International Documents (ICD)
International Courier Documents (ICD)
The most economical way to send legally important paperwork from South Africa to anywhere in the world. ICD is for documents only — contracts, certificates, signed originals, visa application supporting documents, court papers, deeds, examination scripts — sealed flat into a flyer envelope and moved as paperwork (not as goods) through customs.
Service at a glance
- Weight — 0.5 kg up to 2 kg billable, charged in 0.5 kg increments rounded up.
- Format — flat paperwork in a flyer envelope. No items with intrinsic resale value, no merchandise, no liquids, no electronics. If it isn't paper, it isn't ICD — choose ICP instead.
- Destinations — 248 countries.
- Transit time — typically 2 to 5 working days door-to-door, depending on destination and customs clearance speed.
- Pickup — collected from any South African address; we book a time window that suits you.
- Tracking — live waybill tracking from collection to delivery, on this website.
- Customs — declared as documents of no commercial value, which typically clears faster and avoids destination duties. Customs authorities have final discretion — see our Terms & Conditions, Section 5 for the full customs process.
What ICD is good for
- Signed contracts where the receiving party needs the wet-ink original.
- Visa and immigration supporting documents (police clearances, marriage certificates, academic transcripts).
- Court documents, sworn statements, apostilled certificates.
- Property deeds and conveyancing paperwork.
- Examination scripts and academic submissions to overseas institutions.
- Insurance claim documents requiring originals.
What ICD is NOT for
If your envelope contains anything that could be sold — a passport with a chip, a credit card, a USB drive, jewellery, currency, samples — it is not eligible for ICD even if it physically fits in the flyer. Customs will treat the contents as goods and the declaration as misdeclared; the shipment may be held, fined, or returned at the Sender's cost. Use ICP for anything with a commercial value.
How it's priced
ICD pricing depends on destination country and billable weight (rounded up to the nearest 0.5 kg). South African VAT does not apply — international courier services are zero-rated under the SA VAT Act. (Destination duties, where applicable, are charged separately by the destination customs authority.) Get an instant quote on the home page — enter content type (paperwork in flyer), destination country, and weight, and you'll see the all-in price before you commit.
When your documents become a parcel
Document courier (ICD) is reserved for genuine paperwork with no commercial value. Three things decide whether your shipment stays a document or becomes a parcel — and crossing any one of them makes it a parcel, carried and priced as ICP:
- Contents — documents only. ICD is flat paperwork: contracts, certificates, legal papers, transcripts. Anything with intrinsic or resale value — a passport with a chip, a bank card, a USB drive, samples, jewellery, currency — counts as goods, not documents, and must ship as a parcel however small or light it is.
- Weight — up to 2 kg. Billable weight above 2 kg is a parcel. Billable weight is the greater of the actual weight and the volumetric weight (length × width × height ÷ 5000).
- Size — the flyer envelope. Genuine documents must still fit a flat flyer: longest side up to 40 cm, middle up to 30 cm, no more than 5 cm thick. Thicker or rigid is a parcel.
So a slim USB drive is a parcel (it is goods), and a 6 cm bundle of contracts is a parcel (too big for the flyer) — even though both weigh under 2 kg. There is nothing to work out yourself — declare your contents and enter your weight and dimensions on the quote page and we route it automatically, showing the correct service and price before you commit. Parcels ship as International Parcels (ICP), up to 23 kg to 248 countries.
Get in touch
Phone: 086-9990-559 · WhatsApp: 086-9990-559 · Email: admin@interdoc.co.za