🛡️ Getting a SAPS police clearance certificate when you live abroad

Visa, residency and citizenship applications in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and elsewhere often ask for a police certificate from every country you have lived in. For South Africa that means a Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) from the SAPS Criminal Record Centre in Pretoria. You can apply from abroad without flying home, but there is no online-only option, so timing matters. Here is how it works.

What you need and who issues it

Only SAPS Criminal Record and Crime Scene Management (CR&CSM) in Pretoria issues the certificate. It states whether any criminal convictions are recorded against you. Immigration authorities want this standard SAPS certificate: Canada's immigration department specifically warns that certificates from Ideco Biometrics are not valid for immigration purposes, so always request the standard Republic of South Africa police clearance certificate.

The SAPS application needs:

• A full set of fingerprints, on the SAPS 91(a) fingerprint form if you can get one, or otherwise on the official fingerprint form of the country you live in.
• A completed application form, including how you want the certificate returned.
• A certified copy of your ID or passport.
• Proof of any other surnames you want on the certificate, such as a maiden name, with a certified copy of your marriage certificate.
• Proof of payment.

SAPS will not process copies or scans of fingerprints. The original prints must be posted.

Getting fingerprinted abroad

SAPS says people living outside South Africa can have their fingerprints taken at any police station in that country or at the South African embassy. In practice:

• South African missions: some take fingerprints by appointment and can forward the application; others only provide forms. Check your mission's consular page before you go.
• Local police: many police forces offer fingerprinting for overseas certificates, sometimes for a fee and often by appointment only. Some no longer do it at all.
• Accredited fingerprinting services: in the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, private firms take ink prints on SAPS forms. Make sure the person taking them signs the form and records their details, and that your ID is checked.

Use dark ink, and roll every finger fully from nail edge to nail edge. Smudged or partial prints are one of the main reasons applications are returned.

Paying the fee from overseas

At the time of writing (October 2026), SAPS lists the fee as R190 per application, non-refundable. From abroad you pay electronically into the SAPS account in favour of the National Commissioner of the South African Police Service. SAPS publishes these details:

• Bank: ABSA, cheque account 4054522787
• Branch code: 632005
• SWIFT code: ABSAZAJJXXX
• Reference: "PCC" followed by your initials and surname

International transfers often lose part of the amount to bank charges, and a short payment can stall your application. Many people ask a relative in South Africa to pay the exact amount from a local account instead. Always check the current fee and bank details on the SAPS police clearance page before you pay, and include the proof of payment in your pack.

Step by step: applying from abroad

1. Check what your visa needs: how recent the certificate must be, and whether it must be apostilled (see the validity section below).
2. Get the SAPS 91(a) form from your nearest South African mission or fingerprinting service, and complete the application form.
3. Book your fingerprints at a police station, the mission or an accredited service. Take your passport.
4. Certify a copy of your ID or passport. A notary or the South African mission can usually do this.
5. Pay the fee with the correct reference, and print the proof of payment.
6. Choose how the certificate comes back. SAPS only hands the certificate to the person you nominate or the courier you choose on the form. Certificates not collected within three months are destroyed.
7. Courier the pack to: The Head: Criminal Record and Crime Scene Management (For attention: Police Clearance Certificates), South African Police Service, Bothongo Plaza West, CRC Client Service Centre, 1st Floor, Room 14, 271 Francis Baard Street, Pretoria. The postal address is Private Bag X308, Pretoria, 0001, but a tracked courier to the physical address is safer.
8. Track progress using the online enquiry on the SAPS website. SMS updates only work with a South African cellphone number, so include one if you have kept yours.
9. Arrange collection once it is finalised, and apostille it if your destination needs that.

Applications sent from abroad are not returned to you if they are incomplete, so check everything before you seal the envelope.

How long it takes

SAPS says finalisation takes approximately 15 working days from the date all documents reach Pretoria, excluding postal time. SAPS has also published a notice that it is experiencing a backlog that has extended the waiting period. Add international courier time both ways, plus a few weeks more if the application goes via a mission's diplomatic bag, and plan for the whole process to take at least six to eight weeks, and possibly longer.

If you also need an apostille, the original goes to DIRCO's Legalisation Section in Pretoria. DIRCO quotes three to four weeks for courier submissions, so many people nominate a family member or a DIRCO-registered agent to collect the certificate from SAPS and take it straight to DIRCO. See our apostille guide for how that works.