Can I apply myself, or do I need an attorney?
You can apply yourself. The Department of Justice decides expungement applications free of charge on its Form J744, and deals with them in the order in which they arrive. It gives no preference to applications lodged by attorneys or agencies, and we would be misleading you if we suggested otherwise.
What an attorney adds is a careful assessment before an application is lodged. We check the record against the Act first, so that nobody waits months only to be refused on a point that could have been seen at the outset. We make sure the application goes in complete, with the clearance certificate and any register confirmation it needs, because the Department's 60 working days only start to run once it has every required document.
Do I qualify for expungement?
Three requirements, all of them fixed by the Act. Ten years must have passed since the date of the conviction. In those ten years you must not have been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment without the option of a fine. And the original sentence, or order, must be one of those the Act lists: a postponed sentence, where the person was later discharged or never called back to court; a discharge with a caution or reprimand; a fine only, of not more than R20,000; imprisonment with the option of a fine of not more than R20,000; imprisonment suspended in full; correctional supervision; imprisonment from which the person could be placed under correctional supervision; periodical imprisonment; corporal punishment imposed before it was declared unconstitutional; or certain orders made in respect of young offenders under the former section 290.
If you were convicted of a sexual offence against a child or a mentally disabled person, your name must not be on the National Register for Sex Offenders or the National Child Protection Register - or you must prove it has been removed - before an expungement can be considered.
Bring your criminal record printout to the consultation and we will tell you in one sitting whether you qualify, and if not yet, when.
Which convictions can be expunged and which cannot?
The dividing line is the sentence, not the label of the offence. What qualifies: the sentences listed above, ten years on. What does not: a sentence of direct imprisonment - imprisonment actually served, not suspended and without the option of a fine - unless it was periodical imprisonment, or imprisonment from which the person could be placed under correctional supervision, both of which the Act expressly includes; a fine of more than R20,000; and any case where your name stands on the National Register for Sex Offenders or the National Child Protection Register.
A further disqualifier catches people out: a later conviction within the ten years, with a sentence of imprisonment without the option of a fine, stands in the way. The periodical imprisonment and section 276(1)(i) imprisonment mentioned above qualify only as the original sentence; the Act makes no such exception for a later one. The clean decade is part of what is being rewarded.
This page deals with the general route in section 271B. Other routes exist: convictions for lockdown offences settled by an admission-of-guilt fine were expunged by statute in April 2024, certain pre-1994 race-based convictions fall under section 271C, and convictions of children may fall under the Child Justice Act.
How long does it take?
Our part moves quickly: once you supply a copy of your criminal record, we usually have the application drafted and submitted within a week. The waiting sits with the state. The Department of Justice states that it takes 60 working days from receipt of a complete application to issue the expungement certificate. It says it then sends the certificate to the head of the SAPS Criminal Record Centre within 14 working days, and that the Centre confirms in writing within 21 working days of receiving it that the record has been expunged. The Act obliges the Centre to give that confirmation on the applicant's written request.
Before any of that, you need a SAPS clearance certificate issued at least ten years after the conviction - your nearest police station assists with that, and its own turnaround varies. Start there.
What does it cost?
Our fee is from R3,500 for assessing the record, drafting the application and submitting it with the supporting documents. The Department of Justice itself charges nothing, and anyone may apply on their own. The fee covers a careful assessment of whether the record qualifies before anything is lodged, and an application that goes in complete.
Will it still show on a police clearance certificate?
No. Expungement removes the conviction from the criminal record database of the SAPS Criminal Record Centre - the very database from which a police clearance certificate is generated. Once the head of the Criminal Record Centre has confirmed the expungement in writing, a clearance certificate issued thereafter no longer reflects that conviction, and in law you carry no criminal record in respect of it.
Does an expungement remove it from overseas records too?
No - and you deserve a straight answer on this. A South African expungement binds the South African register. It cannot reach records another country already holds: a visa refusal noted by a foreign embassy, information previously shared with foreign authorities, or entries in another state's own systems remain theirs. The same is true of private records - old press reports and commercial background-check databases are not wiped by an expungement.
What it does do is real: from expungement onward, the South African clearance certificate on which foreign applications rely comes back clean. If a specific country's history with you is the concern, raise it in the consultation and we will look at what that country's process allows.
Do I have to come to your offices?
We would prefer it. A great deal is lost over email, and these are matters where sitting across a desk from one another makes a real difference. Where the distance genuinely makes that impractical, we consult by video call instead.
Can you advise me by email or WhatsApp?
No. We advise in consultation. A message is the right way to arrange an appointment, but not the right way to receive advice on something this consequential.
What should I bring to the consultation?
Your identity document and any police clearance certificate or court documents you have relating to the conviction. If you have nothing, come anyway - it is better to start the conversation than to wait until the file is tidy.
How do I make an appointment?
Telephone 087 133 3595, or send the short form on this site. We will contact you to arrange a date and time.
