If you’ve ever stood in a long line at South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs (DHA), waiting for hours just to be told to “come back tomorrow,” you’re not the only one. We’ve heard it all before: “I just needed one piece of paper, and it turned into a six-month nightmare.” That was John, a South African expat who contacted us in a panic after waiting endlessly for his unabridged birth certificate — the only thing standing between him and a new life in Canada. And he’s not alone.
Whether you’re applying for a foreign visa, getting married overseas, or immigrating permanently, navigating South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs (DHA) systems can feel like a maze — one with moving walls.
At Global Visa Management, we’ve been through it ourselves—and that’s exactly why we built a solution that takes the stress out of dealing with Home Affairs. Our DHA Services are designed to give you peace of mind, save you time, and make the entire process smoother, faster, and more transparent.
When documents are being used overseas — especially for legal, immigration, or civil purposes — they often need to be authenticated, apostilled, or attested depending on the destination country. But first, you need to have the correct civic certificates from the DHA. The Most Commonly Required Civic Certificates Include:
Needed for foreign passport applications, citizenship, and family reunification.
Essential if you’re married and immigrating, applying for spousal visas, or validating marital status abroad.
Often required for estate processing or legal matters in a different country.
Especially important if your name has changed since birth due to marriage, divorce, or legal reasons.
This is an official document issued by DHA confirming that you are not currently married and are free to marry abroad. Many European and Middle Eastern countries require this before issuing a marriage licence.
Timelines vary depending on the type of application and whether it’s local or overseas. Here’s a rough guide:
Our job is to shrink those timelines where possible—and keep them realistic where we can’t.
We provide comprehensive DHA services. Whether you are inside South Africa or halfway across the globe, we handle every step of the process. Our services are tailored to meet international standards for documentation, whether you’re heading to Australia, the UK, UAE, Canada, or elsewhere.
Lost your birth certificate? Need a re-issue of your marriage certificate? We can apply for and collect certified civic documents on your behalf — no need for you to stand in long queues or deal with unclear government processes.
This document is notoriously slow to receive directly through DHA. We expedite the request, ensuring it meets embassy or foreign government requirements. Turnaround time through official channels can be up to 6–8 months — but our network can often reduce that time drastically.
Before most documents can be accepted by foreign governments, they need to go through authentication or apostille procedures.
If you’re facing a DHA issue that’s slowing down your plans—don’t wait. Let us step in and take the weight off your shoulders.
Contact Global Visa Management today for fast, professional DHA assistance
Here’s where our DHA services really shine: they’re integrated with all the other services we offer. That means if you’re applying for a visa, or if your paperwork needs apostille certification, sworn translation, or SAQA verification, we can manage everything under one roof.
Let’s say you need to submit a spouse visa. That often requires:
We take care of all of that—while tracking your DHA application in the background.
Thabo*, a South African working in Dubai, applied for his passport renewal at his local consulate. Months passed, and his documents were “lost in transit.” He contacted us in frustration. We traced the file to Pretoria, discovered it was missing a system update, and got the status corrected in five business days. He received his new passport just in time to travel for work.
That’s not luck—it’s experience, persistence, and knowing the DHA systems inside and out.
We get it—you can try to handle Home Affairs issues yourself. But here’s the truth: if you don’t know the internal processes, the right contact points, or how to escalate a matter properly, you’ll probably end up stuck in red tape.
The DHA is often overwhelmed with backlogs, technical issues, and staffing shortages. In 2024, multiple DHA offices were hit with system outages, delaying thousands of applications nationwide.
One of our clients, Naledi, applied directly for her marriage certificate before moving to New Zealand. Six months later, no document, no updates — and her visa deadline was looming. When she contacted us, we located her application, expedited the release, apostilled it, and had it in her hand within three weeks.
For more information about DHA processes and timelines, visit the Department of Home Affairs official site. Want to learn more? Chat with us—we’re always happy to guide you.
Don’t leave your future in the hands of bureaucracy. Let Global Visa Management handle your DHA documentation professionally, securely, and fast. Your future doesn’t wait — neither should your paperwork.
Global Visa Management Group is an internal managing company that assists with supplying services to our brands.
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