Apostille Certificates of No Impediment

Obtain an Apostille stamp on a South African Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage

A Letter of No Impediment to Marriage issued by the South African Department of Home Affairs is legalized for official use abroad by obtaining an Apostille stamp from the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO).
DIRCO Apostilles take 5 - 10 working days (urgent service).

Certificates of no impediment can also be authenticated with an apostille from the High Court on a notarized copy: 3 - 4 business days.

Authorities of countries that have signed the Apostille Convention will recognize the Apostille directly as confirmation of authenticity. Otherwise, the authentication must be confirmed by the destination country's embassy in London.

Apostille countries include Spain, France, USA, Greece, Italy.
See list of Apostille Convention Countries

South African Apostilles can be applied directly to a certificate of no impediment issued by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) or applied by the High Court to a notarized copy.

Isarey will take care of the entire process in South Africa for you. We offer individual assistance certifying your documents and a dedicated project manager to ensure that each process is carried out efficiently and securely.

We can assist you in obtaining your letter of no impediment from the DHA in South Africa and with all necessary certifcations. We also provide notarized and certified translations into Spanish, French, Portuguese and other languages, so that your certificate is properly legalized and ready to submit in the country where you need to present it.

Obtain and attest South African certificates of single status

To obtain a certificate of no impediment from the DHA you can apply locally in South Africa or at a South African embassy (although certificates from embassies can take up to six months).

Isarey can also help South African nationals who are based abroad with obtaining a letter of no impediment from the DHA – we will apply locally in South Africa on your behalf. Certificates are normally issued within 2 - 6 weeks and valid for six months. Once we have obtained your certificate, we can then authenticate it with an apostille for use abroad.

Certified translations of South African Certificates of Single Status

When presenting a certificate of no impediment or single status from South Africa in countries which do not have English as an official language, then a certified translation may be required. The certified translation must meet the requirements of the destination country, so that a translation done locally in South Africa may not be valid.

Depending on the recipient country and authority, there are generally two options. The first option is to obtain a translation certified by a South African apostille, giving the translation the same validity as a notarised translation done in the destination country (although some countries may have specific requirements). The second option is to obtain a certified translation locally in the destination country.