SAQA foreign-qualification evaluation: check the scope before applying
Qualification holders apply directly for evaluation. Employers, universities and professional bodies have separate requirements.
Apply for your own foreign-qualification evaluation through SAQA's official route, and check first that the award falls within the service's scope.
The South African Qualifications Authority's evaluation guidance explains that it verifies foreign awards and compares them with South African qualifications to locate them on the National Qualifications Framework.
It excludes South African qualifications, professional memberships or designations, and short-course certificates. Certain training that does not form part of a qualification also falls outside this service.
Only qualification holders may apply. SAQA requires their own unique contact details and says it communicates directly with them, involving third parties only where they are parents or legal guardians of the affected holders.
Follow the official page's application link. Read the current tariffs, payment instructions and document requirements in the online system before submitting. This guide does not quote a fee or promise a turnaround time.
An evaluation does not itself secure admission, a job or a professional licence. The relevant institution's separate requirements still apply.
These published instructions were checked on 10 November 2026. No account was created, documents uploaded or application submitted for this report.
Illustrative archive photograph of books on a table, taken on 29 May 2013; not qualifications submitted to SAQA or a particular institution's materials. Photo: Trey Jones / Wikimedia Commons, CC0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blank_books_stacked_on_a_table.jpg . Rights: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ . The photographer removed identifying cover text; cropped and resized for display.