A standalone service · you do not need to be a Nova student
You passed. Now nobody will accept the certificate.
You finished your GED — with us, with someone else, or entirely on your own. Then the college asked for a SAQA Certificate of Evaluation, and you have been going in circles ever since. We will make sure the application is right, first time.
- From R500
- Our fee. SAQA charges its own separate application fee, paid by you directly to them.
- 3 months
- SAQA’s own turnaround, from the date they receive a compliant application.
- Any provider
- It makes no difference where or how you completed the certificate.
Why it goes wrong
Why this step catches so many people out.
It looks like paperwork. It is not — it is a compliance process with a fee you can lose, and most people only find that out afterwards.
The South African Qualifications Authority evaluates foreign qualifications and issues a recognition statement placing them on the National Qualifications Framework. For the GED, the authority has found the National Senior Certificate to be its closest comparable qualification. That statement is what colleges, employers and professional bodies actually want to see.
Here is the part nobody warns you about
SAQA screens every application for compliance and does not accept non-compliant applications. Where an application is found non-compliant, the application fee is forfeited. You are given thirty calendar days to remedy the problem — and if you miss that window, the money is gone and you start again from the beginning.
So a wrong document, a missing transcript, a name that does not match your identity document, or the wrong service selected does not just delay you by a few weeks. It can cost you the full fee and three more months.
Where people most often go wrong
Applying under the wrong service category. Submitting the score report instead of the actual credential. Names that do not match between the certificate and the identity document, with no marriage or change-of-name documentation attached. Missing or incorrectly certified copies. And the most common of all — assuming somebody else will chase it, and only discovering months later that nothing was ever registered.
Before you pay anyone
What we can and cannot do
You will find people online who imply they have a relationship with SAQA or a faster channel. They do not, and neither do we.
SAQA requires you to register the application yourself, using your own unique contact details, and it states plainly that it is not responsible for third-party administrative or financial assistance and does not regard such assistance as part of its process. So we cannot apply on your behalf, and anyone telling you they will should worry you.
What we do is sit with you while you apply — checking every document before it goes, making sure the right service is selected, and making sure the application is compliant so it is not rejected and your fee is not forfeited.
We also cannot influence the outcome or the timing. SAQA decides what your qualification is worth and takes the time it takes. What we can do is make sure the three months you wait are not wasted on an application that was never going to be accepted.
Who books this
Who this is for.
You finished on your own
You studied independently, wrote at a testing centre and have your results. Nobody ever explained that there was a step after the exams.
Your provider has gone quiet
You paid for a programme that said support was included, and now nobody answers. This happens more than it should.
You have already been rejected
You applied, it came back non-compliant, and you are not sure what was wrong or whether you have any time left to fix it. Contact us today rather than tomorrow — the remedy window is thirty calendar days.
You finished years ago
You wrote in 2019 and now need the letter for a job application, a promotion or a college. Old results are fine.
How it works
Two weeks with us, then SAQA’s three months.
Most of the work happens in the first week. After that it is a matter of watching the clock and answering anything SAQA asks for, quickly.
A call, and a look at what you have
Send us what you have — results, certificate, identity document — and we will tell you within a day whether you are ready to apply or what is missing. If you are missing something we cannot help you recover, we will say so before you pay us anything.
Getting your documents in order
Obtaining your official credential and transcript if you do not have them, sorting out certification, and resolving name mismatches with the right supporting documents. This is where most applications are won or lost.
Completing the application together
You register on the SAQA system with your own details, as required, and we work through it with you — right service category, right supporting documents, nothing left blank. We check the whole thing before you submit and pay.
Following it through
We tell you what to expect and when. If SAQA comes back asking for something, we help you respond inside the thirty-day window rather than losing your fee. Certificates have been electronic only since July 2021, so it arrives online rather than in the post.
What to do with it
When the letter lands we will tell you plainly what it says and what it means — which institutions to approach for your field, and whether you need a bridging step first. If you do not need anything further from us, we will tell you that too.
Send us what you have and we will tell you where you stand.
Your results, your certificate if you have it, and a short note on what you need the evaluation for. We will come back within a day with an honest answer — including whether you need this at all, because some institutions do not ask for it.
We are not an agent of the South African Qualifications Authority and have no relationship with it. Applications must be registered by the qualification holder using their own contact details. We cannot influence the outcome or the processing time of any application. Fees and turnaround times are set by the authority and change from time to time — confirm current figures on saqa.org.za before applying.