Authenticating South African Documents Process

Legalising or authenticating documents means that official documents are affixed, sealed and signed either with an Apostille Certificate (where countries are party to The Hague Convention of 5 October 1961), or with a Certificate of Authentication where countries are not party to the Hague Convention.

Step One
Documents can be submitted to the Legalisation Section by one of the following means:

• In person (Documents submitted personally can only be collected on proof of receipt);
• By Courier (return service paid by the customer). The courier will be supplied with a collection slip which will be needed for the collection of the documents. We have found that some documents are being forwarded to incorrect addresses, for example a document destined for Durban was sent to Dubai. In order to address this problem the Department will in future not release documents to a courier company unless the company can provide the Legalisation Section with a letter of authority from the client wherein the client authorises the courier company to collect and forward the documents to a specified address. The Department will implement this procedure with effect from 01 November 2008. This will therefore be an additional control measure supporting the measure (the reference number on the collection slip) that is already in place;
• By registered or fast mail. Include a self-addressed, pre-paid (no cash will be accepted) A4 size envelope to allow the Legalisation Section to return the documents to the customer upon completion. Documents forwarded by mail must be accompanied by a covering letter, depicting the number of documents to be legalised, the country for which the legalisation is required as well as the full contact details of the sender;

Postal Address

Chief Directorate: Consular Services (Legalisation Section)
Department of International Relations and Cooperation
Private Bag X152
Pretoria
0001

Physical Address

Legalisation Section NE2A-Ground Floor
460 Soutpansberg Road
Rietondale
Pretoria

Tel: (012) 351 1269
Tel: (012) 351 0033
Tel: (012) 351 1232
Tel: (012) 351 1490
Fax: (012) 342 9322
Fax: (012) 351 1916

E-mail: legalisation@foreign.gov.za

Kindly contact the office before you send any document

Step Two

• It must be send to the Embassy of the State of Qatar in Pretoria to be verified

Physical Address:
Embassy of the State of Qatar
355 Charles Street
Waterkloof, 0181
Pretoria
Tel: +27 12 452 1700
Fax: +27 12 452 1710 (Consular)

Step Three

Courier Company should send your documents back to you in Doha. Your documents are now ready to be submitted to the Foreign Ministry or Ministry of Interior of Qatar or you might be asked to come to the Embassy for further verification (it depends on the officials of the respective Ministry in Qatar).

Also visit: www.dfa.gov.za for more info

Consular Information: http://www.dfa.gov.za/consular/legalisation.htm
Refer to Legalisation (Authentication) of Official Documents