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 must have been of a qualifying kind - broadly, the non-custodial outcomes: a caution or discharge, a postponed or wholly suspended sentence, a fine not exceeding R20,000, imprisonment with the option of a fine, correctional supervision, or imprisonment from which release on supervision applied.
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 non-custodial outcomes listed above, ten years on. What does not: any sentence of direct imprisonment - imprisonment actually served, without suspension and without the option of a fine - a fine above 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 fresh conviction with direct imprisonment during the ten-year waiting period resets your position. The clean decade is part of what is being rewarded.
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 takes 60 working days from receipt of a complete application to issue the expungement certificate, and the head of the SAPS Criminal Record Centre then confirms in writing, within 21 working days of receiving that certificate, that the record has been expunged.
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 your record, drafting the application and submitting it with the supporting documents. In fairness you should also know: the Department of Justice itself charges nothing for an expungement, so you are entitled to apply on your own. What you are paying us for is to confirm you actually qualify before anything is submitted, to get the papers right first time, and to deal with the follow-up - the Department itself warns that incomplete applications and premature enquiries are what cause the delays.
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.
