Police clearance for Australian visas and skilled migration: what Home Affairs needs from South Africans
Police clearance for Australia
The short answer
Australia’s Department of Home Affairs can ask for a police certificate from every country you have lived in for at least twelve months in the past ten years, usually once you are over seventeen, covering the time from your sixteenth birthday, or your whole stay, up to the date of issue. For South Africans that means a police clearance certificate issued by the South African Police Service (SAPS). It is uploaded to your ImmiAccount as a colour scan of the original, no apostille is required, and Home Affairs treats it as current for twelve months from the date of issue.
The certificate can be obtained from South Africa or from inside Australia. What matters is that it is issued in time for the visa lodgement and still current when the case officer looks at it.
Which Australian visas ask for a South African police clearance?
Almost all of the permanent and long-stay routes. The requirement is a character requirement rather than a visa-specific one, so it appears wherever Home Affairs assesses character:
Skilled and employer-sponsored
Subclass 189, 190, 491, 482, 186 and 494
Points-tested and employer-sponsored routes ask for certificates for the main applicant and every adult included in the application, usually at the request-for-documents stage after lodgement.
Partner, parent, student and citizenship
Subclass 820 and 309, 103 and 143, 500, and citizenship by conferral
Partner and parent visas usually require certificates for the applicant, and sponsors can be asked for one too. Home Affairs can ask for a certificate on any visa where it assesses character, and citizenship applications have their own character requirements.
If you are unsure whether your subclass requires one, your registered migration agent or the Home Affairs document checklist for that visa will confirm it. We assist with the South African certificate on every route.
What Home Affairs expects the certificate to be
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Issued by SAPS, not a private check
Home Affairs directs South African applicants to the SAPS Criminal Record Centre. A private background check from a commercial provider is not the same document.
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A colour scan of the original
You upload a colour scan to ImmiAccount. The original stays with you, but keep it safe, because a case officer can ask to see it, and other authorities in Australia may ask for it later.
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Current at assessment
Home Affairs treats police certificates as valid for twelve months from the date of issue. A certificate that expires while the application is in the queue has to be replaced, so timing the certificate against the lodgement date matters.
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Matching your passport exactly
Names, date of birth and identity number must agree with your passport and with the rest of your application. A maiden name on one document and a married name on another is enough to trigger a query.
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No apostille, no translation
The SAPS certificate is issued in English and Home Affairs does not ask for an apostille. Only if an employer, registration body or state authority asks for one separately is legalisation needed, and Australia is a Hague Apostille Convention country, so one apostille from the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) covers it.
Applying from South Africa or from inside Australia
If you are still in South Africa, you make one visit to a police station for SAPS fingerprints and MGA Experiences manages the rest. If you are already in Australia, on a temporary visa and applying for a permanent one, your fingerprints can be taken at the South African High Commission, with MGA Experiences advising you and making the arrangements, and the South African side of the process is handled for you. The certificate then comes back to you by tracked courier for scanning and upload. We can also arrange collection and delivery of your documents, locally and internationally. The detail is on our police clearance from abroad page.
Planning rule
Work backwards from the date you expect to lodge, or from the date your migration agent expects the request for documents. MGA Experiences is known for quick turnaround times through our managed submission channel. Tell us the date and we plan the certificate against it.
Mistakes that delay Australian applications
Sending a private “criminal record check”
Commercial background checks are not the SAPS certificate and are not the document Home Affairs asks for. The application stalls until the real certificate arrives.
Fingerprints that do not meet SAPS standards
Sets taken abroad are the most common reason a South African application is returned. We confirm the SAPS requirements before you have prints taken, so the set is accepted the first time.
Letting the certificate lapse in the queue
Skilled visas can take a long time to decide. A certificate obtained too early may pass its twelve months before the case officer reviews it, and a fresh one is then requested.
Do you also need South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) verification or an apostille?
For skills assessment and employer sponsorship, your qualification is usually assessed by the relevant Australian assessing authority rather than SAQA, and each assessing authority sets its own document requirements. Registration bodies in nursing, teaching and engineering can ask for legalised documents. If any authority asks for an apostille on the police clearance or on a qualification, we handle it as part of the same job; see apostille versus attestation and our guide to document attestation in South Africa.
Police clearance for Australia: common questions
Does Australia accept a scanned copy of the South African police clearance?
Yes. Home Affairs asks for a colour scan of the original uploaded to ImmiAccount. Keep the original in case a case officer or another authority asks to see it.
How long is a South African police clearance valid for an Australian visa?
Home Affairs treats police certificates as valid for twelve months from the date of issue. The SAPS certificate has no expiry date printed on it, so the date of issue is what counts.
Can I get a South African police clearance while living in Australia?
Yes. Your fingerprints can be taken at the South African High Commission, with MGA Experiences making the arrangements, and we manage the South African side of the process, with the certificate delivered to you by tracked courier.
Do I need an apostille on the police clearance for Australia?
Not for the visa. Only if an employer, registration body or state authority asks for one separately, and then a single DIRCO apostille is sufficient because Australia is a Hague Apostille Convention country.
Does my partner need a certificate as well?
Every adult included in the application needs their own certificate, and sponsors on partner visas are often asked for one too. We manage the applications together so they are issued in the same window.
Get the South African police clearance your Australian visa needs
Tell us the visa subclass, where you are and when you expect to lodge, and let MGA Experiences manage the certificate from first form to delivered document. We will come back with a quote and a realistic timeline.
No obligation. We will tell you if you do not need us.
