Police Check in South Australia: How to Apply, Fees and What Shows Up

A South Australia Police National Police Certificate costs $82 for most applicants, is free for volunteers from SAPOL authorised VOAN organisations, and takes 10 to 15 working days to process; South Australia's own Equal Opportunity Act does not cover criminal record as a protected discrimination ground.

Getting a National Police Certificate in South Australia

SAPOL's own guidance describes its standard check plainly: "Police record checks are also called National Police Certificates (NPCs)." Applicants apply online through SAPOL's own application page, which also carries the state's specific document requirements. For how South Australia's certificate fits into Australia's two national routes, the AFP National Police Certificate and the ACIC accredited National Police Checking Service used by state police and accredited bodies, see the Australia background checks hub and national police check in Australia.

The standard SA check is name based. SAPOL requires 100 points of identification under its own category system: at least one Category A document (a current passport, a passport expired no more than two years and not cancelled, a birth certificate, or an Australian citizenship certificate at 70 points, or a driver's licence or proof of age card at 40 points), topped up with Category B supporting documents such as a Medicare card, bank statements, utility bills or a security licence, with at least one document carrying a signature or photograph.

Fingerprinting is available as a separate, optional add on rather than the default product. An applicant who wants a fingerprint based check must attend a SAPOL location with Livescan capability, and SAPOL's FAQ document is explicit that "both the NPC and fingerprints must be paid for at the time of lodgement." Whether the standalone $169 fingerprint fee is a fingerprint only product, distinct from the $247 fingerprints plus clearance certificate line, is not fully spelled out in SAPOL's public materials. Treat this as something to confirm with SAPOL rather than a settled fact.

Fees, Concessions and Volunteer Rates

SAPOL's fee schedule sets the standard National Police Certificate fee at $82 for individuals, government and commercial applicants. A concession rate of $59 applies to the same category, though the fee schedule page does not itself define which concession cards qualify, so a reader relying on that rate should confirm eligibility with SAPOL rather than assume any particular card qualifies.

Volunteers get two different rates depending on their organisation's status. A volunteer from an organisation holding a Volunteer Organisation Authorisation Number, known as a VOAN, gets the check free of charge. SAPOL issues a VOAN to incorporated charity or community service organisations whose volunteers have regular one on one contact with vulnerable people or access to their personal records, and the free rate explicitly does not extend to that organisation's paid employees. A volunteer from an organisation without a VOAN pays $52.

Neither SAPOL's application form nor its FAQ document prints a dollar figure for any of these fees. Both instead point back to SAPOL's live fee schedule page and explain why: fees are "adjusted annually in accordance with the Consumer Price Index." That means the live fee schedule, not a cached number or a static form, is SAPOL's own designated source of record, and the figures above should be treated as current as of the access date noted here (2026-08-18) rather than tied to a fixed effective date. Anyone relying on these fees later in the year should re-check the live SAPOL fee schedule directly.

How Long It Takes

SAPOL's own materials give two slightly different timeframes. Its application page states that a check "will be processed within 15 working days," while its separate FAQ document puts the standard timeframe at "between 10 to 15 working days." Both are current SAPOL sources; this page uses the wider 10 to 15 working day range, which covers both figures.

SAPOL does not use a "point in time" phrase to describe how current a certificate stays. Its own wording is more specific: how long a certificate is treated as valid "depends on the policy of the organisation requiring the NPC," and "a certificate only reflects the completeness and accuracy of criminal history information on the date of issue." In practice, that means the employer, licensing body or volunteer organisation asking for the certificate sets its own rule for how old a certificate it will accept, not SAPOL.

What Shows Up on the Certificate

South Australia's own Spent Convictions Act 2009 filters what a National Police Certificate can disclose, on top of the national Commonwealth scheme. This page does not restate those thresholds; see spent convictions in South Australia for the full mechanism, including the child, vulnerable person and aged care exceptions where a spent conviction can still be disclosed. SAPOL's own FAQ document summarises the basic rule this way: "a spent conviction is one that cannot be disclosed or taken into consideration for any purpose, excluding those detailed under Schedule 1, exclusions of the Act."

Checks That Go Beyond the Standard NPC

A standard National Police Certificate is not the right product for every purpose in South Australia. SAPOL's own application page redirects anyone doing child related work to a separate, broader check: "a separate Working With Children Check through DHS is required for child related work in SA." That check runs through DHS Screening rather than SAPOL. See Working With Children Check in South Australia for how that separate process works.

International or immigration purposes are not an SA specific matter; those checks route through the AFP's national process, covered on national police check in Australia.

Using a Criminal Record Against You in South Australia

South Australia's own Equal Opportunity Commission publishes the full list of grounds protected under the Equal Opportunity Act 1984: age, association with a child, caring responsibilities, disability, domestic abuse, gender identity, intersex status, marital status, pregnancy, race, religious dress or appearance, sex, sexual orientation, and a spouse or partner's identity. Criminal record, spent conviction and irrelevant criminal record are not on that list.

That is a real gap for a job applicant in South Australia, not a technicality. In states where an anti discrimination Act names criminal record as a protected ground, a rejected applicant has a state law complaint to make. In South Australia, an employer who declines to hire someone because of a police check result is not answering to the state Equal Opportunity Act on that basis at all. The remaining avenue is the federal Australian Human Rights Commission complaint mechanism, which is discretionary and non binding rather than a right of action. See criminal record employment rights in Australia for how that federal process works.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a police check cost in South Australia?

SAPOL charges $82 for a standard National Police Certificate, $59 for the concession rate, and $52 for volunteers from an organisation without a VOAN. Volunteers from a SAPOL authorised VOAN organisation pay nothing. These figures are current as of SAPOL's live fee schedule; fees are adjusted annually, so confirm the current figure on SAPOL's own site if applying later in the year.

How long does an SA police check take?

SAPOL's own materials give a range of 10 to 15 working days, though one SAPOL page states a single 15 working day figure. There is no separate published timeframe for fingerprint based checks.

Is a police check free for volunteers in South Australia?

Only for volunteers from an organisation that holds a Volunteer Organisation Authorisation Number (VOAN) issued by SAPOL. Volunteers from an organisation without a VOAN pay $52, not the free rate.

What happens to old convictions on an SA police check?

South Australia's Spent Convictions Act 2009 filters what can be disclosed, subject to exceptions for certain roles such as child related, vulnerable person and aged care work. See the dedicated South Australia spent convictions page for the thresholds and exceptions.

Can an employer in South Australia legally refuse to hire someone because of a criminal record?

South Australia's Equal Opportunity Act 1984 does not list criminal record as a protected ground, so there is no state law complaint available on that basis alone. The only recourse is the federal Australian Human Rights Commission's non binding complaint process.

Do I need fingerprints for a South Australia police check?

No. The standard National Police Certificate is name based. Fingerprinting is a separate, optional add on that requires attending a SAPOL location with Livescan capability and costs $169, or $247 combined with a clearance certificate. SAPOL's public materials do not fully spell out when each fee applies, so confirm with SAPOL directly.