Asking the question; how can I get proof of no criminal record? Well, the answer can either be a long, time-consuming and frustrating process, or you can choose to use a third party document procurement service to make it a lot more palatable.
Why is it so seemingly complicated? Well, what you need to prove that you have no criminal record is a Police Clearance Certificate (PCC), and the only people who can do the checking required to issue a PCC, is the SAPS Criminal Records Centre in Pretoria.
- Applying at your nearest police station
- Sending your application via courier, or via a family member who lives close to the CRC and could drop it off on your behalf
- Choosing the frustration-free route via document procurement specialists, Doc Assist, based in South Africa, but able to assist clients locally and those living abroad.
The Doc Assist Police Clearance services is the best choice for you if you’d like to save time and money, however, we’ll first look at what happens in general when you choose to apply on your own.
How can I get proof of no criminal record?
Here’s what the process looks like when you;
Apply at your nearest police station
This is definitely the long and winding road to obtaining a police clearance certificate. The SAPS at local level such a police stations, are generally understaffed, underpaid and seriously overloaded with every type of case you can imagine.
When you apply at the police station, you’ll need a copy of your ID or passport that can be certified by the police. Your fingerprints will be taken in ink (as they need to be in all cases).
If you should want your maiden and married surname to reflect on the PCC, you’ll also need to take a certified copy of your marriage certificate with you.
Then you’ll fill in the police clearance certificate application form, which can be a tricky task, because if you get just one thing wrong on that form, you’ll have your request returned to you, to start all over again, long after your initial application!
All this information will then be added to the bag of applications each police station has, which will only be sent to the CRC once the bag is full. This could add several weeks onto your waiting period for a PCC.
It’s essential to get a reference number from the person who assists you at the police station, so that you can follow up on when you can expect the PCC, and whether it has actually been added to the SAPS system!
Apply via courier or family member
Using this route to send all the above-mentioned information to the SAPS CRC is dicey, as this is where applications can be lost, or simply not added to the SAPS system.
Should you have a trusted friend or family member that is able to deliver your application directly to the offices of the CRC in Pretoria, the same applies; your application might be missed and not registered on the system!
Since there are serious police clearance certificate applications backlogged at a struggling SAPS Criminal Records Centre, which load shedding doesn’t help, you could well be adding months onto the process by choosing either of these routes.
Apply via Doc Assist Police Clearance Services
This is obviously the ideal! When you consider all the frustration attached to both the above-mentioned routes, and weigh up the pros and cons, the pros weigh heavily towards using professionals such as the team at Doc Assist, to obtain a police clearance certificate.
If you’d really like to know how to get proof of no criminal record, contact Doc Assist to find out more about just how streamlined these professionals will make the process for you.
This team of document procurement experts has an extensive range of services, all of which are designed to take the frustration out of obtaining important documentation you may need, aside from a PCC!