Getting the chance to travel abroad can be exciting. But joy can turn to sorrow if you fall victim to a visa scam. You could lose your money and have your identity stolen before you know it!
Whenever you get the chance to apply for a work visa or a travel visa, be on the alert! Some of the most convincing and successful scams ever made involve visa fraud.
You can apply for a visa in two ways:
- Go to the embassy of your intended country. If you want to go to Canada, just visit the Canadian Embassy, if the USA then got to the US embassy and so forth.
- Pay an Agent to apply on your behalf. This is the one that scammers can use
In the case of a work visa, you should be extra careful. Most Western countries have strict restrictions on work permits. In general, you can only get a work visa if a company based in this country is willing to vouch and pay for you. This means that you have special and rare skills not available in the country itself. If a company invites you to come work for them in a rich country, make sure that the company exists.
If the company wants to charge you training, visa, or travel costs, you can be sure it is a scam.
In general, we strongly recommend you to not use an agent visa service. There are many legit visa services, but they charge a fee on top of the visa cost. They are mainly used by business people who do not have the time to visit the embassy. The paperwork to be filled in is however the same. So, if you have time, it is better to visit the embassy directly.
You can find more information on how to order your visa (online) via this link.
How to Recognize Scam Visa Services
- Non-government extensions: Legitimate websites for online visa services will likely have “.gov” in them. This shows that it is a government-run website. And have the right initials for the country. For example, “.gov” for the USA, “gov.uk” for the UK, “gov.au” for Australia, and “gc.ca” for Canada. Here is a full list of helpful web extensions and their meaning.
- Unprofessional look & feel: A whole government would not have a poorly developed immigration or embassy website. Spelling errors, bad grammar, and a poorly developed website should be your first red flag.
- Bad reviews: Check the site on Google, Trustpilot, and Sitejabber for reviews. Fishy sites are easily known by what others have found and said about them. Also, check the website trust score on Scamadviser.
- Unclear disclaimers and booking terms: Legit visa sites have their terms and conditions for application clearly stated for you. There are no hidden requirements. All that’s needed is spelled out for you.
- Vague service fees: Genuine visa sites will state all the costs for your visa at the outset. No surprises with hidden fees. If in the process of your visa application and processing you keep coming across new fees, you may be getting scammed. They also state that they are not a government site and charge a service fee on top of the cost of the visa.
- Time Pressure: DO NOT give in to pressured applications. Visa fraudsters know that if you take time to scrutinize their documents, you could notice something fishy. Their goal is to get you to fill the forms in a hurry. The promise of a discount for a rushed application is used as bait.
- Unwarranted Application Request: It seems too obvious to say, but it’s probably a bad idea to respond to a visa application to which you didn’t first apply. If you get an email promising you an American Green Card which you didn’t specifically request, it’s probably a visa scam. The question you should ask is how they got your email in the first place.
If you get an email that you have won, and you didn’t enter or play, you are being set up. DO NOT respond.
- Cheaper Visa: Any website offering you a discount on known standard fees is a scam. If you see Visa that is known to cost $60 being offered at $30, and for a limited time, it’s a scam.
- Guaranteed Visa: No agent can guarantee that your visa application will be approved. For the simple reason that it is the embassy, and not the agent, that considers applications. Embassies do not guarantee visa applications will be approved.
Lastly, do not give your passport details, credit card, or bank account information to any visa application site until you are sure that it is trustworthy. Here are more tips to help you recognize visa scams and fake websites.
