South Africa Apostille Service

Isarey is a specialist provider of Apostille and document authentication services in South Africa. We certify South African documents for legal use in the United Arab Emirates and abroad.

Document certification in South Africa

We apostille South African birth and marriage certificates, SAPS Police Clearance Certificates, university diplomas, and other documents.

Apostilles on most public documents in South Africa are issued by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO). Processing at DICRO can take 6 weeks or longer. However, many documents can be certified by a South African notary (often based on a scan of the document) and can then be apostilled by the High Court (3–4 working days).

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    South African Apostille stamps from DIRCO and High Court
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    Attestation of South African document at embassies and consulates in Pretoria
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    Free pre-check of your scanned documents to confirm eligibility
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    Expedited and urgent processing where available
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    Local assistance obtaining new and replacement copies of official South African documents.
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    Worldwide collection and delivery of original documents by insured courier
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    Prior certification in the South Africa by notaries, Chamber of Commerce, local authorities as required
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    Certified and sworn translations from English, Afrikaans, Zulu and Xhosa into all major languages
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    Secure processing of documents and data at every stage

For further information about certifying your documents in South Africa
Contact us for a free quotation or to check that your documents are eligible for submission:

Each process in South Africa is individually managed from start to finish by a dedicated certification specialist, who will stay in contact with you throughout the process until successful completion.

We’ll make sure that all your documents are correctly prepared and accredited for authentication, working locally in South Africa with certified translators, notaries and specialist certification agents.

  • Apostille South African unabridged and vault copy birth, marriage and death certificates

    Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates

    South African birth certificates and marriage certificates can be certified by a notary and Apostilled as true copies at the High Court. Unabridged birth and marriage certificates that have been issued by the DHA can also be submitted for an Apostille stamp on the original from DIRCO.
    We also provide assistance obtaining replacement birth and marriage certificates from the DHA in South Africa.
    Right arrowSouth African vital records
  • Obtain South African Police Clearance Certificates and apostille at DIRCO for use abroad.

    SAPS Police Clearance (PCC)

    We can apostille South African Police Clearance Certificates at DIRCO. If apostilles are needed urgently, SAPS Police Clearances can also be apostilled at the High Court by means of a notarized true copy.
    We also obtain Police Clearance Certificates from the South African Police Clearance on behalf of applicants abroad (standard and expedited service).
    Right arrowSAPS Police Clearance Certificates
  • Attest and apostille degree certificates from South Africa

    University Diplomas and Transcripts

    To apostille a South African university diploma, verification must be obtained from SAQA or Umalusi. We can obtain the necessary verification letters for your degree and submit to DIRCO for an Apostille. Alternatively, true copies can be made, notarized and authenticated with an Apostille from the High Court.
    Right arrowSouth African Qualifications

  • Notarized Documents

    Powers of Attorney, Affidavits, certified passport copies, contracts and other private documents certified by a notary in South Africa.

  • Incorporation Documents

    Certify South African corporate documents including certificates of incorporation, certificates of good standing, articles of association, board resolutions for use abroad.

  • Trade documents

    Apostille South African certificates of origin, certificates of free sale, commercial invoices, product health certificates, GMP certificates and other trade documents
  • We can obtain and apostille South African Certificates of No Impediment

    Certificates of No Impediment

    We can obtain South African Certificates of No Impediment from the Department of Home Affairs and authenticate with apostille stamps from DIRCO.
    Right arrowCertificates of No Impediment
  • Apostille certified copies of South African passports

    Passports and IDs

    South African passports and ID documents can be authenticated with an Apostille from the High Court by making a true copy certified by a South African notary. This can often be done from a good quality scan. Please contact us for details.
  • We obtain and apostille South African Driving Licence Confirmation Certificates.

    Driving Licence Confirmation

    We can obtain South African Driving Licence Confirmation Certificates issued by the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC). Certificates can be authenticated with an Apostille stamp from DIRCO.
    Right arrowDriving Licence Certificates
  • Medical Reports must be authenticated by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) before submitting to DIRCO for an Apostille Stamp.

