A South African Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) is a very important document to have if you have plans to immigrate, study or work overseas.
It has also become important in terms of the local job market, with employers instituting a policy that requires job applicants to present a PCC as part of their employment policy.
This is not only required for high security sectors or positions in the job market, such as working in the financial industry, mining, working with children, mentally and physically disabled people or children.
A PCC is fast becoming a standard for job applicants, as proof of their good standing in the eyes of employers.
When you find out for the first time that you’re going to need a police clearance certificate, you’ll obviously want to know where to apply for a police clearance certificate as easily as possible.
There are two approaches you can take to apply for a police clearance certificate, which we’ll get into a little later, letting you into the secret that makes getting a police clearance certificate completely frustration free.
Where to apply for a police clearance certificate
Let’s start with the long, often very frustrating and most time-consuming approach to applying for a police clearance certificate, which is starting at your local or closest SAPS police station;
No matter which way you look at it, our men and women in SAPS are seriously overworked, underpaid and understaffed, which means the odds are generally against them, especially when it comes to things like applications for police clearance certificates.
You would start by going to the police station, where you’ll be directed to the person who handles applications. You’ll need to take:
- 2 Copies of your ID
- Marriage Certificate if you want your maiden and married surname on the PCC
- You’ll have your fingerprints taken
- You’ll have to fill out your application form, very, very carefully, because if you make a mistake, no matter how small, on your application form, it’ll get sent back and you’ll have to start all over again!
Once all these details are taken care of, your ID, marriage certificate (if applicable) and fingerprints will be attached to your application form, and put into the bag to be sent to the Criminal Records Centre (CRC) in Pretoria.
Now here’s where the waiting game really begins for you with this approach. The bag containing PCC applications is only sent to the CRC once there are enough applications to warrant sending it off, which could take weeks.
Add to this the current major backlog in applications at the SAPS CRC and you’ve just added a major amount of frustration to the process.
Now let’s look at the second approach when it comes to where to apply for a police clearance certificate, which is through a professional document procurement services company such as Doc Assist, who offer a streamlined police clearance service.
All you need to get the process started is to send the team the following:
- A set of your fingerprints done in ink
- 2 copies of your ID or Passport
- A copy of your marriage certificate should you wish to have both your maiden and married surname on your PCC
- Information regarding the country the PCC will be used in
And that’s that! From that point onwards, the team at Doc Assist, which is a South African based company that submits police clearance applications on a daily basis, will ensure that your application is in fact registered on the SAPS system (essential step).
Contact Doc Assist Police Clearance Services for a quote today!
The best advice the team at Doc Assist will give you when you contact them, will be that you plan to apply for a PCC well ahead of the time you’ll be needing it. This is the best way to make sure that you don’t get caught up by the backlogs at SAPS.
However, it’s always best to keep in touch with the friendly professionals at Doc Assist with respect to processing times, and they’ll make sure you’re kept up to date throughout.
Sit back and relax, while Doc Assist does all the work for you, whether you are currently living abroad or locally!