished certificate, and monitor progress on the SAPS website, because the SMS service only works with a South African number.
• Apostille or authentication is a separate step afterwards, done through the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, if the foreign authority requires it.

What actually goes wrong

• A missing item. No certified copy, no proof of payment, a form without a signature. SAPS does not process incomplete applications and you find out by SMS weeks later.
• The wrong payment reference. An EFT without “PCC” and your initials and surname cannot be matched to your application.
• Surnames left off. If your passport and your certificate carry different surnames, the visa office rejects it. Ask for every surname you have used and attach the proof.
• Nobody to collect. If you leave the country before it is ready and named nobody, it sits in Pretoria and is destroyed after three months.
• Applying too late. The single most common problem. Foreign missions usually want a certificate issued in the last six months, so apply when the visa process starts, not when the appointment is booked.

If you have a record

A conviction does not stop the certificate being issued; it will simply be recorded on it. The only person SAPS refuses is someone currently listed as wanted. If you want an old conviction removed, SAPS issues a separate document, the Police Clearance Report, at any Local Criminal Record Centre for R95, collected in person with proof of identity. That report is what you attach to an expungement application to the Department of Justice under the Criminal Procedure Act, which is possible for many minor offences ten years after the conviction.

Frequently asked questions