We work hard to make the certification process easy and affordable:

  1. send us a scan of your documents by email or using our Online Quotation Form
  2. we'll confirm that your scanned documents are eligible for certification in South Africa and get back to you with a fixed price to complete the process and an estimate of how long it will take
  3. we'll arrange an insured courier to collect your documents if originals are required
  4. we complete the certification process in South Africa
  5. we email you a scan of the certified documents and return the paper copies by insured courier (worldwide delivery)

In nearly all cases, we give a fixed total price in advance that includes all fees and disbursements - everything from collection of your original documents by insured courier to their return once certified. For most processes we require 50% payment upon receipt of the original documents, and 50% once the process is complete.

Corporate services

Isarey offers business and institutional clients a full range of certification and notary services in South Africa, including certification of corporate and commercial documents. We also offer our clients the following services in South Africa:Right arrowCertified TranslationsRight arrowInternational Background ChecksRight arrowInternational Document Verification

Please contact us for further information or for a quote.

How we certify South African documents

Depending on the country of use, South African documents can be certified by means of an apostille or by consular legalization

Apostille Certification

Apostille Certification is a simplified procedure to certify South African documents required for presentation in a country that is one of the Signatories to the Apostille Convention

An apostille is a special stamp affixed to the document in South Africa by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or other accredited authority. This apostille will be recognised directly by authorities in the recipient country as demonstrating the document’s authenticity, without need for further certification.

Apostille countries include: ES SpainSpain - IT ItalyItaly - PT PortugalPortugal - GR GreeceGreece - CY CyprusCyprus - FR FranceFrance - SA Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia - DE GermanyGermany - CN ChinaChina

Consular Legalization

If the document is to be presented in a country that is NOT among the Signatories to the Apostille Convention then the document must be certified by consular legalization

Consular legalization is a 2-step process: First, the documents need to be certified in South Africa by the the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; then documents need to be presented to the embassy or consulate representing the recipient country in South Africa.

Non-apostille countries include: AE United Arab EmiratesUnited Arab Emirates - QA QatarQatar - TH ThailandThailand - TW TaiwanTaiwan - VN VietnamVietnam

Certified Translation

When the original document is in a language other than the official language of the country where it is to be presented, a certified translation is required. Depending on the situation, this can be done before certifying the original (in the country of issue) or afterwards (in the country of use).

Each country has different rules on certified translations, and a certified translation done in one country is generally not valid in another without additional certification. Likewise a certified translation, on its own, does not prove the authenticity of an original document issued abroad.

Isarey can arrange certified translations from English, Afrikaans, Zulu and Xhosa as part of the process of certifying South African documents, ensuring that the translation is valid for its intended use.

Notarization

Certification by a notary is generally only recognised in the country where the notary is based and is not sufficient to certify documents that need to be used abroad. However, as part of the international certification process documents often need to be certified by a notary before they can be legalized. When documents need to be notarised locally, Isarey will arrange this as part of the certification process.

Get a Quotation for your Documents

We price each certification process individually, depending on the type and quantity of documents to be attested, the country of issue, the country of use and intended purpose, urgency, whether certified translations are required as part of the process and courier costs.

To receive a quote, you can upload your documents using our online quotation form or send us your documents by email. After reviewing your documents and requirements, we will get back to you with a quotation:

If you don’t have the documents available, just describe the documents you need to certify, and we will get back to you with an estimation of cost and delivery times.

Using our quotation form, your documents will be uploaded over a secure connection and immediately encrypted on our server. For added protection, you can upload password-protected files (PDFExternal link (opens in new tab), Microsoft Office 365: Save a password protected document to prevent unauthorized people from opening it. Office DocumentsExternal link (opens in new tab), WinRAR Encryption Frequently asked question (FAQ) RAR foldersExternal link (opens in new tab)) and provide us with the passwords separately.

PERSONAL DATA: If your documents contain personal data belonging to people outside your household, please ensure that you are authorised to share this data before uploading your documents. If your documents contain sensitive personal data, such as biometric data, medical data or data on criminal convictions, please ensure that you indicate this when prompted, upon submitting your documents. For further information on our processing of personal data contained in uploaded documents, please see:
Privacy Policy (Customer Inquiries)

For further information on confidentiality in our handling of document content please see:
Confidentiality (Client Content)

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