Apostille For South African Driving Licence
Many expatriates find themselves in a sweat stressed and anxious at the legalities around driver’s licences when moving overseas, particularly in South Africa. However, the good news is many countries have arrangements that allow South African citizens to drive with their licence from their home country.
In South Africa, a driving licence is an official document granted by the government that allows people to operate or drive a motorised vehicle such as a car, motorcycle, truck, bus, or other vehicle without supervision. Driving licences are issued by authorised driving licence testing centres, which are run by the municipalities under the supervision of the provincial and national Departments of Transport. Once granted, a driving licence authorises its holder to operate motor vehicles on highways and other South African public roads. Apart from authorising a person to drive, Driver’s Licence can be used as an identity proof in non-driving contexts since it bears a photograph of the holder. All South African drivers are required to have a credit card format driving licence. This is automatically issued when a new driver receives a licence. The credit card style driving licence expires five years from the date on which it was issued. The expiry date appears on the card.
As an South African expat, you will need to get around in your chosen country of residence and public transportation may not be accessible. It is possible to convert or exchange your South African driving licence for a local one and in order to do so you may need to submit a South African driver’s licence confirmation letter and or your credit card style driving licence. In general, a driving licence needs to be legalised for it to be recognised as a valid in a foreign country. It is best to complete the driving licence documents legalisation process before applying for a work or business visa overseas as every country’s traffic laws are different and you will need to comply with each country’s unique rules. Legalisation is the process by which the signature, seal or stamp on a public document is authenticated and verified by a designated authority. A certificate to this effect, known as an apostille, is attached to the copy of the driving licence. However, if the driving licence is to be presented in a country that is not a signatory to The Hague Apostille Convention of 1961, its legalisation process involves consular legalisation in addition to apostille certification.
10 Frequently Asked Questions About Apostille In South Africa
Gathering the proper paperwork to get an apostille in South Africa can be confusing. We understand that working with the government and the all necessary paperwork can feel overwhelming. But don’t worry; we are here to answer your questions regarding the apostille process. We are asked a lot of questions and wanted to share some with you
The Apostille certificate is an official government issued certificate attached to public documents so these documents can be valid for use internationally. The Apostille was introduced as an alternative to the old and long legalization process through The Hague Convention of October 5, 1961.
IIt is an intergovernmental convention which set about establishing a simplified system to allow documentation originating in one member country to be easily recognized as authentic in another member country. The norms were established at The Hague Convention of 6 October 1961.
As a general rule of thumb, apostille certificates are necessary when a document from one country has to be used in another country’s legal proceedings. For example, you may be a citizen of South Africa who is seeking residency in a European country like France. In order to get the residency status you want, you may need an apostilled version of your South African birth certificate to prove your identity.
Any country that is a member of the Hague Convention will accept an apostille certificate from South Africa without further legalisation. Here’s a full list of countries that are member of the Apostille convention.
In South Africa, Apostilles certificates are provided by the South African High Courts and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) located in Pretoria.
If you apply for our standard service we can legalise your document in 2-4 working days. We also offer a same day- Express apostille service. Read about it here
- High Court Apostille : R 650.00 per document
- Translation + Apostille: R 850.00 per document
No, foreign documents cannot be apostilled in South Africa. South Africa is only allowed to apostille documents from our country. All foreign documents must receive the apostille or legalization from the country of origin.
In most cases, yes. Depending on the document, you may need an original sent to us or there are times we can work with a copy. But it is usually not a problem to receive your apostille on a South African document, no matter where in the world you are located.
Any document that is written in a foreign language and that needs to be presented to official bodies (e.g. Embassies, consulates or administrative bodies) must be accompanied with a sworn translation in the receiving country official language. Authorities requesting the apostille often require certified translations of documents before they will accept the original. By providing a certified translation of your document you are assisting the overseas organisation in understanding the content of your document.
Global-Apostille offer fast, efficient and seamless service to meet your expectation. Client confidentiality as paramount and endeavour to provide a first class service to our clients. To find out more about our fast and reliable document legalisation service.
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+27 12 348 3134
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+27 81 347 6060
info@apostillelegalisation.co.za
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