Easy Home Affairs CertificatesThe certificate is half the job. The apostille is the other half.
A South African certificate handed to a foreign official proves nothing on its own — they have no way to verify a Home Affairs seal. The apostille is the internationally recognised authentication that makes your certificate legally valid in the 125+ countries of the Hague Convention. We add it in the same run as the certificate itself.
- Apostille
- R1,650per document
- DIRCO route
- ~1 weekstandard for government documents
- High Court route
- 2–3 daysidentical legal validity
Why doing both in one run matters
Nearly half the people who order a certificate from us need it legalised too — because the certificate is for a visa, a foreign marriage, a residency application or a citizenship claim, and the receiving government requires proof it is genuine.
Done separately, that is two processes: the certificate comes back from Home Affairs, sits in a drawer, then gets couriered off again for the apostille weeks later. Done together, the certificate goes straight from Home Affairs into the apostille queue while it is already in our hands. One courier, one timeline, one point of contact.
| Job | Total | Typical timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Unabridged certificate only | R2,750 | ~2 weeks |
| Certificate + apostille, same run | R4,400 | ~3 weeks |
| Apostille only (you already hold the certificate) | R1,650 | ~1 week |
Courier is extra and itemised honestly — R250 locally, R800–R1,300 international by zone. No VAT is added.
Apostille or embassy attestation?
Which one you need depends entirely on the destination country:
- Hague Convention countries — apostille. The UK, USA, Germany, Netherlands, France, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and recent members including China, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines and Indonesia. One apostille certificate, attached by DIRCO or the High Court, and the document is valid.
- Non-Hague countries — embassy attestation. The UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and others require a longer chain: authentication followed by legalisation at the destination country's embassy. We run the full chain.
Tell us the destination country when you order and we confirm which route applies — before you pay. If your destination is not English-speaking, it usually also requires a sworn translation (R1,000 per page), which we attach to the apostilled original so they are accepted together.
DIRCO or High Court?
Both routes produce an apostille with identical legal validity. Government-issued documents such as Home Affairs certificates normally go through DIRCO (about a week). Where a deadline is tight, the High Court route — the certificate is first notarised, then apostilled by the High Court — takes 2–3 working days at the same R1,650. We pick the route that fits your deadline and tell you which we are using.
No lawyer required — and anyone who says otherwise is padding the bill
An apostille on a government document authenticates the issuing official's signature and seal. Its validity comes from DIRCO or the High Court — not from whoever lodges it. You do not need an attorney for this, and an attorney's involvement does not make the apostille more valid. A specialist submission service lodges and collects the identical government apostille, usually faster and for less than legal fees.
Frequently asked questions
Does the apostille attach to my original certificate?
Yes — it is fixed directly to the original. If you want to keep a clean original, order a second original certificate (R1,250) at the same time and we will apostille the spare.
Which countries accept an apostille?
The 125+ member states of the Hague Apostille Convention — including the UK, USA, Germany, Canada (as of 2024), Australia, and recent members such as China, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines. For non-Hague countries such as the UAE and Qatar, you need embassy attestation instead, which we also handle.
How long is an apostilled certificate valid?
The apostille itself does not expire, but many foreign authorities require the underlying certificate to be recently issued — commonly within three to six months. If your document will sit in a queue for months, check the receiving authority's freshness rule first; we will flag it if we think you are ordering too early.
Can you apostille a certificate I already have?
Yes — if you already hold the correct unabridged certificate, the apostille alone is R1,650. Courier it to us (or drop it off in Bryanston) and we handle the rest. Note that abridged and handwritten certificates are generally not accepted for apostille; if that is what you hold, you need the unabridged version first.
Do you handle the full embassy chain for the UAE and Qatar?
Yes. Non-Hague destinations need authentication followed by embassy legalisation, which takes longer than an apostille — typically several weeks. Tell us the destination and we quote the full chain as one number.