Checklist of documents required

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The South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions

During the application process, you will be required to upload the following documents as PDF, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, text or image files. Each document should be in its own separate file. Please ensure you have them ready before you start the process. Please open and look carefully at each file to ensure all the text is clearly legible on scanned documents before uploading it. Uploading incorrect or unclear documentation will result in delays to the evaluation of your application so it is in your best interest to upload clear and correct documents from the get go.

  • Certified copy of your South African Identity document or Passport;
  • Certified copy of any documents relating to a change in your surname such as a marriage certificate or decree of divorce;
  • Certified copies of degree / diploma certificates of all relevant qualifications (this is optional provided a valid full academic transcript is provided for the qualification that clearly indicates that the qualification was completed and the date of completion. In the case where the transcript does not indicate that the qualification was completed, a letter confirming the completion of the qualification from the academic institution is acceptable)
  • Transcript as issued by the educational institution (list of subjects passed or taken) for each relevant qualification. This should be on a letterhead of the institution concerned and should preferably indicate the credits that each course carried. No hand-written submissions will be accepted;
  • For all qualifications that included a research project a title page and abstract for the research project. Abstracts that do not indicate the title of the project are not acceptable. Should you not be able to obtain this abstract please complete this declaration [link to RDT013] and have it certified by a Commissioner of Oaths;
  • Certified copy of a SAQA certificate for the highest qualification obtained outside the Republic of South Africa, if applicable.
  • An English translation by a sworn translator for any of the above documents that are not in an official language of South Africa.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

  1. You must upload all your tertiary (post-school) qualifications, not only the highest one and all of their related documents. If any of these are missing your application cannot be processed until you supply them and SACNASP takes no responsibility for delays so caused.
  2. All certified copies must be no more than six months old on the date you pay your application fee and must clearly display a Commissioner of Oaths stamp, signature and date.
  3. Electronically issued certificates do not need to be certified and can be submitted as is.
  4. If your qualifications were obtained prior to 1990 the requirement for a transcript can be waived, but you need to complete the prescribed declaration [link to RDT014] that you do not have a transcript and have it certified by a Commissioner of Oaths.
  5. If you do not have credits for your courses please contact the institution where you studied to obtain them. If they indicate to you that no credits exist, please include this proof in the file you upload FOR YOUR TRANSCRIPT AND USE THE VALUE OF 10 FOR ALL SEMESTER COURSES AND 20 FOR ALL YEAR COURSES when completing your credit list.

Should you be applying for registration as either a Certificated Natural Scientist or Professional Natural Scientist you will further need to have:

  • A completed work experience report in the prescribed format [link to RDT019] detailing your employment history and describing your duties in each position you held. All supporting documents requested on the report should be scanned, along with the signed report and uploaded in the space provided as a single PDF.
  • Details of your nominated referees who can attest to your work. These should be individuals who have personal first-hand experience of your scientific work as either a manager, colleague, client or collaborator but not a subordinate. Preferably, at least one of your referees should be a registered Professional Natural Scientist or a person of equivalent qualifications and experience and / or registrations such as a Professional Engineer. For SACNASP registered scientists you will only need to supply their registration number. Registered Candidate Natural Scientists may not be used. For referees not registered with SACNASP you will need to supply contact details and the referees will need to supply information on their qualifications and experience. For a Certificated application you'll need to nominate one referee and for a Professional registration two. You may nominate more if you like. Please do contact your referees and ask their permission to nominate them before doing so.

Should you be applying for an upgrade from Candidate to either Certificated Natural Scientist or Professional Natural Scientist, you will also need the following:

  • Details of the person you're nominating as your mentor, who should meet the same requirements as those described above for a referee and will replace one of the referees required as per above if you’re upgrading to Professional Natural Scientist. The same individual may not be used as a referee and a mentor.

Should you be applying through the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) route you will also require:

  • A signed affidavit in the prescribed format [link to RDT026]indicating that the work described in your work experience report was indeed all your own personal work and not performed by someone else.
  • If you possess no post-school qualifications kindly upload your final school-leaving / matric qualification in the qualifications section. This needs to be at least at NQF level 4.
  • Your work experience report needs to be more detailed and include a list of any peer-reviewed publications, polices or procedures, technical articles, specifications or guidelines or papers / posters presented at conferences or congresses that you may have authored. Indicate any statutory, professional, technical or non-technical scientific committees or task groups that you participated in. any relevant short courses or conferences you participated in and reports or other examples of your scientific work to demonstrate its quality. Information on any individuals you’ve mentored and self- study of scientific journals or other relevant material you have undertaken. Please end the report with a motivation of why you believe you qualify for registration via RPL.

Failure to provide any of the above required documents will result in us not being able to process your application, and we take no responsibility for delays so caused. You will be notified of any missing documents or information and provided with two weeks to login and rectify the situation. Failure to do so can result in the suspension of processing of your application until you login, make corrections and reactivate it. We do not accept any documents via email, they must be uploaded on the portal. Application fees Are non-refundable and no refunds will be considered in such a case.