We all know there is a wide variety of experiences with Home Affairs in getting your documents.
Some documents for some people may take a few weeks, some months... some have reported years!
If you are even THINKING of moving anywhere in the world...
Number 1... get your Home Affairs documents right at the start.
Abridged or hand-written or old Birth or marriage certs...
sadly we cannot say what will or wont be accepted by whom and when
It's not up to us. It's up to the official you see on the day
- You may get someone who knows nothing about SA official documents and then they just accept anything
- You may get someone who does a quick google and sees the document in front of then is not the official document of SA
- You may get someone who sees SA documents all the time and know immediately it's not the official document.
We have had all 3 scenarios happen over the years and what we can say is if you have to try get one of these certs in a hurry... good luck!
And particularly if that is from Ireland.
Use an agent; don't use and agent; bring what you have and chance it or get the ducks in a row and order them well in advance of your move (months or years).
There's a reason we say on the steps of immigration...
1) check eligibility and then order your Home Affairs documents even before applying for jobs or CV's... get home affairs documents... they take a long time.
Sorry we cant be more help. You'll have to make this choice yourselves.
You may choose to go direct to Home Affairs and if you need to chase up documents, so we have included a list of names and contacts that people off our Facebook page have used.
You may choose to use an agent and pay them to do all the hard work for you. These are all agents that have been used off the Facebook page. However, we cannot verify or vouch for the companies themselves. This is purely for reference purposes.
If you already have in your posession an Unabridged (Full version) you can go back to that Home Affairs office and ask for a re-print, it should just cost R75 and it is done while you wait.
Thank you to all our members who have contributed to this list!
Remember there are now thousands of SA people in Ireland now so they see the proper docs all the time now
We offer easy apostille services quickly and efficiently. See our pricing.
Apostilles (at DIRCO in Pretoria)
High Court Authentications
Embassy Authentications
Health Certificate Verification
Academic Certificate Verification
Sworn Translations (for any language), and
Expungements.
If you plan on using official South African documents outside of the Republic of SA within a country that does not form part of the Hague Conference, your documents cannot be apostilled for validity and verification. You must still, however, be able to prove that your documents are legitimate and have been legitimately signed by the correct authorities, which is why some additional steps may be required.
Police Clearances Certificates
Click here to start applying for your Police Clearance.
To apply for visas and prove your lack of criminal record, you may need an urgent Police Clearance for South Africa, which we can obtain for you very quickly with our Basic, Standard, Quicker and EXPRESS (5-7 days) options (see pricing).
Click here to read more about SAPS Police Clearances for South Africa
Department of Home Affairs documentation
Civic Service Certificates (Birth certificates, Marriage Certificates, Death certificates, Letters of No Impediment, etc) as fast as 2 weeks
Letter of Retention of SA Citizenship
Determination of SA Citizenship
Department of Home Affairs (DHA) Applications
Notary and legalisation services
In some cases, official South African documents will have to be notarised by a notary public before being apostilled.
Home Affairs themselves
It is worthwhile if you have already ordered your HA documents
to contact the people higher up in HA to chase up your documents if they are urgent
HOTLINE: 0800 60 11 90
email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Presidencial email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
BIRTHS SECTION
Office number: 012 402 2250 (Team Leader Births)
MARRIAGES
012 402 2264/ 082 893 8313
If your marriage cert cannot be found often your need your marriage registered again if they have no record of it:
BI-30 form, copy of the original marriage cert from the marriage officer
email it to Ann Maerman This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
http://www.dha.gov.za/images/PDFs/Marriage/bi-130.pdf
ADOPTIONS:
Contact: +27 12312 7608/ 7600/ 7500
DEATH CERTIFICATES
066 460 0526 012 402 2287
The Regional Office Manager for Marriages, Deaths and Births – Contact 12 402 2264
Zimbabwean- Rhodesian Documents:
From one of our members: Paul has spoken to his contact Simon in Zimbabwe regarding sharing his number on the site and he is quite happy. The only request is that his instructions must be followed precisely, especially regarding the payments. He helped Paul and his sister and was very reliable and acted swiftly. People can say they were referred by Paul.
00263775824555 Simon
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. is another contact
Agents
Agents, whilst expensive, may get the job done quicker.
You may find some Agents do not take up the application
if you have already ordered HA documents, others will.
Agents part of the SA2eire team to help you:
-
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- https://apostil.co.za/
Bunnyhop https://bunnyhop.co.za/
Docs4Expats http://docs4expats.com/
Doc Assist http://www.docassist.co.za/
Fast Docs https://fastdocs.co.za/
Fast Tracking https://www.fasttracking.co.za/
Immigration Assist https://www.immigrationassist.co.za/
Passports4U http://www.passports4u.co.za/testimonials/
Passport Assist https://www.passportassist.co.za/
Personal Document Specialist www.q-pro.co.za
Unabridged birth cert http://unabridgedbirthcertificates.co.za/
Visa Logistics https://www.visalogistics.co.za
Immigration Boutique: https://www.i-boutique.co.za/
Once you're in Ireland and need Home Affairs documents: Foreign Affairs Unit
Home Affairs South Africa - once you apply for anything whatsoever from outside of South Africa, the application is referred to the following people.
So, for example, you have applied for HA documents, passports, retention of citizenship, these are the contacts in SA:
Foreign Office Unit
Richard Sikakane & Letseka Rasefate Tel: 012 300 8570 / 012 402 2285
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.Tel: 012 402 2285
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 012 402 2252
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 012 402 2273
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 012 402 2286
Important links:
Our coaching Services - Confused or lost and need some direction, book a session with us to help untangle the confusion and work out your route of immigration
Home Affairs Documents - Home Affairs documents and what is the difference between Abridged/Unabridged/Full and Vault? Do I need an Apostil stamp?
Admin Before the Move - What needs doing before you leave South Africa
