Nine categories, from police clearance and DIRCO apostille to Home Affairs and road & traffic. Open a category, pick the specific document you need, and it'll take you straight into an application with that service already selected.
These two are the documents people run into the most trouble with — and where a professional handler makes the biggest difference. Fingerprints have to be captured in person and the SAPS Criminal Record Centre in Pretoria has been sitting on a significant backlog, so applications lodged incorrectly or without follow-up can sit for months. ZA Docs manages the full process for clients across Gauteng and the Western Cape, from fingerprint booking through to DIRCO legalisation.
A police clearance certificate is issued by the SAPS Criminal Record Centre based on your fingerprints, and is required for immigration, work visas, study permits and emigration.
If your South African document is going to be used abroad, DIRCO needs to legalise it — either with an Apostille (Hague Convention countries) or a Certificate of Authentication (non-Hague countries).
SAPS charges a set fee per application, payable by EFT or at a SAPS office before your fingerprints are captured. We confirm the current fee and add our service fee upfront, before you commit to anything.
SAPS' standard target is around 15 working days, but the Criminal Record Centre in Pretoria has an ongoing backlog that can push this to 6–8 weeks or longer. We track your file against its reference number and follow up so it doesn't sit unattended.
Not entirely — fingerprints must be captured in person, so there's no fully online SAPS process. We handle everything around that requirement: the form, the booking, the submission and the tracking.
A DIRCO apostille is a certificate attached to a South African public document that confirms the signature, seal and stamp on it are genuine, so it's recognised abroad. You'll typically need one if a foreign authority, employer or embassy has asked for a "legalised" or "apostilled" South African document.
Both are issued by DIRCO and both legalise a document for use abroad. Which one you get depends on whether the destination country is a signatory to the Hague Apostille Convention — Hague countries receive an Apostille, non-Hague countries receive a Certificate of Authentication instead.
Standard DIRCO turnaround typically runs a few weeks, depending on current volumes. We submit and track your documents through the process and let you know realistic timelines before you commit.