If your CAO documents are showing as not uploaded, or CAO is asking you for a document you thought you had already sent, this page will help you sort it out. You will learn how to upload documents on CAO step by step, how to get a certified ID and school results up correctly, why uploads fail, and what to do when a document request just will not clear.

Start with the official route. The CAO Learner Guide says that, once your application has been submitted, required documents go up through Upload My Documents on the CAO homepage. Documents must be uploaded on the CAO website. Do not rely on posting or emailing documents to finish your application.

First, Understand the Two Different CAO Logins

A lot of upload trouble starts with mixing up two different CAO functions.

Check My Application, the status checker on the CAO homepage, asks for one identifier only: your CAO number, your South African ID number, or your passport number. No password is involved in that flow. You use it to follow your progress and to see whether a document is still being asked for.

Upload My Documents works differently. It is a login, using your CAO number or ID or passport number together with a password, plus any extra verification the upload page asks for, such as access to the cellphone number or email address on your application. Try to upload through the simple status checker and you will never reach the upload screens. Try to check your status through the login page when you cannot remember a password, and you should use the password recovery route for the login, not the status checker.

Hold on to that distinction all the way through this page. Where a step below says log in, it means the Upload My Documents login. Where it says check progress, it means Check My Application, with one identifier and no password.

How to Upload Documents on CAO, Step by Step

Step 1: Submit your application first

In the official sequence, uploading comes after submission. Go to cao.ac.za, click Apply, enter your ID or passport number, complete your details and programme choices, and click Process My Application. Note your CAO number down, and keep your login details private. If you have not submitted yet, finish submission first, because an unsubmitted form has no completed application for documents to attach to.

Step 2: Pay the administration fee

Pay your full administration fee online or at an EasyPay outlet, using the Payments option on cao.ac.za or your unique EasyPay number as the reference for an EasyPay payment. The Learner Guide says that once payment is confirmed, processing follows. Uploading documents does not stand in for payment, and payment does not stand in for uploading documents. Submission, payment and upload are all needed for normal processing.

Step 3: Prepare your documents before you open the upload page

Before you log in, have every document saved as a file on your computer or phone, or on a memory stick you can get to. Run through this check for each document:

  • It is the right document for the requirement, not a similar document from another year or another person.
  • It is a certified copy wherever a certified copy is asked for — identity and qualification documents, for example.
  • The whole document can be seen, with no edges cut off and no pages missing.
  • The text reads clearly on screen — not blurred, dark or washed out.
  • The name and identity number on the document agree with your application details.

Getting files ready first saves you from the familiar trap of logging in, only to find a file sitting on another device, or the wrong version, or one you cannot read.

Step 4: Click Upload My Documents on the CAO homepage

Go to cao.ac.za and click Upload My Documents on the homepage. Do not follow a search result link that claims to be a CAO upload page but takes you to a different site. The official upload route starts on cao.ac.za.

Step 5: Log in to upload

Log in as the upload page instructs, using your CAO number or ID or passport number together with your password. If the page asks you to confirm access to the cellphone number or email address on your application, follow that instruction carefully. If you no longer have access to that cellphone number or email address, you will need to update your contact details through the official route before you can finish verification. Never share your password with anyone who offers to upload documents for you.

Step 6: Select the correct document type for each file

This is the step where more uploads go wrong than anywhere else. For each file, pick the document type that matches the document you are uploading — identity document, Grade 11 report, highest qualification, proof of payment, or academic record, for example. An identity document filed under the results category, or results filed under the identity category, may never be matched to the requirement, even though a file did go up. Your status may then keep showing the document as not uploaded or still requested.

Read the label on each upload slot before you choose a file. If you are unsure which category a document belongs in, check the instruction on the upload page and the checklist in your application, rather than guessing.

Step 7: Upload, enter results where prompted, and submit

Work through the on-screen instructions to upload and submit each document. If the upload page asks you to enter related examination results, type them in exactly as they appear on the document. For Grade 12 applicants, the application instructions treat your Life Orientation result as compulsory in this section, so do not leave it blank when the page asks for it.

Once you have uploaded a document, look it over before you move on. Make sure the file you uploaded is the one you meant, that it is the right way up, and that it is complete. If the page lets you view or replace a document, use that check. Submitting an upload is a separate action from picking a file. Pick a file and close the page before submitting, and the document may never have gone up at all.

Step 8: Check that the upload was received

After submitting, use Check My Application on cao.ac.za, with your CAO number, ID number or passport number, to see whether the document request has cleared or is still showing. Give it reasonable processing time. A document does not always clear straight away, because CAO has to match and check it. If a request is still there after reasonable processing time, work through the troubleshooting section below before you upload the same file again.

CAO Application Documents Not Uploaded

How to Upload a Certified ID and Results Correctly

Certified ID and results uploads go wrong most often because of readability and category, not because of anything technical.

For a certified ID, upload a clear copy of the certified ID document, with the photograph, identity number and certification visible. Do not crop the certification stamp or mark out just to shrink the image. If the ID document carries information on both sides, include both sides in the upload as instructed.

For school results, upload the full report or certificate, not just the first page and not just a photograph of a single subject line. Include every page that carries results, and make sure subject names and marks can be read. If you are uploading a Grade 11 report for a Grade 12 application, label it correctly as the Grade 11 report, not as a final matric certificate. If you later receive Grade 12 June or trial results, upload those in the correct category as well, rather than swapping them in for the Grade 11 report.

For proof of payment, upload a clear copy showing the payment reference, amount and date as given by your bank or EasyPay slip, where that information is requested. Use the EasyPay number on your application as the reference when paying at an EasyPay outlet, so payment can be matched to your application.

Why CAO Documents Show as Not Uploaded

If your status still shows a document as not uploaded, or asks you to supply a document, one of these causes is usually behind it:

  • You picked a file but did not submit the upload, or you closed the page before submission finished.
  • You uploaded the document in the wrong category, so it was never matched to the requirement.
  • The file was unclear, cut off or incomplete, or it was in a format or size the page could not handle, so it could not be checked.
  • You sent up a document belonging to a different person, year or qualification, or one whose name or identity number does not agree with your application.
  • You uploaded documents before submitting the application, or to an unsubmitted profile, so they never attached to a completed application.
  • You paid but did not upload, or uploaded but did not pay, and the application is still waiting on the missing part.
  • The document is still being processed, and the status has not caught up yet.
  • A further document has been asked for since your first upload, for example an academic record or a foreign qualification evaluation, and that new request is the one still showing.

Work through that list from the top. Most of the time, the fix is to re-upload the right, clear document in the right category and submit the upload properly, rather than sending the same unclear file up again.

Fixing a Failed Upload, Step by Step

  1. Check your status in Check My Application and note the exact document or status wording. A named request, such as Please Supply Academic Record, is far easier to fix than a general worry.
  2. Open Upload My Documents and look at what is already listed for that category. If a file is listed, view it where possible and check that it is the right, complete document.
  3. If the file is wrong, unclear or in the wrong category, get a new, clear, complete file ready, upload it in the correct category, and submit the upload.
  4. If you typed results in on the upload page, check them against the document word for word, including Life Orientation where required for Grade 12 applicants.
  5. After submitting, check your status again after reasonable processing time. If the request clears, nothing more is needed for that document.
  6. If the request is still there and you are confident the document, category and submission were all correct, contact the CAO Call Centre on 031 268 4444, Monday to Thursday 08:00 to 16:30 and Friday 08:00 to 14:00, and explain the document name, the category you used, and the date you uploaded it. Have your CAO number ready, but do not share your password.